 |
 |
My
butterfly slide has been a work in progress for several years now. Below
is a strip from some video shot in 1997 and it is not very good. The hands,
the feet, everything is off. When Overdrive was legal in the NHL, I'd
travel down to Francois Allaire's pro camp to peddle the blade and after
seeing the goalies there, it slowly dawned on me that I was slightly behind
the times. Not wanting to make a fool of myself any longer, I got to work
on things in earnest in late '99. I'm mentioning this so that you'll have
an idea of how quickly you can improve things. Now I get complimented
on this move all the time but a lot of goalies think it's beyond them.
However, that's not true. My schedule isn't particularly rigorous. I work
at things regularly but since I'm not going anywhere in hockey except
to the rink and back, my pace isn't what you'd call feverish. I've pecked
away at this move for two years so although it looks difficult and may
start out being a bit of a mess, anyone who puts their time in will get
it. I should also mention that I'm not quite finished here. Shooting a
nice looking video clip is one thing but having the move work efficiently
in a game is another. I've made some minor changes since shooting the
video to get the feet snapping out a little cleaner and the move more
'game ready'. |
|
Before
we start, we should be sure exactly what a butterfly slide is and below
is a link to a Flash piece showing my moves
left and right. This page has eight movies and they're all linked using
the Flash icon. Two of them have snappy preloaders that I made to keep
myself entertained, so they should be ready quickly. I think it's best
to open them and minimize them for a minute to get them started. In the
meantime you could look at the other stuff on the page. Don't close them
when you're done, just minimize them because you may want to go back to
them before you leave the page. Most browsers will allow you to have quite
a few separate boxes open.
I used the
latest Flash because it handles video so if you don't have the Flash 6
plugin, it won't work. 95% of net users have Flash and it's hard to go
anywhere without it. It's a one minute download at Macromedia.
The
butterfly slide  |
Another
thing we should do before we start is to ask the question 'Is this move
worth the effort?'
Absolutley, it's the third most important move you'll need. I'd say the
most important move (and the most difficult) is standing there and doing
nothing, #2 is the butterfly and #3 is the butterfly slide. If you're
not in your stance or going down, you'll need to be moving laterally and
nothing covers laterally like the butterfly slide.
Here's why 
As
I've gotten better with the Butterfly slide it has made a lot of difficult
saves routine. Short passes across the crease, one-timers, small dekes
and even breakaways are all a lot easier when the pad gets across quickly.
I
should say that I don't think much of the butterfly slide without Overdrive.
I rely heavily on Overdrive for this move. The pushing foot needs a very
secure grip because a lot of power goes into the move. Without Overdrive,
it's a much smaller move and you have to be very careful not to overload
the pushing foot and blow it out. A blowout here can spread you right
out and put a lot of pressure on the groin.
Here's more
So
let's get started. First, I'll look at how both feet
should work.
|
 |
The
key to a good butterfly slide is how the moving foot slides out. It is
not an easy move to get right and chances are if you haven't focussed
on the moving foot and worked on it a lot, it's not sliding properly.
The best
way for the foot to slide out is the one that efficiently provides the
most coverage. That means the foot has to move so that the pad gives the
most coverage it can throughout the slide. By implication, this means
the ProFly style. The pictures below show that there is no comparison
in coverage between the two styles. When the foot slides out, the ProFly
presents the full face of the pad to the shooter (left) whereas with the
traditional butterfly the pad is more face down and coverage is reduced
(right). |
|
If
things were as simple as adopting the ProFly then this would be a very short
page but I also said that the best way must efficiently provide the
best coverage and here's where even ProFly goalies can have problems. The
shortest distance between two points is a straight line and that's how the
moving foot has to slide. Since the butterfly slide is a lateral move the
straight line has to be sideways: if you're sliding left, the left foot
should slide straight out to the left. This sounds simple but it's not.
Getting the foot to slide straight out sideways without lifting or backing
up takes a lot of work. |
 |
 |
Towards
the end of the butterfly slide, the foot will fold back into a butterfly
but the initial slide (1,2) of the moving foot (L) should be sideways whether
you start in a wide stance (top) or a narrow stance (bottom). |
So
what's the problem?
|
The
problem is the main blade. Goalies always ask me if Overdrive will catch
and hold up a move but few realize that this is exactly what the main blade
often does. When the foot has to slide out, you have to scrape through the
main blade before you get onto the side of your boot to slide on. |
 |
Scraping
through the main blade
is
not easy because it cuts into
the ice at an angle like a wood plane.
|
|
You have
to work this move a lot in order to program in the weight shifts that
will get the foot moving cleanly no matter how your weight is distributed.
Once you get it, the scraping should almost disappear. If you haven't
worked on this, it's likely that your feet are taking a detour to get
out there. From beginners to pros, you'll see the feet lifting or backing
up to avoid having to scrape through the main blade. Tape a game on TV
and put it on frame-by-frame advance and you'll see it happening. The
strip below shows me making this mistake.
|
|
Frame
#2: From the stance, the first thing I do is lift my heel and that's
the first mistake. I've got to go to my blocker side so the first thing
that should happen is my right foot pushes and my left foot slides out.
There's never enough time out there so this move where my foot is lifting
inwards instead of moving out is pure waste.
Frames
#3, 4: Instead of moving out in a straight line, my foot keeps backing
up. My blocker is hanging back.
Frame
#5: My right foot has completely lifted out of the way and exposed
everything along the ice. This is how goalies are always getting beaten
by the old 'fake a big deke and slip it in through the legs'. The foot
is lifting out of the way to get ready for the big slide out but is not
covering short.
Frame
#6: Finally some coverage is down but it's taken a while. These are
old shots and I'm not using the ProFly however, a lot of ProFly goalies
will move like in frames 1-5.
|
So lifting
is the big problem with the pushing foot. You've got to maintain your coverage
both short and long but this move won't do it. It takes too long to get
going and opens up large holes. This can create insecurity and result in
the goalie getting his feet tied up on the more difficult plays. |
Here's
a closer look 
So
you can see that by keeping the main blade on the ice and scraping through
it there are no gaping holes at the beginning, the move starts quicker
and the result is much better short coverage.
|
|
One very
minor thing you might want to be aware of is how the top of your pads
are set for this move. Below, Turek's left pad is lower than his right.
If he had to slide left, the pad wouldn't have a problem. However, if
he had to slide right from that position, his right pad is higher and
it wouldn't slide out as easily as moving the other way. Oftentimes, you'll
have a split second before the shooter commits to drop the pad a bit to
make sliding out easier, as Hasek might be doing here. However, do
not get preoccupied with this. It's not something you should
be thinking about in a game or you'll start letting in goals while you
check the top of your pads. It'll come naturally through practice.
|
|
Once the foot slides out, there's still more for this foot to do. The
move needs a proper ending. Once you get your power up, you'll find that
sliding out hard and fast can also slide you right out of the play. The
sliding foot has to stop the move and you do this by raising the leg enough
for Overdrive to catch. It's not a very hard move to learn but it is absolutely
essential. It's not just a question of stopping but reversing as well.
The play will continue and you'll have to stick with it. The butterfly
slide is no good if everytime you do it you end up scrambling to regain
your net.
Here's a look at stopping and reversing.  |

