How Fast is a NHL Goalie?

In the NHL, saves win games and never more so than in the playoffs. The NHL goalie's quick reactions can mean the difference between a team advancing to the next round of the Stanley Cup and pulling out their Hawaiian shirts for  an early summer.

The shootout is one of the ultimate tests for the goalie. Goalie against shooter, one on one. Shooter tricks vs goalie nerve and reaction speed. Because of this one on one scenario, the shootout is a great way to analyze how fast a goalie reacts.

In the 2009-2010 season, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has been the best shooter in a shootout, scoring 8 of 10 shots. In the goalie stakes, Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes has the best record saving 45 of 62 shots for a 72.6% save rate. There are goalies with better saving percentages but Bryzgalov has won the most games (8) with his 45 saves.

Below is some video of the top shootout saves from the 2008/2009 season. What is great about NHL TV coverage is the overhead view of shots on goal. This perspective allows us to easily calculate how quickly a goalie needs to react to make a save in a shootout situation.



To make a calculation of reaction time we will need to know some basic detail about ice hockey and to use some inexpensive or free video analysis software to do the calculations.
The NHL hockey net and goal crease gives us a scaling dimension in the pic below. We know that the goal crease (red block with arc in front of the net) is 8 foot wide and 6 foot from goal line to top of the crease. We can place a grid on top of this goal crease and estimate from this that each block is 6/8 foot wide and 1 foot long.

Now we can look at 2 snap shots of the 2nd save in the video above by Jason LaBarbera.
We have included a time clock along with the grid so we can see how long it takes from shooting the puck until the puck hits the glove and therefore how much time LaBarbera had to react.

We can see that from the moment Schremp makes his move to shoot until the puck is in the glove is 0.5 or half a second. This may be an over-estimation of the time but it will work for our analysis.

With our grid and knowledge of the grid dimensions we can also measure how far the puck traveled over this time. In our first pic we can see the puck is at the bottom corner of the goal crease and in the last pic the puck is in the glove almost on the goal line 0.5 seconds later. The puck therefore traveled 2.5 grid spaces in length and 6 in width or about 2.5 ft in length and 4.5 ft in width. If we use a basic Pythagorean equation we know that the puck traveled about 5.15 feet.

We can calculate that LaBarbera had 0.5 of a second to react to a puck traveling at approximately 10.3 feet per second over a distance of 5.15 feet.

Some video analysis tools make this calculation much easier to do by allowing you to set scaling distances in the video and calculate the distance the puck traveled and even its speed.

The speed of the puck from a slap shot in ice hockey can reach as high as 105 mph, which is 15 times faster than the shot we have just analyzed. However it is not only the speed of the puck that is important for a goalie to make a save. The distance the puck needs to travel and the time available are all important factors. In one on one shootouts it is often the speedy reactions to skilled stick work, that keeps the puck out of the net.

Hockey Slapshot Video Analysis

This week, we're excited to bring you a post from a friend who works for the major hockey stick manufacturer Warrior Hockey (formerly Innovative Hockey). Jared Quartuccio has been with Warrior Hockey since 1999 and is their Motion Capture Pro Manager. He uses state-of-the-art video and motion capture technology to film professional NHL and amateur players, and uses this information to design hockey sticks that help each player get the most out of their shots. He's provided a couple video clips taken during some motion capture sessions, along with his analysis of the videos. Take it away, Jared!
------------------------------------------
The 2009 NHL Playoffs are now in full swing. Hockey fans know that the playoffs are more accurately described as “Second Season”. This is the time of year when the heavy hitters are still standing, and the rest of the boys are playing golf.
In honor of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s fitting to discuss some small details about a hockey shot that could improve any player’s shot. It isn’t very often that a hockey player gets the chance to score in a game, so making the shot as good as possible is a key factor in the success of a team.
The hockey shot is a very dynamic process, and very unrepeatable during a game. It seems that no shot can really be taken the same way twice when there are so many factors changing during an offensive attack. This is why the fundamentals are so important. When the opportunity to take a shot arrives, the more fundamentally sound the player’s technique is, the better the chance for a goal. The video examples below are not game situations, but they will help demonstrate our point more clearly.

We’ll be focusing mostly on the motion and position of the body through the shot. The skating analysis will be up to you for now.






Both players are taking a semi-stationary slap-shot. The puck is static, and the players both have some motion going into the shot. This is the most common type of slap shot, as one-timers have much more movement, and a stationary slap shot almost never occurs. Shot power and puck speed originate from a build up and transfer of energy. A better build-up, a smoother transfer, and a better direction, equals a more favorable result.
Let’s look at four main points for the analysis of these slap shots.

Back Swing/Set-up:
Shooter #1 (on the left-side of the video) begins his shot with a full extension of his back arm which brings the stick to a position perpendicular to the ice. The stick is out, and away from the body. These factors allow for a larger/longer arc for the stick to follow on its path to the puck. This usually translates into higher blade speed at contact, a better build-up.


Shooter #2 (on the right-side of the video) begins his shot with an abbreviated back swing where the stick never really reaches a perpendicular position to the ice. The arms are also held closely to the body. The arc of travel for shooter #2’s blade is not going to be as long, and a slower blade speed could occur. Shooter #2 is also looking down at the puck as the motion begins.


Head Position/Eye Direction:
The head position and eye direction are extremely important. The head is the steering wheel for the body, and whereever the eyes are looking is where the energy will be directed. Shooter #1 has his head and eyes looking forward towards the target at the beginning of his back swing, and all the way through his shot. Before the energy is even built up, the shooter has given his body the direction for the release.
Shooter #2 begins his shot looking down at the puck. A loss of forward energy occurs as some is being directed downward for the first part of the shot.
Also, at the end of the shot, Shooter #1 is still looking fully forward at the target. Shooter #2 never really reaches a straight on view with the intended target, meaning the energy never receives the entirely correct direction.

The “Anchor”:
As energy moves forward through the shot it is extremely important to allow the transfer to happen as unrestricted as possible. The big problem a shooter faces in hockey is the “anchor”, or back leg. When a shooter leaves their back leg stuck on the ice during the slap shot there is a large amount of energy that gets stuck behind the body with it.
You can see that shooter #1 lifts his back leg and foot up off the ice as he goes forward through the shot. Lifting your back foot allows the most energy possible to flow forward, and also allows your body to follow a more natural swing path.
Shooter #2 leaves his trailing foot on the ice, and you can see that it directly affects the turning of the front foot, and the transfer of energy. The body is being “weighed down”.

The Follow Through:
This aspect of the slap shot is pretty simple. Every sport that involves swinging something has training for follow through. In hockey, the perfect follow through leaves the blade, and shaft of the stick, pointing directly at the desired target. This allows for the most amount of accuracy, and ensures that all your shot’s energy was transferred to the right direction.
Shooter #1 ends his shot with the stick pointed directly at his target. The blade is turned over nicely and closed towards the target. There was no mistake in his mind as to where that puck was going to end up.
Shooter #2 ends his shot with the stick pointed well above the net and blade pointed directly up. This could lead to a loss of accuracy and energy as the puck leaves the blade.

The players in these video clips are NHL professionals, so their shots are already just about as good as they can be. But these videos show you that even the best of the best can always improve on something. At Warrior Hockey, we have developed a system to analyze and breakdown the performance of a stick and player through a shot. With this system, we design sticks that help each player get the most out of their shots. We learn new things every time we get on the ice, and are dedicated to building that knowledge into our sticks.

Hopefully these pointers are helpful to you, or any player you coach, from the recreational to the professional. Have fun watching the playoffs!!