Simple trick to improve stickhandling (at least it worked for me): Cut a small length of pvc pipe and slide it over your stick so that when you hold the stick naturally, your top hand is holding the section of pipe over the stick. My friend gave me this tip and it has made me a better stickhandler. I think it has something to do your grip, and compensating for the pipe sliding a litle bit. I did this in my garage for about 20-30 minutes a day.
Its interesting that you say the top hand (at end of stick) holds the pipe over the stick because I know of a similar exercise but it involves, in this case, holding the pipe over the stick with your lower hand. The point being that you get used to not holding the stick tightly with both hands all the time. You want a good grip of the stick with your top hand but when stickhandling, if you keep your lower hand looser, you can bring your hands closer together to control the puck further from the body without bending your back and when you space your hands out further apart on the stick, you can control the puck in close to your feet. If when you stickhandle, you keep both hands the same space apart, you will only feel 'comfortable' stickhandling the puck/ball a medium distance from the body. If you keep that same spacing between the hands and the puck moves further from you, you have to compensate by leaning forward, and if the puck is in your feet, you have to change your body position to a point where the whole of the blade of your stick will not be touching the ground, only a small bit will be, thus less control of the puck/ball. Hence the reason to get used to having a softer grip with your lower hand when you stickhandle.
As for the original post, I'm not entirely sure if I can give you any advice you wouldn't already be aware of if you are above average offensively, but I'll give it a shot, hopefully something here might be of use:
- Being tricky one on one. Top end speed here can be very useful, but more important is your ability to change speeds. If you can dip the shoulder one way and take two explosive strides the opposite way, you can create a little more space than if you just always try to go flat out (unless you have
exceptional speed). If you can change direction at high speed, that will also help a lot, because you wont have to slow down for your turns, lots of players do. Also, in regards to skating, use shuffle steps when in close to someone to give you that shifty edge. I will assume you know what they are, but if not, feel free to ask (about that, or anything else here i may not make clear).
In regards to controlling the puck, if you play against the same people regularly, they will learn your tendancies and your moves, like a keeper would when facing players 1 on 1. If on a breakaway, you always approach from the same angle at the same speed then you might do the same thing (shoot to a certain side, make a certain deke). People get the hang of what you are doing given time, particularly if you successfully do what you are trying to do. You should practice a variety of moves for each situation you might find yourself in (against a d-man or goalie, etc). For example, when skating in alone on a goalie from the left hand side (im right handed, btw), i always used to fire a high wrist shot at the top right corner. Goalies will get used to this and anticipate it. So the next time i skate in, I might look to fake a wrist shot, make a move across the face of the goal and fire a wrist shot top left corner. Now the goalie might expect me to always shoot so he will come out further to take away the angle. So as i approach, i look to fake a shot and maybe deke to the backhand and use the extra space behind him. The same rule applies with defenders, if you use the same move all the time, they will get used to it, so learn some different variations. If you find yourself always throwing a specific deke (toe-drag, shoulder drop, dropping the puck to your skates and kicking it) learn to finish the move in different ways. So with a toe-drag for example, learn to do the TD and cut to the inside. then try doing the TD and starting to come inside before going back outside. then try doing the TD and pulling the puck through your legs from back to front. But having a variety of moves available to you in any situation can be very difficult to defend against.
- better offensive awareness. Two things i can say will help you here.
1. watching the people you play hockey with and learning their tendancies. Some people drive the net, some stand in front of it, some stand behind it. Some stay out on the boards looking for a one timer (like Kovalchuk on the PP), some will cross over behind you. Everyone is different. If you learn what everyone likes to do, you will be prepared for it and it will be easier to spot in a game. And if you know what your teammates are doing, you opponents might not, which gives you the advantage.
2. You didn't mention how good/comfortable you are with stickhandling. Particularly without looking at the puck while you stickhandle. If its an issue, just skate around with the puck on your stick without looking at it. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. As you build up your comfort with it, try changing the speed you are skating at and doing the same thing. And then try changing direction, generally building up the difficulty of technique in your skating while you stickhandle. You start slow and simple and build the speed and technicality of your skating, adding pivots, check stops, changes of direction. You dont have to do any fancy stickhandling moves (you can add them in later once you are comfortable with just the puck and your skating), just have control of the puck without looking at it, while skating as you would in different situations in a game. Once you can skate hard and still control the puck without looking at it, it frees your head up to look aorund at what goes on around you. And if you know what your teammates are doing in a game while moving at full speed with the puck, you can make a good choice of what to do with the puck.
I hope thats clear (i know i don't always do the best job of explaining things), if not I'll try clarify anything for you. Some of the best attacking players do have god-given talent, but a lot of it is desire. Just how good do you want to be? Are you willing to keep learning and improving, even if its only minor things? If its something you want badly enough, you will find a way to make it happen. whether that means working on your skating, stickhandling, understanding of the way you or someone else plays the game, how an opponant lines up against you when you skate towards them. There is always something else you can pay attention to. Just start slow and simple when learning new skills and build on that, bit by bit. If you keep building on an aspect of your game, eventually, you can become very good at it.