Why do goalies scrape the ice in front of their goals?

Answer 1

1. it slows the puck 2. it slows the goalie down when making a sliding save on his pads 3. it absorbs any standing water left by the Zamboni 4. the scraped ice is piled by the posts to provide a speed bump for a wraparound play. 5. superstition.

Answer 2

A large portion of playing the position has to do with sliding while down in the "butterfly" position.

When the ice has just been resurfaced, the amount of slide may be too much for some goaltenders, so they will try to build up some snow/reduce the finish of the ice in order to reduce how much they will slide.

In addition, you will often notice that this procedure is normally done right when the goalie comes onto the ice in a quick manner. So it also helps the player warm up by getting the legs moving.