Beginners: Tips for Beginners

[TrueBlue86]

Do not leave the net if your team's the type that may score on its own net

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6wL5Mr3Qg

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v6_oXtwAYE

 

[Siamese Dream]

I've seen beer league goalies take off because they think the penalty is on the other team... nope.

I'm a referee and a goalie, and I did this once recently. One of my guys got hauled down by a hook, I was absolutely certain we were being given a powerplay and the ref had his arm up as the puck went down the ice into a corner (nobody in possession) I raced to the bench and the other teams' goalie stayed in his net the entire time

Luckily the puck didn't go in but when one of my teammates got the puck the play was blown the ref and he gave the penalty to one of my players

 

[MrDutchy]

Advice for a returning player

Hello all,

I used to play ice hockey when I was younger (between 9 and 12) but after a move I haven't been able to play hockey anymore until now (age 19). I have always loved hockey and now I can play again which I will (in a rookie adult league). However hockey is one of those sports that is very specific and you need to know a lot (like about equipment, when you can get on the ice, etc.) I had a few questions because I've forgotten a lot or it has changed or for some reason I just don't know enough about it. I've been looking at pads so I can get out and play and I've noticed some pads are extremely cheap (like a $100 deal for elbow, shin, and chest pads) are these safe? I can't really figure out the difference between the high end pads and the cheap ones. I'm hoping it's just mobility, fit and comfort because I can live with the cheaper ones if it's that; however, if the cheaper pads are less safe I'd be a bit apprehensive. Could someone explain the difference between the pads? Also, what is the difference for expensive and cheap helmets besides weight? What can I expect from my rookie adult league? I know it'll be different everywhere but how do you think I'll cope with my skill level after not playing for so long? I can still skate pretty well and play a bit on the street from time to time so I'm not completely hopeless. From your experience how old are the players in the adult leagues?

Thanks everyone for all the help. Sorry for this giant wall of text.

 

[AIREAYE]

Read the Equipment and Skate guides that are stickied. It's all there.

 

[raptor5191]

I returned to the game after a 12 year layoff last year and can help you get pointed in the right direction on getting some good stuff without breaking the bank too bad, but I do not want to advertise here for anyone. Shoot me a PM if interested.

I do not work in the hockey industry...I just do not want to be accused of advertising for anyone.

 

[wils5150]

if you are playing no check or beer league middle of the road equipment will be fine. I would get the best fitting skates you can and a good brain bucket. If you are already a good skater you should be ahead of a lot of players in rookie league. I played up to age 23 then stopped for 20 plus years. took me a bunch of public skates to relearn how to skate again lol. I am into my second season and feel some what comfortable finally. You have Youth on your side enjoy the process

 

[MrDutchy]

Yeah I'm not the best skater in the world but I can stop with both feet, skate backwards, do crossovers etc. I am a bit rusty though. The real problems come with my actual puck skills at the moment haha. Thanks for the responses guys I'm excited to get back into it.

 

[wils5150]

the skating will come back quick especially if you are in ok shape. puck skills will be slower to return. mine come and go. currently they are awol lol

 

[STC]

4. Stick handling. Once you gain some basic skills, you can start working on the dangles. I have found that you should NEVER EVER EVER USE A BALL!!!!! I swear using a street hockey ball makes you worse at hockey. They are light so you don't develop any strength and they are larger than a puck so when you switch to the real thing you are always going over it and missing. Plus, you aren't used to the weight either. Also, try to move around when you are stick handling because I mean how often are you stationary during a game right?

.

More important than any of that is a simple drill that all beginners should be doing. Simply put, work on stick handling without looking at the puck. Until you can do that you have no business working on anything more advanced than that.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

Don't know if it's been said but always ask for help. And go to the net. Show a willingness to learn. Backchecking will earn you bonus points.

 

[Claudi27]

Monday I'm going to try out inline hockey for the first time ever, the first major step towards fulfilling my childhood dream, this is a very interessting thread and I guess I have pretty much down, I'll try not to lock myself much into it or I'll miss the fun, but basically, I'm guessing just try and stay calm with the puck, make accurate passes and try and get it on net as often as possible.

