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Tips for your best Tryout 

1. BE ON TIME – ALWAYS

2. Show you are motivated to make the team through hard work (give you best effort every game & practice)

3. Battle to stop every puck & never give up on a shot, “ANYTIME”

4. Don't be intimidated by others.  Make sure you get your share of shots.  You need to warm up as much as the next guy/girl. But don’t be a “net hog”

5. Head up, shoulders square.  Project a confident image...even if you aren’t

6. Watch the body language...throwing your hands up on a goal, snapping your stick against the post, shrugging your shoulders or glaring at your defensemen DOES NOT earn you "brownie" points with the coaches

7. DO NOT shoot pucks at the boards or go into some elaborate skating drill while waiting for your turn to receive shots.  Simply grab a knee and wait or do a little stretching & WATCH THE SHOOTERS & the other goaltenders in net

8. RELAX

9. Listen more than you talk, especially in the dressing room

10. On the ice, be a loud communicator of traffic and situations for your D and supporter of your team mates

11. On the bench be “a team player”

12. Be intense but under control

13. DO NOT attempt to change your game from how you did things all season just because you're in a try-out

14. The number of goals you give up is not as important as WHY THE PUCK WENT IN

15. Even in warmup be enthusiastic & upbeat...a tryout is no place for negative talk (either self-talk or otherwise)
    

HAVE FUN! 

“SIZE" “SIZE” “SIZE"

<sub>Normally this is not a factor at a young age, but, unfortunately, as you move up the hockey chain, some coaches believe it is a factor. I have seen it creep into decisions at the U13 & U15 level and most certainly it becomes a major factor at U18.
But don’t despair. Not everyone grows at the same rate & oftentimes, those who are above average height at 12 – 14 years will not grow at the same rate as they get older or may even stop growing.  And those who are average height or less at those years will catch up or exceed the norm.
In any event, there is room for the smaller goaltender beyond Minor/Youth Hockey or High School.   And, there is still a place in Major Junior/Tier I for the smaller goaltender &, most certainly, the smaller goaltender can flourish at the Junior A or Junior B/Tier II level.

Beyond that, U Sport, NCAA, ECHL, AHL and European teams are options open to those who have the skill but do not achieve the "supposedly ideal" 6' 2" height for an NHL goaltender.  Understand, reaching the NHL is no easy task, even with the size factored in.
On any given night, there are only 64 goaltenders on NHL team game rosters and they come from every part of the world.  So, your competition is not only the kid on the next block or in the next town, but the kid playing minor hockey in Switzerland, Sweden, Finland or Germany or the US.</sub>

_{My advice to any goaltender, who is shorter in stature than your peers, is to not bury your dreams, but understand what your situation is and take steps to improve your chances at playing at a higher level (if that is truly what you want) by working on and improving those parts of your game to get you there.
So, here are some things you need to be to maximize your ability to compete at any level, no matter what your size.  If you are really motivated, you can likely achieve proficiency in a short period of time with the help of an experienced goaltending coach.}

_{- athletic (possess incredible agility, balance & co-ordination with speed) These elements can be developed away from the ice surface, but a certain amount requires on-ice time (see the next element below) *not all goaltenders will have the physiological capabilities to achieve a high level of athleticism.  So then, positioning becomes a much more important factor}

<sub>- a superior skater (a master at using inside edges to position, or reposition on skates in control and on balance)
Spend on ice time working on inside edge control, crease skating drills & team skating
- unmatched in lateral movement (controlled speed & power in lateral movements on skates or in a slide)
- a student of the game (watches games played at all levels; observing player tendencies and play patterns and how shots are generated and the locations in the defensive zone from which they originate)
- excellent at reading the shot release (using complete puck focus and shooter information such as hand/puck/shoulder position to determine height, velocity and shot location immediately as the puck is leaving the stick blade)</sub>

<sub>- near perfect at tracking shots (actually sees pucks make contact with their equipment (stick, pads etc.) & rebounds moving away from your equipment & can FIND the flight path of the puck through screens & front net traffic situations)
- a master at being patient & staying up and on skates (patient and confidently remaining on skates and only moves to make the save after the PUCK HAS LEFT THE STICK BLADE when the velocity & trajectory is known) The exception being close in, tight, shot situations where the higher percentage play is to use a down, butterfly or RVH, blocking position
- near perfect at positioning (an angle first mentality always. Plus proper depth whenever possible.  Must arrive "on time", every time, so feet are set and skates, hips & shoulders are square to the puck "BEFORE" the shot released – in the case of a lateral slide the same squareness must be prioritized)</sub>

_{- strong mentally (develop your mental toughness & “grit” to handle the ups & downs of goaltending)}

_{A few other non-technical, non-tactical necessary elements.}

has a “never give up” attitude  

ENJOYS PRACTICES AS MUCH AS THE GAME

The difference between something "good" and something "great" is attention to detail. 
Charles M. Swindoll

 
Yes, the attention to DETAILS require discipline. But, understand that, from attention to DETAILS (or not), you develop habits whether good or bad.  And that strong, good habits formed from mindful attention to DETAILS are the foundation of a successful, elite goaltender.   Yet, day in and day out, goaltenders neglect to pay attention to them.  Hopefully YOU are not among THOSE

(Before I begin, I want to emphasize that none of what I describe below is possible without the use of video) 

In our sport of hockey, it is common to lump shots on goal into one “basket”.  Of course, this is makes it easier to compare apples to apples (or goalie to goalie) without having to dig too deeply into any details. And, if you aren’t prepared to dig deeper, then this becomes your only means to determining a goaltender’s save efficiency.  After all, there was a shot, and the goaltender prevented it from entering the net.  Simple, right? But really, these stats are just numbers and have relatively little significance to what happened.  For example, I saw this article in our local newspaper a short time ago that a particular goaltender has a .917 save percentage and 2.62 goals-against average.  Most everyone will look at these numbers & will either agree or disagree that the numbers are good or as good as or worse than so & so goaltender.

But, as I said right off the top, not all shots are equal.  So, let’s take a closer look at shots on net.  Recorded shots (which are not terribly accurate at any level) can be from any location on the ice.  For example, it might be a clearing attempt from the opposite end of the ice, or a dump in from the neutral zone. Or it could come from any point in the defending zone (and, sometimes, even from below goal line).

And this is where things get a little tricky. Because, for a true evaluation of a goaltender’s performance every shot should carry some “weight” or quality depending on the circumstances surround the shot. For example. Does a clear-sighted shot from the perimeter (outside the scoring box) have the same degree of difficulty for the goaltender as a shot from the low slot? Is a shot from a net drive equal to a wraparound attempt?  Where does a slot line possession carry inside the scoring box stack up against a breakaway? How about a one timer from inside the scoring box where the pass crosses the slot line? How about a 2 on 1 and the puck carrier shoots? How about a 2 on 1 where the puck carrier passes & his partner shoots?  And the shot from the point with a static screen, moving screen or layered screen? Etc. Etc. By the way, we could throw in 5 on 5 shots versus penalty kill situations, but let’s not complicate things further.

It is not that easy then to evaluate a goaltender’s true performance just simply based on a save percentage (shots minus goals divided by shots)

If you are a hockey fan, this information is probably more than adequate.  But if you are a coach or recruiter or scout, you need to dive a little more deeply into the quality of shots on net to really understand just how efficient a goaltender really is. Otherwise, you might be shortchanging one goaltender over another.