Question for those that play at a higher organized level (ex: College, Junior B or above at least)

[beenhereandthere]

Can you do this drill that this one ex pro is trying to teach me to do (he's saying all the high level skaters can do this)? I can barely do it, (Figure 8) but, I've been playing for about 35 years and have attended a few hockey schools in the states, this has never been taught at any of them.
So is it really that critical? Does it mean your edges are that sorry if you can't do it? Even the guy who's trying to teach me it said he couldn't do it when he played Junior A, but frankly he was almost strictly a fighter back then.
Here's the drill. While this may be backwards, doing it forward is similar to this drill.

Click to read more...

 

[beenhereandthere]

Can you do this drill that this one ex pro is trying to teach me to do (he's saying all the high level skaters can do this)? I can barely do it, but, I've been playing for about 35 years and have attended a few hockey schools in the states, this has never been taught at any of them.
So is it really that critical? Does it mean your edges are that sorry if you can't do it? Even the guy who's trying to teach me it said he couldn't do it when he played Junior A, but frankly he was almost strictly a fighter back then.
Here's the drill. While this may be backwards, doing it forward is similar to this drill.

This is similar to it to, but it doesn't go all the way around in a Figure 8, which is what I was asked to do

 

[Ozz]

Criteria disclaimer: I didn't play college but could/would have.

In my peewee/bantam (i forget how the years go) days we did similar drills at a hockey school led by an NHLer. I don't recall doing full figure 8s, but we did do backward drills, using edges around partial circles, and carrying the puck. Plenty of guys there could barely do that well and with fluidity, so I would imagine full 8s on one foot would be even tougher to pull off. I'm not sure how precise your guy's claim would be but I'd imagine anyone skating at such a level SHOULD be able to pull that off with some practice at least. Depends on their skating strength, as you said he himself could barely do it (and was most likely a strong skater otherwise).

Most of the guys I play adult open with nowadays have no formal skating training and have probably never heard of such a thing, but many are hard and strong skaters. Their best skills on skates vary, but I'd bet very few could actually function on their edges like that. It might be surprising how minimally lots of players actually utilize their edges. It's not a basic skill IMO, but one of those "bonus" kinda things where it starts to separate you from others.

 

[Pez68]

Criteria disclaimer: I didn't play college but could/would have.

In my peewee/bantam (i forget how the years go) days we did similar drills at a hockey school led by an NHLer. I don't recall doing full figure 8s, but we did do backward drills, using edges around partial circles, and carrying the puck. Plenty of guys there could barely do that well and with fluidity, so I would imagine full 8s on one foot would be even tougher to pull off. I'm not sure how precise your guy's claim would be but I'd imagine anyone skating at such a level SHOULD be able to pull that off with some practice at least. Depends on their skating strength, as you said he himself could barely do it (and was most likely a strong skater otherwise).

Most of the guys I play adult open with nowadays have no formal skating training and have probably never heard of such a thing, but many are hard and strong skaters. Their best skills on skates vary, but I'd bet very few could actually function on their edges like that. It might be surprising how minimally lots of players actually utilize their edges. It's not a basic skill IMO, but one of those "bonus" kinda things where it starts to separate you from others.

Eh? Not true at all. You use your edges for absolutely everything you do on the ice.... The entire game of hockey is played on inside or outside edges, and you can't skate, stop, turn, accelerate, or crossover without "utilizing your edges".

While that's a hard drill to do backwards, high level skaters at bantam and above, can likely do that drill. That drill is more about building leg strength, anyway.

 

[puckpilot]

If anyone cares, here's McDavid doing it in practice.

 

[Ozz]

Eh? Not true at all. You use your edges for absolutely everything you do on the ice.... The entire game of hockey is played on inside or outside edges, and you can't skate, stop, turn, accelerate, or crossover without "utilizing your edges".

While that's a hard drill to do backwards, high level skaters at bantam and above, can likely do that drill. That drill is more about building leg strength, anyway.

Ok, surely you could figure I meant how weak many are as far as having impressive edgework beyond the basics.

 

[Pez68]

Ok, surely you could figure I meant how weak many are as far as having impressive edgework beyond the basics.

That drill IS basic edgework. It just requires pretty good leg strength to do it on one leg. Leg strength you typically don't have until a higher age/level.

For what it's worth, I coach 10U house league, and we have our kids try to do a full circle on one leg, on both inside and outside edges, during our powerskate sessions. There are a bunch of kids at the house level, at 9 and 10, that can do this. The only difference with the drill above is, you're alternating between inside and outside edges.

Here is the drill OP is talking about, btw:

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Criteria disclaimer: I didn't play college but could/would have.

In my peewee/bantam (i forget how the years go) days we did similar drills at a hockey school led by an NHLer. I don't recall doing full figure 8s, but we did do backward drills, using edges around partial circles, and carrying the puck. Plenty of guys there could barely do that well and with fluidity, so I would imagine full 8s on one foot would be even tougher to pull off. I'm not sure how precise your guy's claim would be but I'd imagine anyone skating at such a level SHOULD be able to pull that off with some practice at least. Depends on their skating strength, as you said he himself could barely do it (and was most likely a strong skater otherwise).

Most of the guys I play adult open with nowadays have no formal skating training and have probably never heard of such a thing, but many are hard and strong skaters. Their best skills on skates vary, but I'd bet very few could actually function on their edges like that. It might be surprising how minimally lots of players actually utilize their edges. It's not a basic skill IMO, but one of those "bonus" kinda things where it starts to separate you from others.

At a high level (college, pro or even NHL), edge work separates the good players from the elite players. If you look at the elite players at any high level of hockey, they beat the competition a lot of the time with their skating abilities.

 

[PK16]

That drill IS basic edgework. It just requires pretty good leg strength to do it on one leg. Leg strength you typically don't have until a higher age/level.

For what it's worth, I coach 10U house league, and we have our kids try to do a full circle on one leg, on both inside and outside edges, during our powerskate sessions. There are a bunch of kids at the house level, at 9 and 10, that can do this. The only difference with the drill above is, you're alternating between inside and outside edges.

Here is the drill OP is talking about, btw:

My 10 year old was doing that drill this past Sunday in his session.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

The best way to get used to your edges is to lay a stick on the ice and practice one foot turns on all four edges.

Here is a good example video for people who want to see how you do it:



If you are at a public skate, just go to the middle of the ice and pretend that there is a stick and practice this drill.