I can skate decently and turn somewhat sharply, still not totally familiar with stops but I'm making progress, can't skate backwards though even though I'm willing to learn.

Still haven't grabbed a stick and or puck yet, I'll likely pick one up tomorrow just to get a bit of the feeling of it, I guess I should pick up a pair of gloves aswell?

What can I expect monday other than fall a lot on my ass? I've been told it's mostly old guys playing and there's pretty much all kinds of people playing there, so even if I look out of place, it shouldn't be too embarassing.

 

[STC]

Monday I'm going to try out inline hockey for the first time ever, the first major step towards fulfilling my childhood dream, this is a very interessting thread and I guess I have pretty much down, I'll try not to lock myself much into it or I'll miss the fun, but basically, I'm guessing just try and stay calm with the puck, make accurate passes and try and get it on net as often as possible.

I can skate decently and turn somewhat sharply, still not totally familiar with stops but I'm making progress, can't skate backwards though even though I'm willing to learn.

Still haven't grabbed a stick and or puck yet, I'll likely pick one up tomorrow just to get a bit of the feeling of it, I guess I should pick up a pair of gloves aswell?

What can I expect monday other than fall a lot on my ass? I've been told it's mostly old guys playing and there's pretty much all kinds of people playing there, so even if I look out of place, it shouldn't be too embarassing.

Keep it simple. Just try not to get hurt, try not to get in the way and stay in control of your stick. And have fun.

 

[Claudi27]

Keep it simple. Just try not to get hurt, try not to get in the way and stay in control of your stick. And have fun.

Thanks! Just to update this thread, I decided to go ahead and get a stick, a puck and a pair of gloves, spent the afternoon practicing puck control and overall keep improving my skating, I can kind of keep the puck while skating straight and sometimes turn with it, even though I miss it often still.

I won't go for it monday, instead I'll wait for tuesday when kind of some amateur pick up games happen so I can also get a feeling of recieving and giving passes, which I haven't had a chance to try out yet, next monday I'll try for the thing described on my previous post, which, even if it's very low level of skill, it's still presumably higher than the one I'll see tuesday.

 

[VaughanBender72]

Thought I would post this here for anyone wondering how to lace their skates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vTVXOPxsAw

 

[MegaAlf]

Don't buy the cheapest pads. I bought the cheapest new shoulder pads I could fine because they were light and there's no checking in my league. I didn't consider that I still need to be concerned about slapshots. I took one to the shoulder 3 months ago and it still hurts. I recommend going mid-tier or upper tier pads.

 

[PallasAthena29]

I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond here. What has really resonated with my experience is the need to skate, skate, skate.

I picked up a pair of skates and a LTS class for the first time in Nov. 2013. I was 33 years old, and had never been on skates EVER. Let me also note that I'm muscular and enjoy activities like weight lifting, but anything that requires balance and coordination is a challenge for me.

For the first, say, 8 months, I only skated at our weekly LTS classes. I tried a few public sessions, but for whatever reason, those days were the ones that every person in Raleigh decided to ice skate. (Shoulder to shoulder, seriously, for months, so I didn't get much in the way of skating outside of my LTS class. I felt too intimidated and out of control to try to learn to skate with 100 other people and a bunch of tiny children whizzing about.)

So for about 8 months, I halfheartedly attended skate school classes and went to a few public skates here and there, maybe skating 3-4 times/month. I would go whole months and not skate at all. I bought my hockey gear in March 2014 because I thought the extra padding would give me some confidence. I LOVED the stick and puck sessions, though I still couldn't skate very well. I enrolled in a LTP instead of a LTS. I thought that by shifting the focus from skating to playing I would relax and the skating would come, but that didn't happen. I was skating 3-4 times a month and not getting better. And I was angry about not getting better, even though I had no reason to be getting better. Dumb.

Fast forward to January of 2015, when I decided that I either needed to go all in or give it up. The turning point was a scrimmage at a hockey clinic in December.Though I was clearly the worst skater there, I could still do what most everyone else did, even if I had to modify. It was so much fun to just participate.

