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STOPPING BACKHANDERS
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The difficulty in stopping a backhander is the fact that they are relatively
rare and when they do happen they usually catch the goaltender by surprise.
The release of the backhand also makes the height of the shot difficult to judge.
You may have heard in the past Howie Meeker would constantly complain about
the fact that players today can't execute a decent backhander because of the
curves on those newfangled sticks.
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If you really take a look at NHL player's sticks you will notice they usually
have very small curves and therefore have deadly backhands. Two retired guys
to look at are Wayne Gretzky and Doug Gilmour. Their sticks were very straight
and that gave them great control on both the forehand and backhand.
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Sidney Crosby has a mid 70 mph backhand with a VERY straight blade.
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This brings up a great point:
Study the sticks of your teammates and
opponents. Make mental notes of how pucks jump off certain sticks and how
it reacts off of others.
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Little things like this can surprisingly result in saves later on.