Here’s How: Step-by-step sports; One, two, three – triple-deke

“Have you been practicing the triple-deke?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re set. One, two, three – triple deke! Take your best shot.”

Those were the famous words from Coach Gordon Bombay to Charlie Conway in Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks” when Charlie had to beat the goalie on a penalty shot. In the 10 years since that film was released, armchair hockey players around the world have considered that move to be the ultimate in faking goalies.

But as most real players know, there are many simpler moves one can make to deke – which is a fancy word for “fake” – a goalie.

Utah State’s Robert Hashimoto has had his fair share of breakaways this season and knows a thing or two about how to score.

“You’ve got to be tricky,” he said. “You have to be really decisive.”

If no player stands between you and the goalie, Hashimoto said it is best to make your move about 10 to 15 feet from the net.

“You have to decide if you’re going to shoot with your forehand or backhand,” he said. “If you’re going to shoot with the backhand, fake with your forehand and then switch to the backhand.”

He said good players can use more complicated moves like the double – or the infamous – triple-deke.

Hashimoto said his favorite move is the fake slap-shot.

“If I have time, I slam my stick into the ice like I’m taking a shot, but I don’t touch the puck,” he said. “It freezes the goalie and I can go right around him. Normally, you want to move a goalie before you make your move.”

It’s an awfully different perspective from the other end.

USU goalie Scottie Beard said turnovers on the defensive end usually cause open breakaways.

“[When a breakaway happens], I think the defensmen are dumb,” he said. “It’s usually them who turn it over.”

Beard said the worst thing a goalie can do in this situation is to make the first move.

“If I move first, I get scored on,” he said. “You have to be patient. Don’t over-commit. Let him make his move.”

Beard said there’s not a whole lot a goalie can do in this situation..

“You just throw everything you got in front of [the puck],” he said. “If he’s skating with his head down, you can take him out.”

Beard said he likes to fake like he’s going for the puck with his stick.

“I show the poke check and then take it back,” he said. “That opens the five-hole [between his legs] and then closes it.”

Beard said if he does that, the skater will often try to shoot through the five-hole thinking that it will be open.

Hashimoto said he’s not perfect on breakaways.

“Sometimes I get nervous and indecisive,” he said.

He said his teammates have given him a hard time over a picture that ran in the Statesman of him faking a goalie, but missing the shot.

Fans can catch the Aggie hockey team in action once more this weekend when it hosts the Weber State Division-I squad Friday and then plays the same team Saturday in Ogden.

Friday’s game starts at 8 p.m at the Eccles Ice Center in North Logan.

-bhhinton@cc.usu.edu