Tips on How to Find an Adult Hockey Goalie

Finding an adult hockey goalie for your team can be a difficult task. They are in extremely high demand. In addition, it is important to find the right person with the right skills and team culture fit for this important position.

Adult hockey goalies are typically between 18-45 years old and have played at least several seasons of competitive hockey. Some adult hockey goalies prefer recreational league games while others prefer competitive leagues, travel leagues or tournaments. To help you find a goalie, we have put together a few tips that will help you find the perfect goalie:

Finding the Right Hockey Goalie for Your Team

Hockey goalies are the most important players on a hockey team. They are responsible for making sure that the puck never gets past their goal line.

In order to find the right goalie for your team, you need to consider the following:

1. Goalie size and height
2. Goalie age and experience level
3. Goalkeeping skill set
4. Dedication level
5. Culture fit
6. Cost of recruiting goalie if applicable

Goalie Size and Height

The average size and height of a goaltender has been steadily increasing. This is due to the increase in height and size of hockey players in general and is not unique to the sport of hockey only. Goalies are now bigger than their predecessors. This extra height and reach allows goalies to cover more of the net making goals much harder to come by.

Try to sign up a bigger goalie if possible. A bigger goalie with similar skills, flexibility and reflexes as a smaller goalie will definitely benefit your team.

Goalie Age and Experience

You should look for someone with at least some experience in youth or high school ice hockey preferably. Competitive and college level experience would be ideal but may not always be available. This increases the chances they know how to handle themselves on the ice under pressure and make the right decisions when working with teammates. Many Subsneeded.com listings not only list your goalie’s availability but also their age range, competitive level and years of experience.

Find a Goalie with the Right Skill Set

The most important skills that a hockey goalie must have are mental toughness, agility and hand-eye coordination. Skills like these are crucial to being a successful adult hockey goalie. These skills can be learned through training, but it takes time, dedication and a lot of money to develop a good goalie.

Mental toughness is the ability to keep emotions in check and play with a cool head. It is imperative that the goalie has this skill in order to be successful. The goalie must be able to concentrate on the game. It also takes time and dedication to develop mental toughness. Thus, the importance of having good experience

Skills like agility, hand-eye coordination and puck handling are all skills that can be learned through training. The most important attribute a goalie must have though is mental toughness. Without it, there is no discipline and no consistency. Unforced errors will be more common leading to more loses for your team.

Find a Goalie with the Right Dedication Level

Look for someone who is dedicated. The best hockey goalies are people who are dedicated to the sport, train and work hard to get better as they progress through their years. Someone with experience should also be willing to constantly get better and not afraid of a challenge; such as playing in a higher division or more competitive level. They should also be reliable and show up to games in a timely fashion.

Find a Goalie with the Right Culture Fit

Do not forget about the culture fit of your goalie. This person will be a teammate. Are you a serious ultra competitive group or a happy go lucky group of players in a beer league? Playing a goalie with a different set of cultures and objectives as your teammates could be a recipe for disaster.

Cost of Recruitment

Hockey goalies are in demand. There is a shortage. Especially if you are looking for a quality experienced goalie. Don’t be surprised if you end up having to pay for an adult goalkeeper. If you need to hire/pay for a goalie, look for someone with a salary that’s competitive. Often times, hockey goalies get paid a decent rate based on their experience but if they don’t have experience then their rate may be lower. It is important to find someone who will make your team better.

5 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid When Choosing a Hockey Goalie

When you are looking for a goalie, it is important to avoid the following mistakes.

1. Hiring someone in the same league as your team: This may seem like a good idea, but it could end up being a costly mistake and conflict of interest. It is better to recruit someone who has been playing at a lower level or from an external organization.
2. Recruiting an inexperienced goalie: If you don’t consider experience, you may end up with an inexperienced goalie that doesn’t know what they’re doing and can cost your team the game or just ruin the whole game experience. A goalie with experience is a necessity so they don’t fail and will help your team win.
3. Hiring someone with too much experience: It is sometimes beneficial to hire someone who has less experience because they will be motivated and want to prove themselves. They may play a bit more ‘hungry’ and have less bad habits.
4. Hiring someone who is not a good culture fit: For example, bringing in an intensively competitive goaltender when you are entry level beer league team just looking to have some fun and enjoy a few rounds of beer. Ensure both your expectations are clear to avoid ruining everyone’s day.
5. Recruiting or hiring a goalie that ‘over’ rents themselves out. If you happen to be one of their last games for the day (after they have already played 5 games that day) they maybe out of gas and not have the same level of focus or sharpness required to help your team win.

Conclusion

Finding a quality hockey goalie for your team may not be the easiest task since they are in very high demand. Our 6 steps listed above will generate some good opportunities for your team once you have decided whether you are willing to pay or rent out goaltending services.

The key to finding the best adult hockey goalie is knowing what you’re looking for. This means being able to identify the skills, physical and personality traits, work ethic and budget that are important to you and your team.

There are 5 common mistakes we suggest you steer clear of when looking for your next goalie. Ensure to consider the goalies experience, culture fit and workload before signing them up.

If you are an adult hockey goalie looking to join a team or if you are a team desperately looking for a quality goalie for your games checkout www.subsneeded.com. You can list your hockey goalie services here and teams can find quality free agents and book them directly.