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WING SLAPPERS
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Wing slappers are hard shots that are driven at the net as a player skates
down the boards. The difficulty with this situation arises because not only is the
shot itself traveling very fast but the man is skating forwards rapidly. What does
this mean to the goaltender?
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Lets say that the player we are talking about can take a stationary
puck and fire it 100 mph. Ouch! If he is skating with that puck at 20 mph, then that
shot is now coming at you 120 mph. His skating speed plus the speed of his shot
combine to make a tough save even tougher. I found that many of these shots
also end up squeaking through the goaltender so I tried to close up my stance as
much as possible and be sure I was lined up properly.
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I should mention that many goals are also scored on this play because the
goaltender loses his angle. As we talk about in our chapter on playing rush, tap off
on the short side post and challenge out at least one or two feet outside the blue
crease. Remember that you only need to take small shuffles as the skater travels
parallel to the sideboards. If you take big shuffles you will be opening up your
stance and losing your angle.
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You must try to get set in position before the shot is released. If your feet are
still moving as the puck is shot you may run into problems. To sum this situation
up. Tap off, challenge, get set, close up, react.
Advanced Tip
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Simple geometry tells us that the short side post is closer to the shooter so
the puck will reach that post sooner than if it was aimed at the far side. Try shifting
over a little and give the shooter a little far side to shoot at. This accomplishes two
things. Number one, it gives you a strong idea where they are probably aiming
beforehand. Number two, some shooters get so excited seeing that open side
they choke up and blast the puck a mile wide.
Watch out for this !!!!!!
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In some rare cases a sniper will give you the big, hard, realistic wind up and
then out of the blue stop the slapper from happening at the last second. If this
looks real enough the goaltender will be frozen and the shooter will have yon at
his mercy. This is especially common if you overchallenge or "run" at the shooter.