Since today is Valentine’s Day, I wanted to spread some goalie love to one of my Twitter followers, Misty. Her handle is @TeamNiemiClowe and she’s quite the passionate Sharks and Antti Niemi fan. Yesterday, a tweet she sent my way struck a chord in my heart; she was under the impression that I have nothing good to say about Niemi, and that I purposely ignore her tweets.

Photo Courtesy of Hockey Broad Photography

As I explain in my latest Audio Report made especially for her, that couldn’t be further from the truth!

I love Niemi. I love all goaltenders. That’s the foundation for why The Goalie Guild was created. But I do hate when goalies give up bad goals. And I hate when a goalie has a bad performance, or doesn’t have a strong work ethic. Goalies are the most exceptional athletes in the world, and they are usually victimized by bad bounces (anyone see Braden Holtby last night?) or unfortunate breakdowns in front of them. They can’t stop everything, but if they see it, they almost always should.

To show Misty some love on Valentine’s Day, I made sure to explain some of the things that make Niemi so special. He’s a part of hockey lore forevermore, as he’s the first Finnish goaltender to win a Stanley Cup, and he did it with a real even-keeled demeanor. He is deceptively athletic, too. But what do I like about him the most? It’s how he seals the ice with his leg pads.

To answer Misty’s actual question about why Niemi struggles handling the puck, as you will hear, it’s mainly tied to his footwork. Niemi isn’t the best skater, so oftentimes he struggles to arrive at the puck behind his net with perfect balance. If he doesn’t have that perfect balance, it’s much more difficult to make a pass with efficiency.

The best puck-handling goalies are exceptional skaters; Marty Brodeur, Marty Turco, Carey Price, Chris Osgood, Ron Hextall…the list goes on and on. They were all terrific on their feet, so they were capable of going from their crease to behind the net with ease and balance. They would arrive at the puck with perfect balance, then have the ability to generate power from their feet to their hands (like a boxer) and fire the puck around the boards.

The sooner you can arrive at the puck, the more time you’ll have to make a decision on where (and when) to ultimately move it. If you are slow getting to the puck, you are forced to make passes in a way and to an area you may not want the puck to go!

So, Misty, to answer your question, it’s not always about the hands as much as it is about the feet. Footwork is the foundation of goaltending, as it is the root of balance. Being unbalanced will cause inefficiencies in how one moves into shots or moves behind the net. It is great to hear that Niemi continues to work hard on moving the puck in practice, because that is the most important trait for a goalie to have!

Work ethic trumps everything. The more he works at it, the better he will become. And there’s nothing I love more than a goalie that works hard.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I think most of you know by now that I’m all about “goalie love” every single day. That’s why I do what I do.