Learn the goalie C-cut: push in a C shape with one blade, stay in the stance, control depth and angle. With milestones, common mistakes and hip safety notes.
The goalie C-cut is a C-shaped push with one blade by which you move forward or backward in the stance to control depth and angle in the crease. Hockey Canada counts it among the goalie's four basic movements alongside T-push, shuffle and pivot [1].
The honest answer to "Why not just step forward and back?": because you have to stay on the edge. The federation describes: in the forward C-cut the weight is on the heels, in the backward C-cut on the toes, always over the inside edges, and the whole blade stays on the ice. You stay in the stance [1].
Why it matters: depth decides how much of the net you cover. Hockey Canada calculates that a butterfly goalie on the goal line covers only about 33 percent of the net, the same goalie with knees outside the crease about 70 percent [1]. The price of coming out is the cross-ice pass: whoever stands far out leaves side openings [1].
How long does it take? You know the movement after one or two sessions. It becomes clean and even over many repetitions. There is no fixed promise.
Prerequisites you can check yourself (practical standard, not a study):
Athletic position: feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, weight on the balls of the feet and inside edges, knees, shoulders and toes in line [1]. Milestone: you hold the position stably for 30 seconds.
Start in the stance. Your weight is on the heels, you push over the inside edge in a C shape and move forward. The whole blade stays on the ice and you stay in the stance [1]. Milestone: you move 2 meters forward and come to a stop in the stance.
Your weight is now on the toes, you again push over the inside edges, this time backward. Stay in the stance with hands forward [1]. Milestone: you skate 3 meters backward without standing up.
A good starting depth, as long as you are on angle and square to the puck: toes of the skates on the crease line [1]. Smaller goalies should come out more because otherwise they do not cover the net; the price is cross passes that then find side openings [1]. Milestone: you can explain how you choose depth by goalie size and shooter.
For breakaways Hockey Canada recommends a routine: from depth, centered in the crease, touch the post, then use C-cuts to go about 4 feet (roughly 1.2 meters) out of the crease to look big and close the gap to the shooter; then retreat backward at the player's speed [1]. Milestone: you run the routine 5 times cleanly without your backward momentum becoming too slow.
As a goalie you always wear full equipment. The hip is heavily loaded in goaltending: in a study of 14 goaltenders, decelerating while skating was the movement with the largest hip internal rotation, 54 percent more than in the butterfly [2]. That is a reason to train stops and braking movements in measured doses. Warm up hip and groin, increase volume slowly and stop at pain. This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training.
Measure your depth with the crease line. Hockey Canada advises: keep your heels at the top of the crease line until the player reaches the hash mark (the short line beside the face-off circle) closest to the crease, then retreat at a matching speed [1]. That gives you a fixed reference instead of a feeling. Have yourself filmed from behind once: you see whether your heel point really sits at the line.
A C-cut is a C-shaped push with one blade by which the goalie moves forward or backward in the stance. It serves to control depth and angle in the crease [1].
In the forward C-cut on the heels, in the backward C-cut on the toes, always over the inside edges; the whole blade stays on the ice [1].
As a starting depth, the toes of the skates on the crease line. Hockey Canada calculates that a butterfly goalie on the goal line covers about 33 percent of the net, outside the crease about 70 percent; the price is cross passes [1].
Goalie movements load the hip; in one study decelerating while skating had the largest hip internal rotation [2]. Warm up, progress slowly and have complaints checked.
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