Hockey Skills you've always wanted to improve on...

[Dion]

This is truely embarrasing but I need to learn how to skate. Growing up my parents bought me skates that never fit. My feet would always hurt and was told the skate boot needed time to break in. I finally gave up as I couldn't stand the pain. I learned years later is that i have very wide feet and the skate boots weren't wide enough. Since then i've never had the courage to buy the right skates and maybe take some lessons.

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by Buff

Turning around (going from skating forward to skating backwards). I can turn counter clockwise. Last summer I thought I'd try to force myself to turn clockwise. I bruised my tailbone twice and my hip three times. Never got the hang of it.

Stopping both ways. I can stop alright when I pivot on my left foot (I'm moving counter clockwise), but I can't stop when I pivot on my right foot. At all.

First three strides, like epworth said. Once I get going I can skate as fast as most of the guys I play with, but the first three strides dictate that I'll always be a step behind.

This is the one skill that drives me nuts when I watch hockey players! In hockey lingo they call it a 'pivot,' but what the step should be is a proper 'mohawk.' When hockey players turn from forwards to backwards, they always end up doing a skid, or stopping action to slow them down. Opponents know when they turn that they are going to slow down, so they don't expect anything different. It's essential (and I know many hockey players don't do this a lot) to open your hips. Standing with your feet facing forwards, putting your heels together and turning your toes out as far as you can will help open up the hips.

Lets say your using the two faceoff circles (the red dots, not the big circle) at the end of the ice, going around in a figure 8 pattern. If you approach the circle and it is on your right hand side, you should step on your right forward outside edge, open your hips, bring your heels together, and step backwards on a left back outside edge, and then continue with the crossovers. Same thing the other way, approach the circle with it on your left hand side, step on a left forwards outside edge, turn your hips, put your heels together, and step on a right back outside edge, therefore eliminating any sort of stop or skid motion.

I've watched so many videos of pivots on youtube and I have yet to see one person do it correctly. If you eliminate the skid/stopping motion, it is easier to turn and step forwards and gain speed because you carry momentum through the turn, rather then slowing down and having to use that much more effort to step forwards and get those 3 steps going again!

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by Dion

This is truely embarrasing but I need to learn how to skate. Growing up my parents bought me skates that never fit. My feet would always hurt and was told the skate boot needed time to break in. I finally gave up as I couldn't stand the pain. I learned years later is that i have very wide feet and the skate boots weren't wide enough. Since then i've never had the courage to buy the right skates and maybe take some lessons.

You should put figure skates on your feet, they are killers! I love wearing my hockey skates, I find that they give my feet so much room to move around, and are so much wider then my tight form fitting figure skates. If you have wide feet, you should be able to order skates with a larger width. They can punch skates out if you have pressure points in order to relieve pain, and you can also get them heated up and formed to your feet (not sure if your supposed to do that with hockey skates or not, but when I bought mine at sport check I made the guy do it because that is what they do with figure skates). I would recommend going to Professional Skate (if you live in Calgary), or any other professional skating shop, rather then a Sport Chek or Sport Mart kind of store, as you will have more options and better equipment to get you the right kind of skate!

[Mightyfire89]

All of them. I played and played and played until I finally realized I'm just not good at playing hockey. I can think the game just fine, but my body just can't close the deal. I can't skate for #####e. Small and slow is no way to go through (hockey) life son.

Pretty good at ball hockey though (if you need a center who's real good at faceoffs and agitating the other team's players and not much else).
#whitepeopleproblems

[Trojan97]

Puck bunnies

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by troutman

Seriously, I would like to know how to stop.

I thought that was why there were boards around the ice.

In all seriousness, after seeing your post and Dion's- is there enough interest in a CP "learn to skate" session? It's one way we could take all of us that are better at watching than playing and up our game.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by conroy22

This is the one skill that drives me nuts when I watch hockey players! In hockey lingo they call it a 'pivot,' but what the step should be is a proper 'mohawk.' When hockey players turn from forwards to backwards, they always end up doing a skid, or stopping action to slow them down. Opponents know when they turn that they are going to slow down, so they don't expect anything different. It's essential (and I know many hockey players don't do this a lot) to open your hips. Standing with your feet facing forwards, putting your heels together and turning your toes out as far as you can will help open up the hips.

Lets say your using the two faceoff circles (the red dots, not the big circle) at the end of the ice, going around in a figure 8 pattern. If you approach the circle and it is on your right hand side, you should step on your right forward outside edge, open your hips, bring your heels together, and step backwards on a left back outside edge, and then continue with the crossovers. Same thing the other way, approach the circle with it on your left hand side, step on a left forwards outside edge, turn your hips, put your heels together, and step on a right back outside edge, therefore eliminating any sort of stop or skid motion.