So I enrolled in another LTS, this time with a figure skating coach. (That's been an adventure.) I'm trying to go to morning public skates 2-3 times a week in addition to my weekly class. I feel so much more comfortable on the ice. I don't know that I would have gotten back into LTS if I hadn't read these posts that said that skating was step one. I had kind of elided that part of hockey, thinking that I would pick up what I needed as I learned to play.

tl;dr: Thanks for posting. Your advice gave me the push I needed to focus more clearly on my skating.

 

[TheRedShadow]

I hear ya. Been skating about 2.5 years (age 51) and playing hockey about 1.5 yrs. I definitely wouldn't like to only play hockey. Slow, steady progress on skating is definitely necessary, IMO

 

[PlayoffBeard365]

I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond here. What has really resonated with my experience is the need to skate, skate, skate.

I picked up a pair of skates and a LTS class for the first time in Nov. 2013. I was 33 years old, and had never been on skates EVER. Let me also note that I'm muscular and enjoy activities like weight lifting, but anything that requires balance and coordination is a challenge for me.

For the first, say, 8 months, I only skated at our weekly LTS classes. I tried a few public sessions, but for whatever reason, those days were the ones that every person in Raleigh decided to ice skate. (Shoulder to shoulder, seriously, for months, so I didn't get much in the way of skating outside of my LTS class. I felt too intimidated and out of control to try to learn to skate with 100 other people and a bunch of tiny children whizzing about.)

So for about 8 months, I halfheartedly attended skate school classes and went to a few public skates here and there, maybe skating 3-4 times/month. I would go whole months and not skate at all. I bought my hockey gear in March 2014 because I thought the extra padding would give me some confidence. I LOVED the stick and puck sessions, though I still couldn't skate very well. I enrolled in a LTP instead of a LTS. I thought that by shifting the focus from skating to playing I would relax and the skating would come, but that didn't happen. I was skating 3-4 times a month and not getting better. And I was angry about not getting better, even though I had no reason to be getting better. Dumb.

Fast forward to January of 2015, when I decided that I either needed to go all in or give it up. The turning point was a scrimmage at a hockey clinic in December.Though I was clearly the worst skater there, I could still do what most everyone else did, even if I had to modify. It was so much fun to just participate.

So I enrolled in another LTS, this time with a figure skating coach. (That's been an adventure.) I'm trying to go to morning public skates 2-3 times a week in addition to my weekly class. I feel so much more comfortable on the ice. I don't know that I would have gotten back into LTS if I hadn't read these posts that said that skating was step one. I had kind of elided that part of hockey, thinking that I would pick up what I needed as I learned to play.

tl;dr: Thanks for posting. Your advice gave me the push I needed to focus more clearly on my skating.

The MOST beneficial help I receive regarding hockey is a weekly private Power Skating instruction. 30 minutes of stride, stops, crossovers, backwards, transitions etc. My instructor teaches the same skillset as Laura Stramm. If you can't find or afford a private power skating instructor at least buy Laura's book. I am on the ice a minimum 4 times per week with games, stick n puck sessions and my private lesson.

I never skated before 14 months ago. 4 months later at 39 I began with my instructor and playing pick up. i have come a long way. Why? Because it's my priority other than wife and work. There is so much to learn. And so much to practice. As much as I would love to shoot and dangle I know skating is the key to playing well. I have come a good way but still a long way to go.

Hope u continue the journey. Enjoy!

 

[Goonzilla]

Yeah the coaching is almost a must have if you're serious about making proper inroads and really improving. There's only so much you can do on your own and obviously, even when you're not with the coach you can work on the drills and stuff you've done with them with some idea on what and how to be working.

My biggest benefit from the coaching had been my stride efficiency and stance which has improved both my speed and stability as well as evening up my weak and strong sides, well at least my weaker side catching up to my strong side, most noticeable in now being able to play or pick up the puck with my skates on either foot fairly comfortably when I was pretty hopeless with it on my weak side not too long ago.

I don't think I'd ever have made those gains from just books or YouTube.

I'm just skating for at least 6 hours a week now outside of any lessons or hockey and don't think there are any shortcuts. Not trying to make it anywhere in particular, just improve as much as I can.

