Ball Hockey Wrist Shot Help Needed...PLEASE

EventHorizon

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Headcoach said:
You see, the hand that you write with, goes at the butt end of the stick. That part of the stick is used for the artistic side of the brain.

The top hand controls the artistic side of stick handling. The bottom hand provides the power. The top hand will allow you to move the puck forward, away from your body and backwards towards your side.

You have an interesting and logical theory, but I just wanted to point out this one part.

So, since the artistic side of the brain is the right side of the brain, which makes your left hand the "artistic" hand, does that mean that technically EVERYONE should have their left hand on top, making them a right handed shot?

FYI, I am left handed (when I write and throw) and I shoot and bat right handed. I did all those things that way because that's how it felt natural. And I picked up a hockey stick way before I ever touched a baseball bat, when I did finally hold a bat, right handed which is the same way I play hockey, was the way that felt right.
 

Headcoach

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If I am not mistaken, it been several years sinse I actually looked this up, the left side of the brain controls the right side and the right side controls the left. The artist side, writing drawing, music...etc, is controlled by the left side of the brain.

However, it is true, that this sometimes this doesn't hold true to the fact that some people can do both or are better than one way that the other way.

I was merely stating a fact on how the mechanic of a sweep shot works and how to get the most out of your movements.

The basics of it is to understand where the power come from and then select a stick, right or left, the will help you use that power.

I have seen kids that write right, but shoot right. I have ask ther parents, how did it come to them that there child should shoot right. They all say, "well, we just thought."

So I would go with the left/right brain theory first (if I had a child going into hockey) then see which comfortable way is for him/her to shoot.

The reason why I say this is...
Once you have selected your shooting habit, sometimes it very hard to change. The way you shoot controls pretty much every aspect of your game. How you enter the attacking zone...etc.

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knight44

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Jul 31, 2005
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dude seriously the way i learned how to do a great wrist shot was taking shots at the boards so the puck comes back. So for you you got to use your garage or a wall. Practice snapping your wrist, and keep going at it untill you keep hitting one spot then switch spots. That will improve accuracy and it will help you with lifting the ball off the ground.
 

crashlanding

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I have to say, like everyone else just shoot and shoot and shoot. Shoot with the ball in different positions, stickhandle a bit and shoot, try to pick spots, just do anything that will leave you with a comfortable, confident shot. The key is the wrists, if you don't use your wrists right you'll lose both power, accuracy and a quick release. I've tried to teach people how to do it and it's tough, I really feel the best way is through practice. Once you start doing it right you'll be able to tell.

As for this right handed/left handed thing I really just think it's a feel not something that should be chosen because of your brain (the artistic side is the right side I believe and either way you're suggesting that everyone should have the same side shot with that logic). I'm weird, I write, play tennis, and play ping pong left handed but I throw, shoot basketball, play hockey, and golf right handed. (I used to bat left handed but I think hockey and golf's influence on my weight transfer got me to switch to right) My parents when I was young bought me a left handed stick because that's how I wrote. Silly young me didn't know any better so I held it like a right handed stick, it just felt natural. I also had the most wicked backhand you'd ever see until I switched to a right handed stick. I do agree that your dominant hand should be your top hand just because you take your bottom hand off the stick a lot and you should have control of it.

I say just buy your kid a stick with a flat blade and let him/her figure it out for themselves without much direction for a little while.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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Jan 29, 2004
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The secret to a good wrist shot is weight transfer.

If you are shooting lefty, then lean all of your weight onto your left foot and then kick your back foot up, and transfer your weight into the shot.

Watch Joe Sakic shoot to see an example of what I mean.

You can also crouch down on one knee (bent leg never touches the ice/dek) and transfer your weight this way..sort of like loading a spring.

Watch Kovalev take a wrist shot for an example of this kind of wrist shot.

I suggest practicing both kind of releases..it can really give a goalie fits when you change up your release.
 

Headcoach

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Jiggyfly is absolutely correct...
What did I say at the beginning of this thread....weight distribution!

Check it out!
10d7ae220.jpg




Head coach
 

MiZZZike*

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DO NOT practice shooting or passing with a ball, it's a whole different dynamic. Stickhandling with a golf ball is good though.
 

barfy2000

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Jun 23, 2005
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MiZZZike said:
DO NOT practice shooting or passing with a ball, it's a whole different dynamic. Stickhandling with a golf ball is good though.

Why wouldnt he use a ball? He wants ball hockey wrist shot help...a golf ball is good for ice...
 

EventHorizon

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Headcoach said:
If I am not mistaken, it been several years sinse I actually looked this up, the left side of the brain controls the right side and the right side controls the left. The artist side, writing drawing, music...etc, is controlled by the left side of the brain.


Other way around. Right side of the brain is the artistic side, which controls the left side of the body. That may be way a lot of musicians and artists are left handed. But as you said, it's not always true that lefties are more artistic.

I find this idea that if you are left handed that you should shoot righty fascinating. Now when people question me for doing it, I have a response with evidence to back it up. Thanks coach! ;)
 

DaveyCrockett

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Dec 8, 2003
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MiZZZike said:
DO NOT practice shooting or passing with a ball, it's a whole different dynamic. Stickhandling with a golf ball is good though.
I completely agree. Shooting a ball is pretty useless for practicing shooting a puck. The poster is only concerned with ball hockey, but this is pertinent to everyone else reading the thread.
 

