about the roller - ice transition

[lotus]

I'm in my second Ice Hockey league in a long time now (been about a year break since the first with not much ice time in between) and I'm still struggling.

I've been a roller hockey player my entire life, and the biggest thing I need to get used to on Ice is of course the skating. After a lot of hard work, and getting on the ice 2 sometimes 3 days a week (once for league games). The skating just isnt there, my mind is telling me to do things that I can't accomplish on the Ice, and my game is just so much slower. I'm used to being able to blow by people, or at least not be such an easy target for back checkers.

My question is whether or not this is something that can come to me naturally, and I should just keep trying to get on the ice as much as possible....or is it just so different that I should maybe look for a power skating clinic? I really have no idea about whether or not it's going to come to me, I don't feel like it is. The movements are just so different, I'm not very strong on my skates, the balance isn't there, I can't stop as quickly as I'm used to...everything.

Any opinions are appreciated, but the big question is whether or not this is something that needs to be taught, coming over from roller hockey.

thanks I enjoy Ice hockey a lot and know it would be tons more fun than roller if I can play at the level I'm used to. It's still fun, but remarkably frustrating. I feel like I'm skating in quicksand.

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[Paranoid Android]

I used to play roller from the age of 11-16 then switched to ice 16-24, now I'm going back to roller, so I'm currently having the opposite problem of you, but I know exactly how you feel.

Switching to ice was much harder than the other way around, but you'll get better with time. It took me about a year to completely get comfortable on ice. At first I was wobbly on my feet and had a hard time transitioning backwards, but it just takes practice. It's a slow process, but I skate with the best of em now.

I would go to open skate when there aren't many people there, and just practice skating. With no pucks you'll be able to focus on your skating. If you have the money, a power skating class is well worth it, no matter what skill level you're at. I would practice a little more before taking a class so you get as much as you can out of it. Don't make the mistake I did when I was learning ice skating: learn to stop on both your left and right. I got in the habit of only stopping on my dominant side, it took a while to learn the other side.

Having played both, I love ice hockey so much more. Faster skating, better maneuvering, more strategy. Maybe you can give me a few tips on roller. I keep trying to cycle the puck in the corners, but that 3rd forward is never there, lol. And in the defensive zone, we're supposed to play man to man all the time, and I'm just not used to it. I get so tired chasing a guy all around the zone. What are some key differences in ice to roller as far as play making goes?

 

[lotus]

Having played both, I love ice hockey so much more. Faster skating, better maneuvering, more strategy. Maybe you can give me a few tips on roller. I keep trying to cycle the puck in the corners, but that 3rd forward is never there, lol. And in the defensive zone, we're supposed to play man to man all the time, and I'm just not used to it. I get so tired chasing a guy all around the zone. What are some key differences in ice to roller as far as play making goes?

haha honestly man...shoot it! The rink is too small for thinking. In my experience, the teams with the more shots is the team that wins. Most of my roller hockey goals come from walking into the slot and shooting through a screen, or off the rush...in particular 2 on 1s, and breakaways.

Also no offsides or icing is so easy to take advantage of. being able to do a dump and chase from your own zone is something useful that my team has started to take advantage of. Just have one guy sprinting up the rink, if there's no pass then they just float it over everyones heads or fire it along the boards. It's so easy to catch people sleeping when there's no offsides or icing.

Also when I say shoot it, I mean quick snap shots and wrist shots. There's no room for a slapper, almost always gets blocked. And depending on your surface, a lot of the time when the goalie goes down...they wont be able to slide or maneuver along the ground like a goalie would on ice. So cutting across the crease can lead to a lot of easy goals. Whenever I do that I usually have the entire upper portion of the net open.

Still workign on my ice skating =D Stopping on my off side (left) is something I've never been able to do, even on roller skates. It took me a while to even notice that I can't do it. I got a lot ahead of me to practice =[

 

[Toonces]

Obviously you understand how different the two games are, so it just sounds like it's completely physical. I'd just keep plugging away. Also, I'd avoid roller hockey all together, for a while at least, because it's just confusing.

I started skating on rollerblades when I was about 12 (wow, that was over 17 years ago), and very quickly moved to ice and never looked back until one of my friends convinced me to join his roller hockey team over the summer. I was horrible, mostly because I couldn't skate on the surface, but also because the game was so different. While my skating started to get much better, I decided to ultimately give it up, mostly because I didn't enjoy the game, but also since it was just a little too confusing physically. I'm sure I could have stuck with both if I wanted to put the effort in.

Just keep plugging away and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[lotus]

Yeah I play a LOT of roller hockey but I want to make a changeover to primarily ice soon enough. I'm in a roller hockey league right now, but plan on transferring to a college with a (ice) club team and I really want to make it. I am positive 100% that I can make it if I had my roller game on ice...too bad it just doesn't work that way. So it wont be easy. Plus I got to get a little bit bigger(and quicker) or I'll have my head taken off. here I come squats!

 

[Nosebleed Section]

I've played ice in the winter and roller in the summer for the last couple years so I dont know about haveing a bunch of years off in between but I know it's a real ***** to get used to skating one way or another.

 

[crashlanding]

Yeah, playing both ice and roller at the same time will make it much more difficult to pick up on ice skating. I made the transition last Sept. and while I'm not as fast a skater as I was in roller and I still have some deficiencies I'm able to play at a reasonable level with no problems. A big thing that helped was that I notice that most roller players have good hands since it's 4 on 4 with a lot of individual work and free flow so when I was still skating at a subpar level I could usually stickhandle for a bit to buy some more time.

I'd also highly recommend a power skating class if you can take one. At the very least you'll learn some drills that you can work with on your own time.