Help needed to improve my slap-shots

[Hockeylover]

I have increased the speed of my shots by getting a shorter stick. It extends to my chin. I practiced shooting in a school backyard with a net. To avoid to ruin my stick, I put a slim piece of wood on which I put the ball. It works pretty well. Here are some observations: 1) The more power I'm trying to put on the shot, the less powerful it becomes. It is like in baseball when the hitter swings as hard as he can but does not touch the ball, or if he touches it, the ball does not go very far. It would seem that technique should be what you should be looking for rather than trying to put more power. In other words, don't try too much. I get quality shots (good speed and precision) with a gently swing. Not very impressive, but it goes in the direction of the net 2) I was told that I would get more power if I bend the knees. I did not find any value in that advice. Maybe I do it wrong. 3) I Get a more powerful shot when I keep the lower part of the stick as hard as I can, but keeping the arm and forearm relax. The wrist that on the lower part must be strong 4) The high shots that go over the net are the most powerful ones that I get. But what does it give if it misses the net? 5) I think the best thing is to aim at the center of the net. This way, if it misses the center by 2 feet horizontally or vertically, it will still be ON the net, whereas if you aim at a specific corner, your shot has much more chances to miss the net altogether, which is not necessarily a bad thing if your teamates get the rebound. The most important is that you shoot. No one will be blame for trying, but everyone will look at you in a bad eye if you don't even try. 6) Shooting on the move is hard because if you don't stop the ball, it is either too far or not close enough of you. I tried some breakaway at full speed imagining a goalie, slowed down, stopped and took a slap shot. My God, the ball does not leave the floor. I tried over and over again until I had the idea to try it in slow-motion to see exactly what happened. I stopped just before shooting to find out the position of the ball and the position of my body. The ball was waaaaaaaay too far in front of me. I kept that position and shot. I had no power whatsover on the ball. As my body is concerned, I am too bent down and don't have a clear vision of where the net is. I will try again tomorrow, still in slow-motion, to accelerate with ball, slow down, stop make a little move, and shoot. All along I will try to keep my head up and not to bend so much.

Any help is welcome.

Click to read more...

 

[Hockeylover]

Would not it be a better to try wrist shots or slap shots on the goalie???

 

[lemieux32*]

Slapshots are all about the hips and shoulders.

 

[Hockeylover]

Slapshots are all about the hips and shoulders.

I would love to learn more about that. Am I right saying that it's better to keep the shoulders as down as possible? Or as relax as possible?

 

[Buffaloed]

http://www.ehow.com/how_14722_shoot-slap-shot.html

 

[OrrNumber4]

I have increased the speed of my shots by getting a shorter stick. It extends to my chin. I practiced shooting in a school backyard with a net. To avoid to ruin my stick, I put a slim piece of wood on which I put the ball. It works pretty well. Here are some observations: 1) The more power I'm trying to put on the shot, the less powerful it becomes. It is like in baseball when the hitter swings as hard as he can but does not touch the ball, or if he touches it, the ball does not go very far. It would seem that technique should be what you should be looking for rather than trying to put more power. In other words, don't try too much. I get quality shots (good speed and precision) with a gently swing. Not very impressive, but it goes in the direction of the net 2) I was told that I would get more power if I bend the knees. I did not find any value in that advice. Maybe I do it wrong. 3) I Get a more powerful shot when I keep the lower part of the stick as hard as I can, but keeping the arm and forearm relax. The wrist that on the lower part must be strong 4) The high shots that go over the net are the most powerful ones that I get. But what does it give if it misses the net? 5) I think the best thing is to aim at the center of the net. This way, if it misses the center by 2 feet horizontally or vertically, it will still be ON the net, whereas if you aim at a specific corner, your shot has much more chances to miss the net altogether, which is not necessarily a bad thing if your teamates get the rebound. The most important is that you shoot. No one will be blame for trying, but everyone will look at you in a bad eye if you don't even try. 6) Shooting on the move is hard because if you don't stop the ball, it is either too far or not close enough of you. I tried some breakaway at full speed imagining a goalie, slowed down, stopped and took a slap shot. My God, the ball does not leave the floor. I tried over and over again until I had the idea to try it in slow-motion to see exactly what happened. I stopped just before shooting to find out the position of the ball and the position of my body. The ball was waaaaaaaay too far in front of me. I kept that position and shot. I had no power whatsover on the ball. As my body is concerned, I am too bent down and don't have a clear vision of where the net is. I will try again tomorrow, still in slow-motion, to accelerate with ball, slow down, stop make a little move, and shoot. All along I will try to keep my head up and not to bend so much.

Any help is welcome.

Hockeylover, you should probably include in your posts that your playing in a floor hockey league; I'm willing to bet most people on these boards who do play hockey play ice/roller hockey. Does you league allow you to extend your stick above your waist? If so, try to either send power shots toward the net and hope they get deflected in. I've personally found that slapshots are very ineffective in ball hockey, as the shots are very inaccurate. Your best hope would be to hope for a deflection.

 

[Gallagbi]

Keep your stick low on your back swing, it's easier to control and less chance of you not hitting your spot. You should be hitting behind the ball, this creates a whip in the stick and is where you get your power from. Work on weight transfer, from your back legs through to your front while shooting. These should help. Get a general feeling of what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[Goodwith Sticks]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned that is essential is the requirement to shoot the puck or ball from the HEEL of the blade - too many kids I teach have a tendency to strike the puck in the middle of the blade. The heel is the zenith point for the power that is transferred down the shaft when the stick is loaded properly from the aforementioned point of striking the ice a few inches behind the puck.

Also, you want the blade turned over in the beginning of your follow-through. This gives the puck it's nice tight spiral. A ball I have no idea the relevance of this -I only play ice and roller

 

[teamstag]

Slap shots with a ball are the only one I seem to be able to do well. Just tilt your blade to a 135 degree angle, wind up while keeping that angle, and keep the angle when you strike the ball at the heel of the blade. After that, it's all in the follow through in terms of where you want the ball to go.

 

[Mackee]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you don't really want to hit the puck/ball so much as you want to strike the ground right in front of it. Once I was taught this, my slap shot improved dramatically and I now have a pretty mean slapper.

 

[+73*]

A ball I have no idea the relevance of this -I only play ice and roller

funny you say that, i only play ice and ball hockey and ponder the relevance of roller

 

[08Neely]

Slapshots are all about the hips and shoulders.

I'll agree with that to an extent, but there is also a lot to be said to adding a snap to the wrists when doing a slapshot. I find I can pick spots a lot better and get a more "rising" kind of shot with a slap/snap shot.

Hips and sholders not only provide torque and the power for the shot but you need to remember that your hip and shoulder position will also aim shots too.

My advice is - Work on snapshots and after a while you should find that the rolling over motion of the wrists and forearms will kind of blend into the slapshot. It's hard to explain on a board without a visual but for me it's all about the wrists really, especially the top hand on the stick.