|
A lot of goalies
avoid this move because of the stress on the groin. However, there are ways
around it. My flexibility is very average and I'm always surprised when
people infer that it is above average. On these two images, the feet are
at the same width. The move on the left requires very good flexibility,
the one on the right does not. This would be a slide to the goalie's right
so the moving leg knee has dropped (better coverage along the ice also).
This takes a lot of pressure off the groin. The catch is you need Overdrive
to do it because the hips have to drop also. Lowering the hips decreases
the leg angle on the pushing foot and makes a blowout as you push through
more likely if you don't have Overdrive; you can't lower your center of
gravity to make this adjustment. |
|
 |
The only problem
you can get from the pushing foot is that you don't make full use of Overdrive.
A lot of goalies will get this on one or both feet and it can take a bit
of work to ensure sufficient power for the bigger moves.At the end of
the move, make sure that the pad folds into a proper butterfly and try
to keep some flare for width. For reversing direction, the other foot
does most of the work but see that the leg is ready.
Here's
a closer look |
|
The butterfly
slide can stress the groin quite a bit but there are ways to minimize it.
One thing you can try is to turn up the toe up on the pushing foot after
you push off. This turns the leg and hips so instead of pulling on both
groins, you're now pulling on one groin and one hamstring. It not only makes
widening out less stressful but also easier. As you go into your recovery
you'll find that it's easy to get the foot back in position. |
|

