grafchokolo : Good. Better. Best.

MENTAL PREPARATION The game of goaltending is 80 percent mental. Prepare your mind before you hit the ice. Take five to 10 minutes and find a quiet spot where you can be alone to focus. Visualizing plays and seeing yourself make the right play will help you immensely. It may

When I′m on a breakaway I always look at where the goalie is. Is he out of the crease or back in the net? Both the shooter and the goalie are trying to do the same thing: make the other make the first move. When you′re the shooter you′re at

A lot of times a forward will deke himself out. He′ll have the goalie beat but he already has his mind made up that he′s going to do something else. He′ll actually fumble it before he can shoot it. Remember make the goalie make the save. Don′t make it easy

Players must learn to protect themselves especially along the boards. When going into the corner use some fakes with your body stick or skates to avoid being a stationary target. Keep your skates parallel to the boards rather than pointing toward the boards. As soon as you pick up the

Remember This... The backhand shot shouldn′t be a dying skill. It′s just as important as a good wrist shot. Most players don′t have a strong backhand shot because they don′t practice it enough. Coaches need to develop drills that will help you practice this very important but under-used shot.

Remember This... The backhand shot shouldn′t be a dying skill. It′s just as important as a good wrist shot. Most players don′t have a strong backhand shot because they don′t practice it enough. Coaches need to develop drills that will help you practice this very important but under-used shot.

Repetitions without being repetitive. We are all guilty of relying on our favorite tried-and-true drills to work on specific skills. A coach should not lose sight of the importance of continuing to promote skill development but mixing in different drills and small area games with new objectives can go a

WORK ETHIC AND FITNESS You need to be the hardest worker and most fit player on your team. New York Rangers goalie Mike Richter won the fitness award every year. Hall of Famer Ed Belfour used to run triathlons. St. Louis′ Brian Elliott is the hardest-working goalie I′ve ever coached.

Change it up. Over the course of a long season it's not unusual for players to begin to tune out a coach. Try turning a practice over to one of your assistant coaches or perhaps bring in a guest coach to run a practice.

To carry out the proper checks along the boards you must learn to force the puck carrier towards the boards. The key is to steer the puck carrier in the direction you want by angling him or her into the boards under a controlled speed : Keep yourself stick-to-stick and