WENATCHEE — So, you want to be a goalie.

The first thing to do is get you dressed. Go ahead and strap on the leg pads and chest protector and the rest of that big pile of equipment. Yes, it is heavy — on average, a full set of goalie gear weighs just under 50 pounds when it’s dry, which it rarely is — but you’ll be glad to have it once the pucks start flying at you at 80 or 90 miles per hour.

The next thing is to provide you with a checklist of things to remember when you hit the ice. Here you go:

1. The butterfly

The goalie position has evolved considerably over the past 20 years or so. Goalies used to stand straight up almost all of the time, only leaving their feet as a last resort.

But that left large portions of the bottom of the net uncovered. Since that’s where the majority of goals are scored, goaltending evolved to a style known as the butterfly.

The butterfly technique involves kicking your feet out toward the goalposts as you drop to your knees to cover as much of the bottom of the net as possible.

“When I was in juniors 10 years ago, it was butterfly or stand-up,” said Wenatchee Wild

goalies coach Chris Clark. “The last four or five years, you’ve started to see a hybrid (style).”

Hybrid goalies, like the Wild’s Brandon Jaeger, use a combination of butterfly and stand-up techniques.

2. Stick on the ice

Goalies, like athletes in any other sport, have to avoid developing bad habits. One of the easiest bad habits for a goalie to develop when they’re just starting out is not keeping their stick on the ice, leaving themselves vulnerable to low shots.

“Keeping your stick on the ice is a pretty big habit to grasp,” said Brendan Jensen, another Wild goalie.

Jensen said the worst habit he developed when he was younger was bending over too far at the waist, leaving the top of the goal exposed.

3. Stay aggressive

Clark said another bad habit goalies can fall into is becoming complacent.

“We do the same things over and over in practice, so when you get to the ‘dog days’ of the season, you start to go through the motions and stop being aggressive,” Clark said. “Guys try to rely on their reflexes instead of getting out and taking away the angles.”

4. Lateral movement

One of the basic things a goalie needs to be able to do is move side-to-side. There are two basic ways to get from one side of the goal mouth to the other: The shuffle and the T-push.

The shuffle is pretty self-explanatory, while the T-push is a technique that allows goalies to move farther faster. To execute the move, goalies point their “lead” skate — their left foot, if they’re going to be moving to their left, for example — the direction they want to go, then push off hard with the other foot.

If you’re desperate, there’s also the “stack,” where you slide across with one leg on the ice and the other leg stacked on top of the first leg.

5. The “five” hole

In hockey, the area between the goalie’s legs is known as the five hole. That name comes from the fact that there are five areas a goalie has to cover — glove side high, glove side low, stick side high, stick side low and between his legs — and “five hole” emerged as a nickname for that area. One of the biggest reasons goalies need to keep their stick on the ice at all times is to avoid allowing easy goals through the five hole.

6. Follow the puck, but ...

Clark said tracking the puck might seem obvious, but it’s something not all goalies do.

“It seems like the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard, but some goalies don’t do it,” he said.

In addition to knowing the location of the puck, goalies also need to be aware of the location of opposing players.

“Every five or 10 seconds I glance away from the puck to see where their players are and what could develop,” Wild goalie Jensen said.

7. The breakaway

Think of a breakaway as a game of chicken, with both skater and goalie waiting for the other guy to make the first move.

“You want to see what the other guy is going to do,” Jensen said. “You want to wait him out.”

Jensen said while trying to defend his goal on a breakaway or in a shootout, he comes out high in the slot — nearly to the hashmarks — to challenge the skater, then gives ground as the offensive player gets closer.

“You don’t want to give them big gaps,” Jensen said.

If a goalie reacts too quickly, he can get beaten on a fake. If he waits too long, his reflexes might not be quick enough to make the save.

8. Putting it all together

Knowing what to do and how to do it is only half the battle.

“If a goalie doesn’t know when to use what, he’s in a world of hurt,” Clark said.

In other words, you can teach a goalie any number of different techniques, but they have to instinctively know when to use which.

“You can teach and teach and teach, but if a goalie doesn’t understand how to read plays, they’re in trouble,” Clark said.

The “right” move depends on not only the situation, but the goalie.

“Everyone wants to be Patrick Roy, but there’s only one Patrick Roy,” Clark said. “There’s only one Brandon Jaeger and one Brendan Jensen. Every goalie is different.”

One big difference between the two current Wild goalies is size. Jensen stands over 6 feet tall, while Jaeger is 5-foot-9.

“Jensen takes up more room, so he can get out a little farther (from the goal),” Clark said. “Jaeger is a little more aggressive. He has to rely more on his reflexes and on his speed.”

Corey Voegele; 661-5223

cvoegele@wenatcheeworld.com