we need a delete post feature

Mike,

First of all my sympathies to you and your daughter Megan. Those kind of games are what I like to call character building.

I've been coaching youth hockey for over 30 years and one thing that continues to amaze me is just how resilient the kids are mentally. Currently I'm helping coach the Rosemount Eastview U10 B Black girls team. At this age group the hardest thing to teach about the game of hockey is how to play your position away from the puck. Stopping the players from chasing the puck, when the game intensity picks up, is one of constant repetition during the practice sessions. In the past when I coached Bantam Boys A teams I was still having to overcome this tendency.

So don't fret too much this early in the season. In a couple of months you will be amazed at how much your daughter has progressed and that of the team as well.

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Mike,

Does your hockey association have a separate goalie clinic ? If so please take full advantage of these sessions.

With our goalies I have been working with them on three items.

1) Skating - lateral movement to the various sight lines or angles to help develop an awareness of their position in respect to the net without having to actually turn around and look at the net.
2) Strength exercises - Up downs as I call them. Have the girls fall to both knees in the butterfly arrangement, concentrating on maintaining the correct stick positioning ( very, very important ), and then while getting back up making sure they are using both legs to do this. I usually have them do eight reps using the left leg to get back up, rest for a minute, then repeat using the right leg to get back up. At this age group the goalie pads still weigh a lot in comparison to the girls total body weight.
3) Stand up goalie techniques - The girls have a tendency to want to drop to their knees for any situation. Working with them to stand up more has improved their goal tending abilities substantially. At this age, and playing ability, the majority of the girls cannot yet lift the puck when they shoot. And if they can they usually just shoot it right at the goalie.

Just my two cents