Blade up or down when sitting on the Bench?

[WolfgangPuck]

If you like blade up
do you prefer the blade angles a certain way( away form you / sideways?)

If you like knob up
do you prefer blade angles a certain way ( toward you / sideways?)

Click to read more...

 

[Llamamoto]

Always blade up for me.

I don't pay much attention to the angle of the blade, but I assume away from me?

 

[HansonBro]

Always blade down. Can't have your shaft all wet

 

[puckpilot]

Blade down because people spit on the ground. Eww.

 

[WolfgangPuck]

I usually have it blade up as that would be where my natural hand position is on the stick I just hold the stick with one hand and twirl with the blade away from me while on the bench. I can quickly jump off the bench with my free arm and just twirl my stick back to my natural position with blade sticking away from me when I start skating
With the knob up but it takes me a bit extra more time to setup Does not feel as natural for me

 

[tarheelhockey]

IMO the proper position is blade down, to prevent the blade hanging into the field of play. More for the refs than anything, because they have to back up to the boards and shouldn't be dodging blades.

That being said, I usually forget this after a shift.

 

[JustJokinenAround]

IMO the proper position is blade down, to prevent the blade hanging into the field of play. More for the refs than anything, because they have to back up to the boards and shouldn't be dodging blades.

That being said, I usually forget this after a shift.

as a ref i completely agree, i keep an eye out for the blade, with that being said, i always have the blade up when i'm playing and on the bench

 

[LarryO]

Blade down by habit because I've been doing it for many years, but when I hop onto the ice, I have to flip my stick around. So sometimes I wonder if blade up wouldn't be more efficient since I'd be ready a second quicker when I get on the ice.

 

[beedee]

Blade down.

 

[Ozz]

Up so you can hook opposing players as they go by.

 

[nilan30]

To the side so you have more room on the bench

 

[JMCx4]

Doesn't blade down risk it getting hung up inside the bench space (under the bench or on the bench side of the boards) as a player hops the boards onto the ice? Seems to me you'd want it blade up so you have a straight shaft exiting the bench space last.

 

[Toonces]

Blade up because I don't want anybody to f*** up my tape with their skates.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Blade up always
I’d feel paranoid having my blade down where I can’t see it and worried it’d get caught on something or break

 

[EdJovanovski]

Doesn't blade down risk it getting hung up inside the bench space (under the bench or on the bench side of the boards) as a player hops the boards onto the ice? Seems to me you'd want it blade up so you have a straight shaft exiting the bench space last.

Agreed
Although I’ve got stuck another way lol. I wear really long laces in my hockey pants dangling like Ovi, and once I was hopping on the ice and the laces got caught on the door hinge and pulled me back to the boards lmao I had to yell for someone else to go on as I didn’t have time to untangle myself

 

[damack]

Too funny I was just thinking about this last night as I looked down the bench. It was an even mix of blade up and down, and I'll be honest this is the most thought I've ever given it. I'm blade up, for no particular reason than that's just how I seem to do it.

 

[Bexlyspeed]

Ice hockey blade up , roller hockey blade down

 

[Ozz]

I thought about it for 5 seconds and blade up allows you to keep your hand in proper grip position. Why would you flip your hand or stick around just to hold the blade up?

 

[Filthy Dangles]

It’s Blade up.

Makes fast line changes on the fly where you’re hopping over the boards, easier.

Pretty much all NHLers go blade up for that reason.

 

[Meuracas]

Blade up for 2 reasons:
- faster to jump back on ice and play the puck, ie. no need to flip the stick around
- able to scrape excess ice/snow off the stick while on the bench

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Blade up, allows you to put it down on the ice as soon as you jump over the bench

 

[WolfgangPuck]

Blade down isn’t that difficult to regrip once on the ice. If you take a lot face offs it’s same back hand grip
Also in the bench gives a breather to relax the arm muscles.
Sometime you see tennis players choke up on the grip to relax the arm in between points

 

[ChuckLefley]

Blade down isn’t that difficult to regrip once on the ice. If you take a lot face offs it’s same back hand grip
Also in the bench gives a breather to relax the arm muscles.
Sometime you see tennis players choke up on the grip to relax the arm in between points

Wait, what?!?! You can’t sit on the bench with the blade up and have your arm muscles relaxed?!?! To take it a step further, if that is the case than isn’t that shift of the stick going to waste energy?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Wait, what?!?! You can’t sit on the bench with the blade up and have your arm muscles relaxed?!?! To take it a step further, if that is the case than isn’t that shift of the stick going to waste energy?

TBH I think the whole thing is an argument over nothing. Picking up the stick in either direction makes no difference... it's not like you teleport into the action as soon as you touch it. You have more than enough time to get your grip right before your feet even touch the ice. Hell, you really ought to be holding it at the ready for at least a few seconds ahead of the start of your shift.

If this is giving someone problems of any kind, they probably shouldn't be playing live-action hockey in the first place.

 

[madmutter]

When the Sedin twins retired one of the announcers told the story that one was always blade up and the other blade down and that that was his secret for telling them apart on the bench.