|
It's absolutely
essential that your hands cover properly on this move. It's not enough
to get the pad across because any shooter can roof the puck. It's a different
story if the hands get across as well. You'll get shooters hesitating
or going too high and you'll be amazed at how many pucks end up in your
trapper for a pretty cool looking save. Again, goalies without Overdrive
are at a disadvantage here because the hands will be all over the place
to maintain balance so it'll be hard controlling them. |

|
Getting the
blocker over isn't too hard but there are problems to be aware of. The blocker
should sit on top of the pads. If it's too high up, everything will go under
it or through the 14 hole (between the arm and the body). Also, if you reach
over to get the blocker close to your feet, you'll be opening up your 14
hole and the 5 hole, since the stick has moved as well. If you keep your
blocker tight to the body then you may not get the quick one timers that
go straight up over the pads near your feet. It's your call. You can't cover
everything but keep it tight. |
|
1:
Theodore's legs are always in the right spot but without the blocker there,
the shooter will have an easy time. 2: Again, if the blocker was there,
the guy with the hair might have to work for his goal.
3: Hackett has this one but the photo shows why it's better to have the
blocker down a bit more. |

|
Positioning
of the trapper is simple. It just sits on top of the pads. At first, I had
a lot of trouble getting it to stay there but practice eventually fixed
things and as I said before, it's great the way pucks end up in there. I
just drop the leg and trapper back and I get these saves that look good
but aren't that hard. |
|
1:Perfect
form by Kochan, but I bet that right foot didn't start there and slipped
back. 2: If Shields could get that trapper just a little more forward the
shooter would have a lot of trouble beating him. 3: Excellent effort by
Lalime. |
Here's
a closer look at the hands.
 |

So
what's the best way to go about getting the butterfly slide. Well, the
usual answer is lots of practice. Count on taking a few months and maybe
doing about 1000 repetitions to get things moving. This may seem like
a lot but in 8 weeks that's only 125/week if you're on the ice 3 times
a week or 42/session or 21/side, which isn't so bad. However, proceed
very cautiously with this one so you don't stress your groin. Don't overdo
it because you may not know you stressed something until the next day.
For a really clean, efficient move I think you should expect about one
year's worth of work. Sorry, but it's not an easy move. If I told you
2 months, after 2 months you'd think something was wrong and maybe give
up. You might as well settle in for the long haul. One thing I'll do to
get a move game ready is to actually 'practice' it in a game. For instance,
if a player passes the puck from one point to another and I know I have
lots of time, I'll throw in a butterfly slide just to use it. There are
situations in games when there is no chance of a shot and it's safe to
slide over instead of gliding on your skates. Games are always more difficult
than practice and doing this may help you feel a little more comfortable
with the move and acquire a feel for the game speed timing of a move.
Also:
When a player
fakes a shot it'll tighten the feet. Sliding out of that is harder so
work on moving out of a tightened, game like stance.
Try loading
weight onto the moving foot so it'll get used to sliding through the main
blade.
One foot
will slide out easier than the other. I always get the good side going
and then try to copy things over to the weak side.
Here's
one last clip of a drill I use sometimes. 
|
|