Butterfly Style

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 their feet.

Many factors helped make it a de facto standard style of play, including the popularization of the goalie mask by Jacques Plante, Vladislav Tretiak’s outstanding use of the style at the 1972 Canada–USSR Summit Series, the National Hockey League (NHL) emergence of Tony Esposito in the 1970s and Dominic Hasek in the 1990s, the development of lightweight materials for pads and the influence of professional goaltending coaches such as Warren Strelow, and Benoit and François Allaire.

There are few who exclusively employ a stand-up style 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. The profly style is a specialized progression of the butterfly style. The name derives from a goaltending leg pad model designed specifically for the use of the butterfly. The term eventually evolved into a style for goaltenders who tend to use the butterfly save technique as a base for the majority of their save selections.

The term “hybrid” is commonly used to measure how far a goaltender strays from using the butterfly technique as a base save. Some goaltending circles use the term “hybrid” as a middling term from a pure butterfly goaltender to a pure stand-up goaltender.