Connor asks, “Fairly recently I’ve begun to use the hop-step in some of my lateral movements. I wanted to know if you support this technique and what the advantages and disadvantages are to this movement?”
The hop-step is not an efficient technique to use with any movement. The hop-step is an extra movement that slows a goaltender down. The hop brings the goaltender’s shoulders and head to different levels while moving. These differing levels slow a goaltender down, add extra time when getting square, increase the likelihood of having an unleveled glove position and hurts puck tracking since the goaltender is seeing the puck from different levels. |