I've watched so many videos of pivots on youtube and I have yet to see one person do it correctly. If you eliminate the skid/stopping motion, it is easier to turn and step forwards and gain speed because you carry momentum through the turn, rather then slowing down and having to use that much more effort to step forwards and get those 3 steps going again!

I'm trying to visualize what you are saying but I can't quite see it?

In figure skating sure you want to carry your momentum into a jump, but in hockey I don't think this applies so much. Maybe when a player is driving wide on a d-man and they pivot from backwards to forwards, but in a situation like that the d-man does not slow down on his pivot.

[habernac]

wish my backhand was better. Or at least more consistent.

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I'm trying to visualize what you are saying but I can't quite see it?

In figure skating sure you want to carry your momentum into a jump, but in hockey I don't think this applies so much. Maybe when a player is driving wide on a d-man and they pivot from backwards to forwards, but in a situation like that the d-man does not slow down on his pivot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpf6p99vmU0

See how when he comes around the corner there is the stopping motion, and then the change of direction? It's a two foot stop and then he changes direction. When you approach the circle, glide on your right foot, turn your hips and touch your left heel to your right heel, then step backwards on your left foot (now gliding on your left backwards outside edge), then cross your right root over your left, and then step forwards on a left inside edge like in the video. Stand up and try it, if that makes any sense. Once you understand how to do it, you don't have to glide on one foot for so long, and it will look like the pivot in the video but without the stop! I wish I could find a video that shows what i'm talking about but I cant..

A hockey player approached one of the coaches at club I coach at and wanted to give him some lessons, so I joined in one day. We were working on this with him, took him a long time to get it because he couldn't turn and open his hips, but when he did he said it felt so much better as he had more speed coming out of the turn.

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I thought that was why there were boards around the ice.

In all seriousness, after seeing your post and Dion's- is there enough interest in a CP "learn to skate" session? It's one way we could take all of us that are better at watching than playing and up our game.

I won't be back from school until Christmas, but I would love to do something like that if people were interested!

[firebug]

Originally Posted by conroy22

You don't have to provide me with any drills, but what I am interested to know is what are some skating skills that you have always wanted to improve on to help better your game? Not only your game, but when you watch hockey on tv or in person and you see a player doing something that looks like they could use some help on?

Thanks!

Our association has started to work closely with this instructor and his skating philosophies.

http://www.hockeyinstitute.org/skating.htm

He slays several of minor hockey's sacred cows regarding skating skills.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by conroy22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpf6p99vmU0

See how when he comes around the corner there is the stopping motion, and then the change of direction? It's a two foot stop and then he changes direction. When you approach the circle, glide on your right foot, turn your hips and touch your left heel to your right heel, then step backwards on your left foot (now gliding on your left backwards outside edge), then cross your right root over your left, and then step forwards on a left inside edge like in the video. Stand up and try it, if that makes any sense. Once you understand how to do it, you don't have to glide on one foot for so long, and it will look like the pivot in the video but without the stop!

A hockey player approached one of the coaches at club I coach at and wanted to give him some lessons, so I joined in one day. We were working on this with him, took him a long time to get it because he couldn't turn and open his hips, but when he did he said it felt so much better as he had more speed coming out of the turn.

I understand what you are saying now, but I still think you aren't correct in your assessment of it being incorrect in hockey.

Hockey is a game of transition, in the case of this pivot the scenario would be a d-man coming down the ice and there is a turnover so he pivots and heads backwards. Now in this case the d-man wants to keep a proper gap between himself and the puck carrier. If he keeps all his speed and the puck carrier has to gain speed as he is changing direction the d-man will be out of position because the gap between himself and the puck carrier will be too great. He will then have to slow down to close the gap which could leave him being flat footed and beat wide.

While it might seem to you that they are pivoting incorrectly it actually has a function. In figureskating you want to keep all your momentum so you can have the speed you need for a jump, this isn't always true in hockey.

Look at figureskating, once they pivot they do not take anymore strides as they are setting up for a jump. In hockey if you were to do that you wouldn't be moving your feet and you would be dead in the water.

Also by teaching them to open their hips when they turn you are just asking for the puck carrier to head in the other direction of the hip turn and that d-man would get turned inside out.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way as I'm not trying to be rude, but just because you can teach figureskating doesn't mean you can teach hockey skating as the two are actually very different.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by conroy22

I won't be back from school until Christmas, but I would love to do something like that if people were interested!

