Accelerating with the puck.

[WickedWinger]

I'll try to explain this so that it hopefully makes sense. I have this very annoying issue with taking off with the puck on my stick. The problem I run into is that my feet start moving, my body starts heading up ice, but I can't seem to get the puck to come with me. Picture skating up the wing, your center men sends you a pass but naturally it goes behind you. You have to slow down, maybe swing your stick back to receive the pass. Now when you begin to speed back up and drag the puck out in front of you, you end up either losing it off your blade or it takes so long to drag the puck up from behind you, that the dman is able to get in front of you and take away any time and space you may have had. Its not just that though. Winning a board battle and trying to accelerate away, the puck ends up in my feet withing my second stride and I have to kick it back up I to my blade. I've watched numerous videos and games and it seems so effortless for them (probably because it is) pass goes behind them or they start from a dead stop and just take off with the puck with no issue. I remember back in highschool my football coach would tell us "you gotta catch the ball before you start running" and I'm sure the same applies with hockey. Get control of the puck, get it out in front of you, and then start skating. But honestly anytime I have to drag the puck from behind me it feels like it takes forever and I really just want to be able to take off down the ice.

So for anyone who made sense of what I just wrote, is there any drills that I could work on that might be able to help me? I've been trying this one where you face the boards, bank it off the boards back to you then turn with it and accelerate away. Is there any others? Also as far as body position, if the pass is behind me, is there a certain way I should receive the pass to make it quicker and easier to get turned around and get the puck back out in front of me? Thanks for any advice

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[Beezeral]

Puck control is all about hand eye coordination and practice. You need to be doing stick handling drills to improve your hands.

 

[RibFrabcus]

A subtle thing you can do, if you have enough space, is throw the puck out in front of you and get a head start. A guy that does this really well is Jaccob Slavin on the Hurricanes. Can you push the puck up one handed as you accelerate? You don't always have to two hand the stick if you have space. These are things I'm definitely still working on.

 

[WickedWinger]

Can you push the puck up one handed as you accelerate? You don't always have to two hand the stick if you have space. These are things I'm definitely still working on.

Actually, that's pretty much where my problem lies. Anytime where I have to drag the puck either from behind me or push one handed is when I usually bobble the puck. I'm kind of starting to wonder if the curve I switched to might be making the problem worse. I've always struggled with those first few strides while carrying the puck. But it seems to have gotten a lot worse since I switched to this p88 clone I'm using now. Like the puck is just rolling right off my blade.

 

[RockTheRed8]

Actually, that's pretty much where my problem lies. Anytime where I have to drag the puck either from behind me or push one handed is when I usually bobble the puck. I'm kind of starting to wonder if the curve I switched to might be making the problem worse. I've always struggled with those first few strides while carrying the puck. But it seems to have gotten a lot worse since I switched to this p88 clone I'm using now. Like the puck is just rolling right off my blade.

That's one thing I was going to say, it might have to do with the curve or lie on your stick. I'm a pretty new player and when I got a mystery two pack of sticks off Hockey Monkey so I could try some different curves, there was one that I hated and I'd imagine would've been similar to your issue had I played a game with it. Just messing around with it, it seemed like it didn't sit right on the ice and I'd fan on everything and even just leave the puck behind when carrying it.

If you can, try and test out some different curves and maybe even some different stick lengths. My puck handling got a million times better when I switched to a shorter stick.

 

[Beezeral]

If your problems are as bad as you say, its not your equipment. you need to just keep working on your stickhandling and hand eye coordination

 

[STC]

If your problems are as bad as you say, its not your equipment. you need to just keep working on your stickhandling and hand eye coordination

Yea what Beezeral said. From what you described the solution is simple...you need LOTS of practice with basic stick handling. Doesn't even have to be on the ice. When you are home watching tv grab a stick and tennis ball and work on stick handling with your head up.

When you are on the ice you should be working on your stick handling as much as possible. Go to stick&puck and just carry a puck around the ice with you working on stick handling with your head up.

You definitely don't need a new stick, just better hands. And you can't go to Total Hockey and buy those.

