The most important skating movement in goaltending is the T-Push. Learning how to perform a proper T push is one of the first things beginner goalies should work on mastering, as nearly every movement in the crease involves some sort of T push movement.

The T-push is the most effective way for a goalie to skater longer distances faster, because it involves no shuffling or other motion with the skate that would further inhibit or slow down movement.

How to T Push

In this video, we’re teaching goalies how to T Push with current New Jersey Devils Goalie Coach Dave Rogalski.

The T Push is at the core of everything that the goalie does. It’s the single most effective way to cover ground quickly on the ice. There are a few common mistakes that goalies make when t pushing, and in this video Dave covers those issues.

To date, this is the single best demonstration of how to t push that we’ve saw.

This breakdown and demonstration is done by Minnesota Professional Goaltending Coach (clients like Charlie Lindgren, Adam Wilcox, Jake Kielly, Jake Oettinger, and dozens and dozens of other D1/Pro netminders) Dave Rogalski.

Dave is a wealth of knowledge and regarded as one of the top goaltending coaches in Minnesota. On top of that, Dave was hired in to be the Goalie Development Coach for the St. Louis Blues, of the National Hockey League. Ever heard of them?

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Inside this video, Dave breaks down a couple big points.

Push, Pull. Push, Pull.

“Kids will open up that back leg and drag it”. The focus here is on pulling in your back leg, setting your feet and understanding where to go next.

“What we don’t want is when guys will look pivot, push and drag.”

Make sure to push and pull at the same time, remaining on your inside edge. When you drag your back leg, you’re ending up on your outside edge–slowing down your movement across the crease.

If you’re dragging your back leg, it’s harder to make an adjustment

At the 2:00 of this video, Dave talks about a drill you can implement during any period of practice that will help you reinforce this pushing and pulling movement.

Hopefully you got a lot out of this video. We’re thrilled to help with goalie training all over the world.