Behind the Back Shots

Coach Jon Weston - I got this very interesting question from a good coach I know about defending behind the back shots.

Question: I've noticed that at the high school level, where most defenses aren't sliding effectively, the really good offensive players are becoming adept in scoring with behind the back shots as they are driven to the right or left goal line in one-on-one situations. Do you have any suggestions for training a goalie to recognize and defend these situations?

The Goalieman's Reply: I feel strongly that the keeper must protect between him and the pipe because there is no defensive help there (help is in the middle not at goal line extended). This is critical to team defense that he make that save a lot of the time. So, when the defense lets the shooter come deep enough with no pressure on his back to prevent the behind the back shot, the coach better go back to the drawing board on team defense. Almost always a behind the back shot on cage that goes in is not the keepers fault, but the defenders fault.
Even so the behind the back shot  can be saved.  It is almost always high to high. So if the keeper dips his stick head when the man comes inside he will almost always give up the score. The key to making the save is  to work with hands and elbows in front of the chest with stick head high. Watch the ball and not the man and sometimes you can drive your hands to the ball even if it is behind the back and get a piece of it. It takes some practice, but once you realize that it is a most always a high shot then practice will help the keeper get a few of them.
If coaches are willing to train the keeper, then they also need to train the defense.  The D should not give up this shot. Some work with the defense  is needed to keep the player from top side every time by driving him out toward the sideline improves the defense a lot. It basically takes away the behind the back move (can't turn his shoulders to get it off if the D man is pushing on his back). If the defense plays better on the drive from up top then the coaches can concentrate on helping the keeper make the saves that he needs to make consistently (like cross crease feed stuffs and 10 yard high to lows) instead of ones behind the back.