Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring.^[1] The goaltender mostly plays in or near the area in front of the net called the goal crease (often referred to simply as the crease). Goaltenders tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots. In the modern age of goaltending there are two common styles, butterfly and hybrid (hybrid is a mix of the traditional stand-up style and butterfly technique). Because of the power of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment to protect the body from direct impact.^[2]

Goaltenders are one of the most important players on the ice, as their performance may greatly impact the outcome or score of the game. One-on-one situations, such as breakaways and shootouts, have the tendency to showcase a goaltender's pure skill, or lack thereof. No more than one goaltender per team is permitted to be on the ice at any given time. The rules do not oblige the use of a goaltender and so teams may instead opt to play with an extra skater. However the defensive disadvantage that follows means that this strategy is normally used purely as a desperation maneuver when needing to score late in a game. It may also be used when there is a delayed penalty (should the team to be short-handed touch the puck the play will stop as the penalty is called).

The goaltender is also known as the goalie,^[3] goaler,^[4] goalkeeper,^[4] net minder, tendy, and tender by those involved in the hockey community. In the early days of the sport, the term was spelled with a hyphen as goal-tender.^[4] The art of playing the position is called goaltending and there are coaches, usually called the goalie coach who specialize exclusively in working with goaltenders.^[4] The variation goalie is typically used for items associated with the position, such as goalie stick and goalie pads.