General Hockey Shot Question - Discussion

[Pengwin7]

Situation: You are a perfect-accuracy NHL (wrist) shooter.

You can take a wrist shot, with very good (4/5 star) NHL velocity and place it exactly where you want, every time.
You simply need to decide where you want to shoot the puck - and it will go there.
[Or - you can imagine a robot-skater - and you simply need to press a button 1/2/3/4/5-hole - and the puck will be shot there. You could have it go 5-hole, or blocker-side top corner, glove-side 3" off the ice inside post, just inside the ear-hole of the goalie, whatever you want.]

If you are coming down on a goalie on a shootout/breakaway...
You are not allowed to deke (though you can stickhandle to position your release, but you are skating straight in from the center-ice dot...)
You must "shoot" with a wrist shot...
What spot are you choosing?

(i.e. The game is this: You want to choose a spot where the goalie, the assortment of NHL goalies, is LEAST likely to close that spot off, from start of your release to shot arrival.)



Just curious - where would you say is the premium spot to place a wrist-shot, point-blank?

[2014olympicgold]

4/5 speed, 100% accuracy, 5-hole and backhand to forehand deke to shoot just above the pad below the blocker/glove.

If it's not a breakaway, by the ears of the goalie.

[saucelife90]

Can't deke at all, point blank just shooting - I'm probably going low blocker.

[PenguinHunter]

Can't deke at all, point blank just shooting - I'm probably going low blocker.

I was debating between:

1) low blocker, just above pad heights just inside the post
2) blocker side in-between the arm and the body.

[Grapes]

First off thank you for the accolades.
Right handed goalie, left glove hand.
Having previously set up the goalie with a slap shot head high from 15 feet out.
This time I’m going top left corner.

[Bubba55]

Top corner blocker side.

[LawMan]

Blocker side, above just above the pads.
Sometimes called the "7-hole"

[Invictus]

Confined to coming in straight with no (or little horizontal movement)

Shot from the slot (close to the goal but not being in tight)
Either high glove side or mid blocker side, depending on what hand the shooter and the goalie is.

2) blocker side in-between the arm and the body.

That should not be an option.

[dejeanneret]

Because I can be assured of hitting my spot in this scenario, top corner high blocker.

(I think the modern goalie is dropping down into the butterfly or whatever the latest iteration is called these days as I start my release trying to take away the bottom half of the net, and low blocker).

[GinFizz]

Blocker side, above just above the pads.
Sometimes called the "7-hole"

This

[Axeman33]

Because I can be assured of hitting my spot in this scenario, top corner high blocker.

(I think the modern goalie is dropping down into the butterfly or whatever the latest iteration is called these days as I start my release trying to take away the bottom half of the net, and low blocker).

As a goalie myself, I concur with this answer. Goalies will generally cheat and drop the blocker low and put the wide part of the shaft on the ice to help cover the bottom of the net as much as possible. The top part is always exposed. Even if they're a stand up type goalie, high blocker is still greasy.

[Invictus]

In stance the stick shaft normally extends from the goalie’s hand to the top corner of the net guarding it.
This is maintained until the player is forced to an in tight shot or deke.
I feel this guard is being underestimated and high blocker is on the lower end of the spectrum.
I don't expect beer leaguers to have this kind of precision timing.

Which leads me to add to my answer.
I think how the play develops is more important to success then what 'hole' I'm picking.
If we are talking breakaways, ideally as a shooter, I would want my breakaway to begin inside the blueline (maybe off a turnover or something) giving the goalie little time to react to move out and setup. This gives me more control as the shooter to dictate the play as opposed to the goalie challenging me.

I would think in a shootout (when goalie has enough time to properly setup and you can get him moving lateral) 5-hole would be highest chance of goal for a shot.

PS
If it's Matt Murray - high glove before he has time to knock the net off

[finnys_fanatsy]

Top cheddar blocker side

[YzermansLegacy]

When I think of a modern-day "wrist" shot it strikes me as being more of a "snap shot" (what we called it back in the day) as it's often a "two-touch" shot (versus the 'classic' smooth one-motion wrister). Guys like Matthews are able to make their 2-touches almost invisible - change angle/drag and shoot without any 'gap' between puck and blade.

That preamble is necessary to qualify my answer here - as a "straight/point blank" shot I'd play differently (likely five-hole relying on speed).

But for me - a RH shot - I'll often try to "pull" the puck in closer/change the angle and fire 'against the grain' high glove side (assuming goalie is a majority left-catcher). The key though is the "two-touch/two-step" element - as the first touch gets the goalie moving/committing and the second tries to play 'against' their assumed movement.

I often miss of my own lack of skills - but if I could 'put it where I want' - I feel like it's a recipe for success.

[Eskimo Brother]

I was never much of one for deaking, and usually my breakaways had me being chased down by another player, so it was just skate straight in and get a shot off. I always went high blocker as the last few comments have mentioned. So that's my vote.