nystromshairstylist
Registered User
- Dec 13, 2009
- 2,107
- 677
I posted this in another thread, but it wasn't what the OP was looking for, and have seen a few posters asking for advice as newbie so I just started a new thread for beginner forwards:
The 3 best pieces of advice I can give as a former beginner who is now one of the better players in the lower level beer leagues I'm in:
1) work intensely on your skating in public skates and stickhandling at stick n pucks...put in the time with structured drills you see on youtube and choose 2 or 3 to focus on every time you go to S-n-P. If you work on your skating a lot, and that includes cross-overs, backwards, stopping easily/comfortably both sides, and achieving smooth transitions - that alone will put you ahead of the vast majority of players in the lower tiers of men's league.
2) skate to the puck and with the puck with your eyes NOT on the puck, but surveying what is going on around you. When someone passes to you, look down for a fraction of a second so you can see how the puck is coming towards you (bouncing, use your leg, smooth along the ice, saucered several inches off the ground, etc.) so you can position your stick and body best to catch the puck, and then look up so that once you catch it you know from which direction the attacking forwards are coming at you from, and you can deke them out/skate away from them to give yourself some space. Offense in hockey is two things, puck control, and trying to get yourself as much space to work with as possible (to make a pass, clean shot on net, etc.).
Once you have the puck, DO NOT look down at it. If you want to be an effective forward, LOOK UP to see what the opposing team is doing and where they are positioned. This is THE most important thing you can do on the ice, IMO.
If your head is up, all you need to do is see which way the d-man is leaning, once you fake left/right, they'll get off balance, you hustle the other way, and you are off to the races cleanly. If another d-man comes to help out, even better - that means that someone on your team is now open, and with your head up you can see them and make a pass.
3) Do cardio, lots and lots of cardio. I do minimal/zero weight lifting, as I have built myself into the human equivalent of a cheetah, slim with infinite endurance - think pro tennis players. This means that by the middle of the 2nd period onward, I am still going strong while most others are sucking wind and slowing down. As I said, play low-level men's league with no checking, so physical strength, while it could be useful on occasion in the corners, rarely comes into play.
Balance on your skates and ice awareness are THE most important abilities to be better than 95% of the rest of the players, allowing you to make passes to the inevitable open teammate (since in the lower levels, 3 out of 5 opposing players will simply chase the puck handler all over the ice putting their team in bad positioning).
Later on after these other 3 are your shot, but save that for year 2 or 3 after starting.
The 3 best pieces of advice I can give as a former beginner who is now one of the better players in the lower level beer leagues I'm in:
1) work intensely on your skating in public skates and stickhandling at stick n pucks...put in the time with structured drills you see on youtube and choose 2 or 3 to focus on every time you go to S-n-P. If you work on your skating a lot, and that includes cross-overs, backwards, stopping easily/comfortably both sides, and achieving smooth transitions - that alone will put you ahead of the vast majority of players in the lower tiers of men's league.
2) skate to the puck and with the puck with your eyes NOT on the puck, but surveying what is going on around you. When someone passes to you, look down for a fraction of a second so you can see how the puck is coming towards you (bouncing, use your leg, smooth along the ice, saucered several inches off the ground, etc.) so you can position your stick and body best to catch the puck, and then look up so that once you catch it you know from which direction the attacking forwards are coming at you from, and you can deke them out/skate away from them to give yourself some space. Offense in hockey is two things, puck control, and trying to get yourself as much space to work with as possible (to make a pass, clean shot on net, etc.).
Once you have the puck, DO NOT look down at it. If you want to be an effective forward, LOOK UP to see what the opposing team is doing and where they are positioned. This is THE most important thing you can do on the ice, IMO.
If your head is up, all you need to do is see which way the d-man is leaning, once you fake left/right, they'll get off balance, you hustle the other way, and you are off to the races cleanly. If another d-man comes to help out, even better - that means that someone on your team is now open, and with your head up you can see them and make a pass.
3) Do cardio, lots and lots of cardio. I do minimal/zero weight lifting, as I have built myself into the human equivalent of a cheetah, slim with infinite endurance - think pro tennis players. This means that by the middle of the 2nd period onward, I am still going strong while most others are sucking wind and slowing down. As I said, play low-level men's league with no checking, so physical strength, while it could be useful on occasion in the corners, rarely comes into play.
Balance on your skates and ice awareness are THE most important abilities to be better than 95% of the rest of the players, allowing you to make passes to the inevitable open teammate (since in the lower levels, 3 out of 5 opposing players will simply chase the puck handler all over the ice putting their team in bad positioning).
Later on after these other 3 are your shot, but save that for year 2 or 3 after starting.