To that end I'm trying to mix up levels too, playing league games at my own level, pick up with much better players and also looking to find a lower level team as well, just so I can find a little more time to execute or work on some skills and stuff in a game environment.

 

[PallasAthena29]

I bought the Laura Stamm book a few weeks ago, and I've been pulling some of her suggested beginner drills into my sessions. Someone on one of these threads recommended it, and it's been really helpful in helping me break down things like weight shifting, which seemed so mysterious.

I feel lucky that I'm not one of those people who spends money on knickknack crap things, so I can funnel my fun money into things like coaching. The power skating coach here intimidates me (Tammie Wilson, who I hear is notable), so I want to get some basics through the figure skating class before going into her Power Skating class. Something that I've noticed here is that the instructors (tend to) teach to the highest level, so being an adult beginner isn't always easy. Before I found this forum, I was convinced that no one in their right mind would try to learn to skate as an adult. Everyone around me--at clincs and SnPs and pickups--learned to skate as a kid. It's been reassuring to hear about other adult skaters. It's hard to not play the comparison game when you're out there, but I'm determined to focus just on my journey. (And like my husband says, it's not like I'm trying to get drafted, so why the pressure?)

I'm long winded. Thanks for reading and supporting!

 

[TheRedShadow]

I wish there were some power/hockey skating coaches here in the UK. It just doesn't exist.

 

[Goonzilla]

You have a National League don't you? There must be some imports or foreign players that would be keen to get some work, while surely there must be some form of hockey or skating schools?

 

[ericdgrossman]

Also jogging is an aerobic activity and hockey is an anaerobic sport. A better measure of physical fitness would be wind sprints.

True. You need to train what you do in your sport. Conditioning is all about training the right energy systems. Hockey is anaerobic, and if you break it down, it's pretty much a series of max effort 10-15 sec. sprints with quick recovery being the most important thing. If you lift weights, consider using the same protocol. Lift to raise your heart rate, keep rests short, and train compound movement. Use supersets, ie. split squat/core movement/active rest or stretch.
Use similar protocols for cardio. 10-15 sec. max effort sprints (bike, hills, skate,med ball, etc...) Resume when you are recovered enough for max effort again. Shoot for 20 min. sessions.

 

[Meuracas]

Monday I'm going to try out inline hockey for the first time ever, the first major step towards fulfilling my childhood dream, this is a very interessting thread and I guess I have pretty much down, I'll try not to lock myself much into it or I'll miss the fun, but basically, I'm guessing just try and stay calm with the puck, make accurate passes and try and get it on net as often as possible.

I can skate decently and turn somewhat sharply, still not totally familiar with stops but I'm making progress, can't skate backwards though even though I'm willing to learn.

Still haven't grabbed a stick and or puck yet, I'll likely pick one up tomorrow just to get a bit of the feeling of it, I guess I should pick up a pair of gloves aswell?

What can I expect monday other than fall a lot on my ass? I've been told it's mostly old guys playing and there's pretty much all kinds of people playing there, so even if I look out of place, it shouldn't be too embarassing.

I just got back from Barcelona a week ago, we played an amateur ice hockey tournament in Palau de Gel del FCB.

We went with a local friend to try inline hockey before the tournament and I've got to admit, I was really surprised how different it was from ice hockey in terms of skating and puckhandling. Most of the time I had hard time taking the turns, stopping and dangling - at least on the surface we played the puck did not slide very well, although the outdoors rink was otherwise pretty good. A lot of fun though despite having a mix of really good players and beginners, it was well worth it and I will definitely be back for more next year too.

 

[jazzykat]

IMO it comes down to 2 things:

1. Skate and then skate some more. As someone who learned as an adult, I'm still working on all the moves but at least they are the more advanced moves.

2. Handle puck with your head up. In fact keep your head up all the time. Case in point, my buddy used to play Junior A and while he was going around an absolute bender while with the puck he was involved in a knee on knee collision. This happened during rec time. Why you ask, because the bender (he's not a beginner) was skating forward with his head down towards my buddy and lunged. Accidents happen but this was rec time and my buddy's season may be ruined due to a careless idiot.