help on touching up a few things

[Flyersfan1014]

First, I was wondering the best way to tip a puck in? I think my most effective play style for travel would be a Mike Knuble type who stands in front of the net. I'm one of the bigger kids on my Midget 16U team. Another thing I was wondering about is dangling. Not too great at it yet and I'm not very fast when I'm skating so I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to get around someone if a passing lane isn't open. Any suggestions?

Those were for travel. This question is for school.

I know this is kinda vague, but what is the easiest way to play defense while getting a little bit involved on offense? I've never tried defense before, but I have a pretty accurate and fairly powerful slapshot. For me, I think my most effective defensive style would be to poke check rather than hitting since I'm still working on that. Any other help on defensive or offensive tips for playing defense?

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[AIREAYE]

Tipping : Lots of practise and great hand-eye coordination. Try something like baseball or drill where you try to bat pucks out of the air or play keep up with a hockey ball/puck

Dangling : practise stickhandling first, but if you're having problems getting around people try chipping the puck past them along the boards and going after it

 

[SkepticalDougO]

One thing that I find helps with "tipping" a puck in, if the goalie is down- and the rebound is sitting just a couple inches away, sometimes it's best to pull it out a little then just chip it up over him, or pull it to the side and go around. If you try to just slam it in as soon as you see it it's going to go into his pad and you wasted a good chance. This is only if you have the room / time.

Now I'm no expert on dangling either- but I liked the how to hockey series on dekes, the easiest and most common sense one which I find myself still not doing enough is just skate for open ice. Don't try to just go through the guy with fancy moves, go around him.

 

[Guffaw]

I know I can't stick handle through anyone at this point so here's what I do with limited success This is assuming there is no pass or there is and I don't see it which is a likely scenario.

I can skate fairly well, for my league anyway, so I try and hit center ice or the opposing blue line with as much speed as possible if I'm carrying the puck. One of two things will happen.

1) They'll stand up and try and make a play in which case they're flat footed. I'll pull the puck to one side, protect it, and have a good chance of skating around them.

or

2) They'll match my speed skating backwards in which case I'll try and back them in to the top of the circles or better and get off a wrist/snap shot.

That's what I try to do anyway. You did say that you weren't very fast, but have decent size. Work on protecting the puck. If your balance is good you'll be hard to deal with if you learn how to use your body to shield the puck.

 

[Flyersfan1014]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Ill make sure to work on protecting the puck better. I'm probably the 2nd biggest player on my team, so that would more than likely be the way to go with me. Also, I wasn't really clear on the deflections. I was wondering how I should do them. Should I try knocking it down and bouncing it in? Or try to elevate it? I've seen it work both ways, but does anyone know what works better?

 

[ReverendAlBundy]

Well the big thing about deflections is knowing the goalies position, which is just a sense you have to develope. If the goalies already down its best to tip it up, especially if the shot is coming in low. if hes still up try to knock it down to the ice. Personally I like to tip them sideways, for example, if a shot comes in from the right point and is heading far side, tip it so that it changes angles and goes in short side. Another huge thing is just knowing when to let the shot go past you, as in you feel like it will go in, or that youll be better served just batting in a rebound

 

[Flyersfan1014]

Well the big thing about deflections is knowing the goalies position, which is just a sense you have to develope. If the goalies already down its best to tip it up, especially if the shot is coming in low. if hes still up try to knock it down to the ice. Personally I like to tip them sideways, for example, if a shot comes in from the right point and is heading far side, tip it so that it changes angles and goes in short side. Another huge thing is just knowing when to let the shot go past you, as in you feel like it will go in, or that youll be better served just batting in a rebound

Ok thanks. Almost all of the goalies in my league go down once you hit the top of the circle lol so if I can get there in time, ill normally just go for rebounds. PPs are when I could get there for a deflection and ill try to tip it in sideways once in a while or not deflect it at all.