What are the odds you're going to school in Lethbridge?

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I understand what you are saying now, but I still think you aren't correct in your assessment of it being incorrect in hockey.

Hockey is a game of transition, in the case of this pivot the scenario would be a d-man coming down the ice and there is a turnover so he pivots and heads backwards. Now in this case the d-man wants to keep a proper gap between himself and the puck carrier. If he keeps all his speed and the puck carrier has to gain speed as he is changing direction the d-man will be out of position because the gap between himself and the puck carrier will be too great. He will then have to slow down to close the gap which could leave him being flat footed and beat wide.

While it might seem to you that they are pivoting incorrectly it actually has a function. In figureskating you want to keep all your momentum so you can have the speed you need for a jump, this isn't always true in hockey.

Look at figureskating, once they pivot they do not take anymore strides as they are setting up for a jump. In hockey if you were to do that you wouldn't be moving your feet and you would be dead in the water.

Also by teaching them to open their hips when they turn you are just asking for the puck carrier to head in the other direction of the hip turn and that d-man would get turned inside out.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way as I'm not trying to be rude, but just because you can teach figureskating doesn't mean you can teach hockey skating as the two are actually very different.

I don't mean to say that it is incorrect, because I know it has it's benefits for hockey players, in ways that I just don't understand yet. I haven't played enough hockey to actually understand how a lot of hockey skills work in game play, as I've always just watched the game on TV. I'm not saying I can teach hockey skating, the only things I am decent at are those skills that resemble figure skating, crossovers, edges, turning, stopping, etc. They are two different sports, but they do have a lot of similarities in terms of basic skating skills. Have you ever watched Battle of the Blades? Many if not all of the hockey players say every season that they wish they had taken figure skating lessons because it would have made them much better hockey players. Not saying that figure skating is better or anything, but balancing on your feet, how to transition from forwards to backwards and vice versa, things like pivots, they realize that many little figure skating skills can transfer into hockey skills and improve their skating. I know a lot of big name professional figure skating coaches that teach many pro hockey players, so it's not impossible. It also works the other way though, hockey skills can also help figure skaters.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by conroy22

I don't mean to say that it is incorrect, because I know it has it's benefits for hockey players, in ways that I just don't understand yet. I haven't played enough hockey to actually understand how a lot of hockey skills work in game play, as I've always just watched the game on TV. I'm not saying I can teach hockey skating, the only things I am decent at are those skills that resemble figure skating, crossovers, edges, turning, stopping, etc. They are two different sports, but they do have a lot of similarities in terms of basic skating skills. Have you ever watched Battle of the Blades? Many if not all of the hockey players say every season that they wish they had taken figure skating lessons because it would have made them much better hockey players. Not saying that figure skating is better or anything, but balancing on your feet, how to transition from forwards to backwards and vice versa, things like pivots, they realize that many little figure skating skills can transfer into hockey skills and improve their skating. I know a lot of big name professional figure skating coaches that teach many pro hockey players, so it's not impossible. It also works the other way though, hockey skills can also help figure skaters.

No no, I'm not trying to say figureskating is bad. Figureskating is a lot smoother and looks effortless when you compare it to some hockey players. I guess my point is don't be so quick to try and change the way someone is skating until you know the reasons behind it.

[conroy22]

Originally Posted by Buff

What are the odds you're going to school in Lethbridge?

Odds must be pretty good because you nailed it. Hah, how did you ever figure that out?

[Hanna Sniper]

extremely tight turns/pivots (3)
First 3 strides

*always with a puck

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by habernac

wish my backhand was better. Or at least more consistent.

+1.

I can unleash a rocket for a wrister or a clapper, but my backhand looks like a 3 year old just threw a muffin at the net. It's incredibly awkward for me.

I've seen guys that are horrific skaters that can't send or receive a pass to save their lives absolutely fill the net because they can shoot backhand.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

+1.

I can unleash a rocket for a wrister or a clapper, but my backhand looks like a 3 year old just threw a muffin at the net. It's incredibly awkward for me.

I've seen guys that are horrific skaters that can't send or receive a pass to save their lives absolutely fill the net because they can shoot backhand.

Do you have a huge curve on your stick?

[Buff]

Originally Posted by conroy22

Odds must be pretty good because you nailed it. Hah, how did you ever figure that out?

Just a hopeful and lucky guess. So what are the odds of lessons for the CP members and their friends in Lethbridge?