In ice hockey, "butterfly style" is a technique of goaltending distinguished by the goaltender guarding the lower part of the net by dropping to the knees to block attempts to score. The butterfly style derives its name from the resemblance of the spread goal pads and hands to a butterfly's wings. The Butterfly style is contrasted with stand-up style, where most shots on a goal are stopped with the goaltender on his or her feet. Many factors helped make it a defacto standard style of play today, including the invention of the goalie mask by Jacques Plante, Vladislav Tretiak's outstanding use of the style at the 1972 Canada–USSR Summit Series, the NHL emergence of Tony Esposito in the 1970s and Patrick Roy in the 1980s, the development of lightweight materials for pads and the influence of professional goaltending coaches such as Warren Strelow, Benoit and Francois Allaire. There are few who exclusively employ a stand-up style[1] in the NHL.
Although it is effective and popular among goaltenders, the butterfly style can leave the upper portion of the net more vulnerable to scoring attempts. The modern "profly" derivative was made most popular by Patrick Roy, and is the style most commonly used and taught.[2]
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Glenn Hall is generally thought to be the first goaltender to react to shots by dropping to his knees. This was remarkable because he did it without a mask[3]. Other contemporaries, such as Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante relied mostly on the stand-up style. Plante actually tried the butterfly style when sharing goaltending duties with Glenn Hall in St. Louis, but cautioned others against its use except under certain types of screened shots.[4] Hall's innovation was improved upon later in the 1960s and 70s by Roger Crozier and Tony Esposito. In spite of their success, the butterfly fell out of favour until the emergence of Patrick Roy in the mid-1980s. This new, modern, butterfly style has been referred to as the "Profly" style.
Prominent advocates of the "profly" progression of the butterfly include Canadian coaches François Allaire and Benoit Allaire. Many believe that the advent of the Profly style was made possible by improved, heavily armored chest/arm pads and more protective face masks. Prior to these advancements, goaltenders wore chest/arm pads made of felt. To avoid injury, goalies had to trap all pucks with their gloves. Modern, lightweight plastics and energy absorbent foams allowed goaltenders to block and trap shots with their bodies. Equipment designers such as Michel Lefebvre (of Koho and Reebok fame), Michael Vaughn of Vaughn Custom Sports and the late Brian Heaton (of Brian's and Heaton fame) were at the forefront of the equipment advancements. Patrick Roy worked with the Allaire brothers and utilized Lefebvre-designed pads and Heaton-designed gloves in the late 1980s to modernize the style.
As in many arts, there is no universal agreement on style classifications with modern goaltending techniques. Modern hybrid coaches such as the late Warren Strelow worked with goaltenders associated with the profly style such as Miikka Kiprusoff. The butterfly is not a style but a save selection used by most goaltenders.[5].
The butterfly style is contrasted with "stand-up" style goaltenders. The profly and the hybrid are more specialized progressions of collections of technical moves enveloped within the modern butterfly style. The butterfly term is often used to describe the newer profly style of goaltending refined by luminaries such as Ed Belfour, making it popular in the early 2000s by goaltenders such as Rick DiPietro, Martin Biron, Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marc Denis, Henrik Lundqvist and Jean-Sébastien Giguère, the latter being very profly-oriented. Examples of goaltenders that use more of a hybrid style (in order from hybrid-to-profly) are Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas, Evgeni Nabokov, Vesa Toskala and Ryan Miller.
The profly style is a specialized progression of the butterfly style. It usually has the goaltender's leg pads rotating a full 90 degrees as the goaltender drops to the ice on the medial side of the ankles and knees. In this position, the goaltender's pads provide a full 12" (now 11" for NHL-legal specifications) of blocking surface above the ice which presents a wall to the shooter. The legs flare out in a V shape from the knees, presenting excellent coverage on the ice, allowing deflection of pucks to the corner. Extra padding above the knee, referred to as thigh rise, allows the space between the knees to be closed as the top of the pads meet. Butterfly goaltenders may land on any of the facings, inside corners, or knee wings and lifts, if equipped. Profly goaltenders tend to only land on the knee wing and lifts.
Hybrid goaltenders tend to rely more on quickness, agility and reaction time. "Profly" goaltenders tend to rely on technical blocking and positioning as tactical responses to scoring threats. This is best exemplified by comparing butterfliers Roberto Luongo of the Canucks and Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers, with hybriders Martin Brodeur of the Devils and Tim Thomas of the Bruins.
There are a number of other recent technical innovations in response to the puck and shooter position on the ice.
A hallmark of profly is the puck-side leg staying down when recovering to the skates fully upright, to reposition for a rebound or second shot. Rather than picking up the leg closest to the puck, the leg furthest away from the puck is raised, then pushing the puck-side leg toward the puck. At this point, the goaltender may roll back onto the puck-side skate blade, facing the shooter in the familiar ready stance.
Profly goaltenders tend to have an easier time "skating" on their knees, also known as the "backside push", or the "butterfly slide". This term describes where one leg is down, and one is up. The goaltender pushes with his/her leg up laterally from the heel, laterally toward the down leg. This allows for a slide from the up leg to the down leg without getting off the ice completely. If a goaltender is on the inside corners or if the pad faces as in non-progressed "butterfly" styles, the push results in a tendency to roll over onto one's chest and belly.
The V-H move (also called the Split Butterfly) is a move with which profly style goaltenders identify. This is a relatively recent tactical response to a shooter that is advancing from behind the net towards the front of the net, and has the option to pass. The goaltender places the knee farthest from the shooter down horizontally along the goal line. The knee closest to the puck remains vertical next to the goal post. The advantage is on coverage against quick shots to the near side of the net, while still covering the option to track passes to the front of the goal mouth.