Becoming a good goal scorer?

[Dump and Chase]

Really, there's not much you can work on at the low levels of hockey to become better defensively other than learning to read plays and positioning.

That is just silly. It is very easy to have a defensive impact at low levels of hockey.


Players cough up the puck and make poor decisions when they are pressured. Poor players do it even more often. When you put them under the gun with aggressive checking (pre-emptive: I don't mean body checking as we are discussing rec) you can force lots of turnovers. If you are strong on your skates as well as your stick and have quick feet you can steal the puck almost at will.


You can also win lots of races to loose pucks if you have bothered to back check and board battles in your own end.


Don't be one of those guys who doesn't back check or work hard in your own end. Do not leave your defense and your goaltender swinging in the wind.


Hockey is a team sport.

 

[Razzmatazz]

As someone who played by the advice of the above poster...

Ignore it, you're not going to the NHL. You'll have a lot more fun if you score goals.

Quickly getting the puck out of your zone and creating turnovers in the neutral zone, backchecking hard to help your defense, learning to detach the puck from an opponent's stick and stealing it, and blocking passes and shots will greatly increase the opportunities to score meaningful goals.

 

[Jarick]

I didn't say you can't have an impact defensively, I said you can't really work on things that would specifically make you a better defensive player. You'll improve defensively as your overall abilities improve (skating, puck handling, decision-making, passing, etc). Most beginners aren't going to have a coach and lots of ice time to run defensive drills...you just have to keep playing as much as possible.

IMO, defense is about 90% mental. You can be very strong defensively without having skills above and beyond your level. It's all about reading plays and getting to good position. I'm not much better than most guys at my level but only get beat once or twice a year in my end playing wing. Why? I cover my man at the point and take him out of the play completely, read the passes and puck movement in our end, and as the puck gets passed up for the breakout, I'm either in good position to receive it and chip/carry it out or support the puck carrier on the breakout. And none of that really has to do with skating, strength, puck handling, etc. It's just reading the situation and reacting.

 

[umpft]

I'm new to this game (1st season), playing RW.

I'm trying to work on my shot and getting as many rebounds as I can. I seem to be able to score only that way, with the goalie out of the way.

I shamefully hit the post on a perfect rebound just yesterday. ARGH

 

[Jarick]

If it makes you feel any better, one of my forwards took a hard slapper from the right circle last game, goalie made the save kicked straight out to the front where I was streaking in. I batted it to the left (to get around the defenseman and the goalie was down and to the right), got a perfect wrister off with a wide open net, PIPE. It would have been a highlight reel play. But PIPE. UGH.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

Keeping your head up and having good aim helps you alot, kid in my league this year was average, and I mean average.. But had a strong work ethic and good hockey sense... Scored like 50 goals.

 

[mpir3]

The biggest thing, atleast for me when i played was learning patience with the puck. I was a fairly skilled player, but smaller than most. I made my high school varsity team my freshman year (It was a pretty high quality level of play in the northeast), but didn't score much and tended to always force play...I got asked to play on a competive roller hockey team that summer, at the (13-14 years ago) most ice coaches shunned roller hockey, i played anyways and i think the open space and lack of hitting really helped my ice game. The next ice season i led my team in scoring, i scored alot of goals around the net by holding on to the puck and letting the goalie make the first move.

 

[neksys]

This is a weird thread to resurrect - its been gathering dust for well over a year - but I'm glad you did, there's some good advice in here.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

Also, never panic, be calm and patient with the puck... Don't be afraid to curl back...

 

[ComradeChris]

"A good player plays where the puck is; a great player plays where it's going to be" -Wayne Gretzky

"The best players play where it's going to be more than two moves ahead." -Anonymous

 

[noobman]

Working on your shot is the obvious one. Challenge yourself to take 500 shots per day every day in your basement, garage, or whatever for the rest of the summer. Backhanders, wristers, snapshots, slapshots, etc.

Being a better skater is going to make you a better goal scorer as well. Being able to make a quick turn to change the angle on your shot or being able to accelerate quickly from a glide to catch the goalie out too high can open up a lot of opportunities. Being able to take an off-balance shot is also a *tremendous* skill that will set you apart from most beer leaguers. It means you'll be able to take a shot while still changing momentum from a stop, in a transitional move, or even while getting knocked over.

Some of the best shooters can "hide" their shot well too, meaning that they can get a quick release off in full stride that a goalie just can't read. A lot of that comes from being able to load the stick primarily with your upper body. It's one of the reasons why guys like Kessel and Ovechkin use 65 flex sticks.

You should also work on being able to lift the puck in tight and doing the reach-around in-tight to slip the puck past the goalie. Being a great goal scorer isn't always about having a laser shot.... sometimes it's just about being able to bang in goals in front of the net. People call them garbage goals, but in the end they don't count style points on the scoreboard. Practice getting in tight to your net (ideally with a puck, not a ball) and try to roof the puck from as in close as you can.