When was the last time you left home without your cell phone? It’s been a while, right? Save for the time or two you accidentally left it behind.
It’s how you communicate with nearly everyone you know, and even people you’ve never met face to face. Your schedule can be brought up with two taps on the screen, email just one. Then there are apps with tools to aid you as you aim for a higher rung within your career.
Let’s say you’re one of the brave folks who enjoy putting your body in the way of vulcanized rubber discs traveling around 100 miles per hour. There are many goaltending apps on the market that can help you to take the next step in your development, allowing you to see your statistics, tendencies in net and overall strengths and weaknesses.
For example, one of the newer apps that’s available is Shot On Goal, developed by Paul Surette, a goalie dad from Guelph, Ontario.
After downloading Shot On Goal, the user begins the setup by adding goalies. The first name, last name and number are all mandatory, with options to include additional personal information. When finished, the user taps on the starting goaltender, and a green checkmark appears beside their picture.
Following that step, it’s time to add games and match information, such as the opponent and setting. Right before the opening faceoff, the game about to be played is selected. Once again, a green checkmark appears.
Then, with the net on the screen and the contest under way, the user taps the net to track shots, using a longer tap to record goals. Goals are displayed in red, like the glowing lamp behind the netminder, while saves are in black.
The app allows the user to track shots based on the score clock and period, with the ability to start and stop the clock. At the conclusion of each period, the app can show the location of the saves, and also where the puck entered the net.
Another app is iSOG (Shots On Goal) PRO Goalie and Player Stats Utility, created by iSOG, Inc. The full version of this program tracks information about both skaters and goaltenders, accumulating all the stats and posting them online in graphs. Coaches can see the areas in which the players must improve; parents can use the app to take notes to show to coaches; scouts can email the stats of multiple players to his office.
Focusing solely on the goalie aspect, this app allows the user to record, by period, where the pucks were shot from on the ice, at what part of the net they were fired, and the type of play from which the shots derived, whether it’s a breakaway, wraparound, etc.
It categorizes the saves, showing which piece of equipment was used to make the stop, and also tracks the goaltender’s rebound control. The goals allowed are broken down by how they entered the net, for example through the five-hole, and if the goal was scored either on the opponent’s power play or shorthanded when their club was on the power play.
The "lite" version of iSOG records the basics — saves, goals, shots — by period for both goalies and one player.
These are only two of the many apps available to goaltenders. So next time you’re heading to the rink to coach or scout or to simply cheer on your kid, don’t just use your phone to send a text or check your email.
Use your device to help develop your goalie, too.
