How to Play Hockey - Beginner Skills
Shooting
The Slap Shot
A slap shot can be taken while either standing still, like a defenseman positioned just inside the blue line, or on the move skating toward the puck. The latter is more effective and more powerful.
With knees slightly bent, skate towards the puck and try to place it just inside your forward foot about two feet in front of you.
Be sure your power hand (right if you shoot right, left if you shoot left) is at the centre of the shaft or slightly below centre. Be sure your body is squared to the puck.
As you start you backswing, shift your weight onto your back foot. Once your stick is on its way toward the puck, shift your weight onto your front foot and transfer the power through the stick as it hits the puck. You want your stick to hit the ice about an inch before the puck. This causes the shaft to flex and adds power to the shot.
Once you have made contact with the puck, be sure to follow through and point to where you envision the puck to go.
For a raised shot you have got to open up the face of the blade and for a lower shot you must keep low in a closed face.
The Wrist Shot
The wrist shot is one of the most accurate and effective shots to use in a game.
When setting up a wrist shot you want to place the puck at the heel of your blade. Pull the puck back with the toe of the stick until it is past your back foot. With the puck on the heel, slide the stick forward and let the puck roll from the heel to the toe and release. You will want to flex the stick with your power hand to create the power in the shot.
Similar with a slap shot, if you want to raise the puck you will have to open up the face of the blade, or closed it if you want to keep it low.
Follow through. After you have released the puck, the tip of your stick should be pointing roughly to where you want the puck to go.
The Snap Shot
When taking a snap shot the focus in on the motion of the wrist.
With the toe of the blade, pull the puck diagonally toward your back foot. When the puck is in shooting position snap you stick forward toward the moving puck, as if you were feeding yourself a one-timer.
Passing
Saucer Pass
A saucer pass is similar to a wrist shot, only much softer. The idea is raise it off the ice a couple inches so it can pass over opposing teams sticks and land just before it reaches your teammates stick.
Again, start with the puck at the heel of the stick and roll it smoothly until the puck releases at the toe of the blade.
Pass Along the Ice
If there are no opposing player between your teammate and yourself, a hard pass along the ice is most effective. Remember that it’s better that your teammate misses your pass because it was too hard rather than an opposing player intercepts the pass resulting in a turnover because the pass was too soft.
The important thing to remember when passing along the ice is to keep the puck flat. If a puck is on its side or uneven, it could bounce off your teammates stick and could result in a turnover.
Receiving a Pass
Imagine the puck is an egg. You want to cradle the puck as it hits your blade. In other words, as it hits your blade, cushion the puck by moving your stick back softly with the puck so that it doesn’t hit a solid surface and bounce off.
Stick Handling
The only way to enhance your stick handling skills, and the same for all other hockey skills, is practice, practice, practice.
Keep the puck at the centre of the blade and cradle it back and forth with either side of the stick. Ideally you want to use the foot of the blade to stickhandle as that is the least flexible part of the blade, giving you maximum control.
When on the ice, it is very important to keep your head up, which is why it is important that you are confidant in your stick handling. You don’t want to be looking down at the puck because you need to be aware of where your teammates are, and where the opposition is.
You do not have to be on the ice to practice your stick handling, all you need is a stick, a level hard surface (concrete or asphalt), and a small solid ball. You can use a golf ball, or an actual off ice handling ball.
Top 10 Advice for Beginners
1. Find a skate that fits.
Find those dusty old skates laying at the bottom of your closet and donate them to Goodwill, or a local hockey organization. Does your foot swim inside the bottom of your boot? Those are candidates for donation, too. Finding a boot that fits the foot correctly is the most important step in improving one’s skating.
The best way to test a prospective skate is pull out its sole and compare it to the bottom of your foot. If the edge of the sole is one-quarter of an inch to one-half an inch longer than the biggest toe, the skate passes the test.
Since most of a skater’s balance and acceleration comes from the heel, it’s important to keep that part of the foot strapped comfortably to the bottom of the sole. If you have a skate that’s too big, you’ll be tripping over your feet. You spend too much of your time adjusting to your skate instead of having it work with you. If it’s too short, the natural tendency is that your toes will get cramped and curl under the foot. The problem there is that toes stuffed underneath the ball of the foot lift up the heel, throwing off a skater’s balance.