Brodeur

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Feb 27, 2002
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NAE2 said:
don't have a curve with much loft. I find you lose power when you have a curve like that.

That's about the only thing I can note, but then again it's all personal preference. I can only seem to shoot decently with closed faced curves like the Easton Modano/Forsberg/Yzerman, CCM Thornton, Mission Elias or Bauer Lindros. Open curves like the Easton Drury cause my shots to go about 10 feet over the net.

You can maybe look into getting a whippier stick to use just for ball hockey. My 75 flex Mission M-1 feels better shooting a ball than my 85/100 flex sticks. But that might be all in my head. :)
 

The Nemesis

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Apr 11, 2005
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EventHorizon said:
Other way around. Right side of the brain is the artistic side, which controls the left side of the body. That may be way a lot of musicians and artists are left handed. But as you said, it's not always true that lefties are more artistic.

I find this idea that if you are left handed that you should shoot righty fascinating. Now when people question me for doing it, I have a response with evidence to back it up. Thanks coach! ;)

Honestly, a lot of that stuff is BS. Just like a horoscope, the skill sets controlled by the two hemispheres of the brain are sufficiently vague for you to find whatever you need to when reading into them. As I said in an earlier post, I am a naturally left-handed person. Therefore, since I am supposed to be right-brain dominant, I should be very artistic and creative. And while I do like to think that I have some creativity in me, I'm a terrible artist. Meanwhile, if I had to pick something that I'm strong at, I would say language skills. I always did well in English classes, and I believe that I am a very capable writer and speaker. Language skills like that are supposed to be situated primarily in the left hemisphere of the brain (although supposedly studies have shown that some left-handed people can adapt their brains so that language control can be dealt with by the right hemisphere, or even by both hemispheres)

Back on track though, I still think that it's a mistake to think that there should be some sort of template for choosing a hockey player's handedness. I would honestly just let someone pick up both a left and right handed stick and see which they feel more comfortable with. As a lefty, I should be partial to a right-handed stick and I should be better shooting and stickhandling right-handed than I am left-handed. However, I try to use a right-handed stick and it feels completely uncomfortable. Meanwhile it always felt "right" (no pun intended) to shoot left-handed. My dad is the same way (natural righty, uses a right-handed stick). He never taught me to use a left-handed stick either. He just had a stack of sticks from him and his friends playing floor hockey, and I picked up the only left-handed stick in the pile and it felt comfortable to use.

I also thought that since you want to deal with ball hockey, that if you want to add power, try shooting a lacrosse ball. They're fairly heavy and the solid rubber makes them great for generating lots of speed off a bounce (of course, they could break your stick if you don't control the rebound properly, or really, really, really hurt if you get hit.) If you find the lacrosse ball too dangerous or difficult to use, raquetballs also work, though the smaller size and the finish of a ball can jam it between the stick blade and the ground sometimes.
 

Wisent

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As said countless times, practice is the key and it helps if you have a stick that flexes much (is that the rigth way to put it?). The stick helps a lot.
And about the side to shoot: Just take the one yyou are most comfortable with. I am a righty and nevertheless I shoot right. The biggest drawback you have is that the right hand will be lower on the stick and you can`t reach that far any more. But that is nothing a good positional play can`t compensate.
 

RandV

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I hardly know as much as you other guys about the left/right thing, as I've only played a bit of ball hockey in college, but here's some personal observations I've had, as a right handed person shooting right:
- excessive stickhandling makes my right arm tired
- wrist shots wear down my right hand/arm
- slapshotting wears down my left arm

I don't know, I personally agree with the go what feels right thing, growing up all my brothers shot right but I felt more comfortable with my left, but anyone notice a sort of trend where the guys with the big point/slap shots, the MacInnis', Iafrate's, Hulls, tend to shoot right, while the more playmaking/wrist shooting players, Gretzky, Sakic, Naslund, shoot left?

As for the how to get a good wrist shot, has anyone mentioned practice yet? :)
I never really played hockey apart from the odd ball hockey game when I was younger, but when I started becoming a big fan at 15-16 I started shooting around in the basement a lot. When I got into college a few years ago and started playing lots of ball hockey, while I was way behind a lot of the other guys in terms of overall skill level, with my natural hockey smarts and practised shot, I'd routinely outscore all but the top players.

I even developed a bit of a trick shot in the basement. Shooting lefty, I can go through the motion of taking a high top right wrist shot, but I let the ball role along the edge of my blade and at the last second snap it top left. Wouldn't work with a puck though.

And I guess a tip for ice hockey players who want to practice with a puck, if you've got a back yard, just throwing down a clean sheet of plywood works great, and shooting against the fence.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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RandV said:
And I guess a tip for ice hockey players who want to practice with a puck, if you've got a back yard, just throwing down a clean sheet of plywood works great, and shooting against the fence.

The best way to learn to shoot a puck off the ice is to just get a regular ice hockey puck, spray it with Pam http://www.pam4you.com/ or any other kind of non stick cooking spray.

This will make the puck slide like it is on ice for a good while if your basement isn't too dirty.

This is assuming you have a pretty smooth basement floor.

If not just use the plexiglass idea, and spray that with Pam, and the puck will slide like ice. (Well almost lol).
 

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