While it may seem obvious to those who familiar with either EA's NHL and 2K's NHL 2K series, new players may not realize the importance of the the goalie's glove hand. Like a baseball mitt, the goalie wears the glove on his less-dominant hand and, like baseball, it is easier for him to make plays to that side. As a result, a shooter aiming for the goalie's stick hand will typically have more luck sneaking the puck through.
Although we have used NHL 2K9 to illustrate this example, this principle is equally applicable to both NHL 09 and NHL 2K9. Let's take a look at a few examples...
Example 1:
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| Here, the shooter has a great look at the goal from about 15 feet out in front of the crease. The goalie is centered in the crease, there is no obstruction in front of the net that may deflect the shot, and nothing impeding the goalie's vision. |
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| The shooter fires a wrist shot toward an opening on the goalie's glove side. The goalie easily makes the save with his glove, even from this close distance. |
The same thing would have likely happened if the shot was closer to the corner. The goalie simply has a great deal of range with his glove and the glove does not offer the possibility of a carom. Let's take a look at another example...
Example 2:
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| In this example, the shooter is again directly in front of the crease. The goalie is roughly centered in the crease and there is a defender in between the shooter and the goalie that may partially obstruct his vision. |
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| The shooter fires a wrist shot toward the left side of the net (the goalie's stick side). Although the puck ultimately hits the post and ricochets off, you can see the large areas of uncovered net on the left side. |
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| The attackign team actually ends up recovering the carom and sets up another similar shooting opportunity. Again, like the situations before, the shooter is directly in front of the net and the goalie is roughly centered in the crease. There is no obstruction |
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| The shooter's wrist shot sneaks into the net under the goalie's stick-side arm. |
Not only do goalies in both NHL 09 and NHL 2K9 has less coverage on their stick sides, the goalie is also less likely to trap the puck cleanly (as he may with his glove). Instead, even shots blocked by his stick-side pad often result in carom opportunities.