2. Skate out of your Comfort Zone.
Having fun in hockey is important. That’s why most people play it, after all. But in order to improve one’s power skating, players need to learn to get out of the comfortable routine they’re accustomed to. Too often, players let body momentum determine the outcome on the ice instead of the player telling the body what to do. By conforming to the “same-old, same-old,” skaters will never advance themselves to the next level. Players must train themselves to create thrust, control body movements, and be aware of what’s going on when on skates. Once these boundaries are established the game becomes even more fun.
3. Bend those knees.
It all starts at the knees. Skaters keep a 90° knee bend, enough so the knees stick out over the tip of the skate about two inches. The more you bend one knee, the more you can stretch and push off with the other one. When a skater keeps the knees bent over the toes, the center of gravity remains at the belly button. This also gives you a longer stride, allowing you to push further and faster giving you more distance per stride.
4. Push it.
A common problem in hockey players is that they don’t follow through with their push. Unlike speedy skaters, such as Alexander Ovechkin or our very own Alex Burrows, many players tend to lift their feet off the ice too soon. Skaters should try to completely finish each push in order to get the most out of each stride. Some people just try to walk on the ice. Get the most behind each push by fully extending that push leg, giving you maximum power.
5. Back straight, head still.
No slouchers allowed. Skaters need to set their body in a good athletic foundation before developing too many more skills. That means the back should be straight and the head should be still. You should have a slight forward lean while keeping your chest slightly out. No matter what you do from that point, you have to keep that athletic foundation. A person’s inner balance is in the head. In other words, if players are bouncing their head around, they’re not gaining momentum, they’re throwing off their balance. The same thing can be said for the back. Players who hunch over their skates have a higher chance of falling forward. They also tend to flip backward from trying to overcompensate for their awkward lean.
6. Use those edges.
It sounds so simple, but it’s absolutely critical. If you can’t skate, you can’t play the game. So much of hockey is quick stops and sharp turns, and that’s why working on using the outside and inside edges of skates is so important. For a little extra burst of acceleration, pushing off from a 45° side ankle bend is a helpful idea. Don’t be afraid to use those ankles. Tie the skate a little looser at the top and tighter in the middle. You’re going to want the top of it to be supporting, but not restricting.”
You know the cliché, “Practice makes perfect?” Well, nothing could be more true when doing edgework. Players should set up a cone course and work on both the right and left edges so they can get used to balancing themselves. After balance is achieved, speed can be the next step.
7. Keep one hand on the stick.
Hockey players shoot and pass, of course, with two hands. But during every other phase of the game the player carries the stick with one hand, so it’s important to practice power skating with a stick in hand. It’s about balance and getting used to the extra weight when one moves the arms back and forth. It helps if you move your arms forward and backward instead of swinging them from side to side. Your momentum needs to go forward. That’s where your speed is, and that’s where your arms should go, too. In this way, skating is like running.
8. Don’t be afraid to fall.
It hurts, but so does skating incorrectly. Like everything else in life, skaters learn from their mistakes. Don’t forget to wear full equipment before hitting the ice, though, or the ice will be hitting you—hard. It’s OK to fall down.
9. Don’t look down.
If there’s one tip I could give to skaters perfecting the skill of skating backward, it would be to keep the head up. The problem is people’s natural tendency is to look down at their skates, as if watching what they’re doing will help them along. When you do that, you mess up your center of balance because you’re leaning forward. Don’t let the hips go back. You have to keep them in line with your skates.
10. Easy does it!
Do it right first, then work on speed. Skaters have a tendency to rush through the mechanics of good skating in order to get faster. The stress resulting from this will cause technique to break down faster than anything else. Most skills are taught in slow motion to “set” the position both physically and mentally, she says in her power skating newsletter Get the Edge. This is why it is so important to establish the correct position. It is very easy to cheat or slide through a position when performed quickly. Once a skill or position is mastered, then skaters can work more on speed.
All the power skating coaches agree that these 10 tips are useless unless players find the time to work on them—over and over. Because practice makes—well, you know the old cliché.