 

[WickedWinger]

You definitely don't need a new stick, just better hands. And you can't go to Total Hockey and buy those.

Too bad, it'd make things much easier lol.

Seriously though, I definitely agree that there is no substitute for good old fashioned practice. The comment I was making about the curve was just that the issue got much worse when I switched curves. My hands aren't too bad (in comparison to other guys in my division) once I'm at full stride, I don't have to look at the puck and can manage to weave in and out around guys without too much issue. Thats why I can't understand why I fumble the puck so much in those first five strides. But I'm thinking about just concentrating on starting and stopping with the puck at stick and puck for a while. I'll just have to force myself to stay focused on that and not get side tracked practicing shootout moves, lol.

 

[Beezeral]

Too bad, it'd make things much easier lol.

Seriously though, I definitely agree that there is no substitute for good old fashioned practice. The comment I was making about the curve was just that the issue got much worse when I switched curves. My hands aren't too bad (in comparison to other guys in my division) once I'm at full stride, I don't have to look at the puck and can manage to weave in and out around guys without too much issue. Thats why I can't understand why I fumble the puck so much in those first five strides. But I'm thinking about just concentrating on starting and stopping with the puck at stick and puck for a while. I'll just have to force myself to stay focused on that and not get side tracked practicing shootout moves, lol.

Everything you are describing are issues inexperienced players have. Your stick isn't causing issues. It's in your head. Practice, practice, practice.

 

[Proust*]

Stickhandling. I don't even think about the stuff you are having trouble with, so I can tell you it's probably all about muscle-memory.

I started playing hockey at 18. Could barely skate, but could stick-handle really well thanks to ball hockey skills.

 

[STC]

Everything you are describing are issues inexperienced players have. Your stick isn't causing issues. It's in your head. Practice, practice, practice.

This 100%.

I'll even go one further and suggest you practice with a wood stick. The extra weight will be good for you in terms of strengthening/speeding up your hands.

 

[vyse]

I used to have this issue pretty bad my first season ever. What I did to fix it was go to stick time at my rink as much as i could and practice just skating fast up and down the ice with the puck until i built in that muscle memory and confidence. then once you have that down practice doing the same thing without looking down at the puck and or having someone pass you the puck as you're skating and practice receiving it and then accelerating with it or if you don't have anyone bank it off the board and go get it and skate down the ice with it. a tip i recommend is to keep the puck farther infront of you so you can see it in your peripheral vision, it also helps with controlling the puck because when you're striding with the puck and you're stick is too close to you it will fall behind you alot or hit your skate or just lose control. also DONT try to stick handle fast when you're skating with the puck just do simple back and forth stick handling, besides stick handling it really fast from face to backhand means more chances of losing it, once you learn then you can start worrying about stick handling faster when deking. you just need more puck time practicing skating with it at different speeds and weaving with it.

 

[WickedWinger]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I was over complicating it. I wouldn't have thought simple stick handling practice would solve the issues I was having. but the general concensus here seems to be working on my hand eye coordination and muscle memory will make a world of difference. So at least now I have a general idea of what to focus on at stick and puck.

Thanks everyone

 

[biturbo19]

I'm the last person to be advising on this probably...as this is easily one of the weakest parts of my game...


But what i tend to do, is pretty stupidly simple...but i'll push the puck away from a defender to whichever side i can most easily use my body to shelter it. My dangling skills are honestly embarrassing, but i use skating, balance, and my own body as a shield to shelter the puck and not to toot my own horn, but i'm not easy to take the puck off of.

On my off-wing side which i prefer, it's really easy to just kind of halfway lug the puck along with one-hand while fighting off checkers. Easy to throw out the off-hand to shield off defenders. There's no way they're going to have the reach to actually get to the puck around me, so as long as i'm in their way...

On my strong-wing side, it's the same thing, but slightly more awkward - you have to learn to use that top-hand elbow to create extra protection, which for me is way less natural. And i find i have to carry the puck much closer to my feet and much more behind me, which requires far more control. Much less natural and comfortable for me.


My whole game is based around trying to avoid situations where i'll need to make clever puckhandling moves in close though really.