I need StickHanlding advice

[greasysnapper]

Just like anything, it's about dedication and you get out of it what you put into it. If you really want to improve your stickhandling, I'd hire a coach for a few on and off ice sessions, and then just work on drills every night for an hour+. Whoever told you don't use a ball doesn't know what they're talking about. It's perfectly fine in developing your skills. Lots of pros and world class stick handlers have trained with a ball. McDavid trained with a ball. It's fine.

 

[MaxR11]

I see a lot of beginners overstickhandle too. Like they think cradling the puck back and forth a bunch of times like chopsticks is gonna do anything, other than slow you down while skating.

Deception is key. Like I said, skating toward a defender while cradling the puck 100MPH won't accomplish anything. You need to change angles, put the puck on one side. And as another poster mentioned, skating is very interconnected.

It helps to imagine yourself on the rink making moves on defenders like the basketball adage of 'playing your shadow 1 on 1', you cna use props to help the visualization like cones and sticks to drag around and through.

Also, being able to handle and cradle the puck back and forth on dryland is a lot different than being able to do it on ice, while balancing on edges of 2 blades while you're moving.

This is bang on. Stickhanlding is not just side to side in front of you. You have to be able to do it at many angles. on all sides of you body.

If you don't have access to the rink as much you need to also work on separating the hands from the feet with off ice drills. Stickhandling standing still is ok to work on some things but ultimately to be a good stickhandler on the ice you need to be able to make the handles while moving your feet and crossing over etc.

A few simple McDavid drills to separate hands from feet off ice. You can do variations of this....

first one at 1:06, second one at 1:53, third one at 3:00

 

[MartinS82]

If anyone comes up with a magic cure-all for bad stickhandling, please let me know.

It's the aspect of my game that has been permanently stuck in the past. I can skate, i can position myself, i can pass and i have shot that surprises a lot of people...but my stickhandling is so rudimentary. I'm a very...*push the puck forward and skate onto it* type stickhandler at my best. I know part of it is just using a very long stick, but i long for a stickhandling drillset that makes me suck less as a puckhandler.

There is no cure except for work...

But to reiterate some tips from earlier: Keep your hands away from your body. Your top hand shouldn't be glued to your hip, get it out away. Seems kind of unnatural at first, but it will help with the second part: use your top hand / wrist roll to really move the puck, not your bottom hand. Keep a loose grip on the bottom hand (I have my kids practice with a toilet paper role to make sure they keep a loose bottom hand).

Eyes and head UP. This is the biggest one. I see too many kids/players that can destroy me on a Super Deker, but I will smoke them on the ice because, well...those aren't cones playing defense, but people. Learn how to read the defense's stick and skate positioning. If you are going to practice in the house, watch TV while you are doing it...good way to keep your head up and use peripherals to see the puck/ball.

In the end, use your speed, it's way better than dangling anyways (if you slow down to dangle, backcheckers will always catch up, you'll have to beat the same guy over and over). A good chip and chase (not dump) sometimes works better than trying to get too fancy.

 

[biturbo19]

There is no cure except for work...

But to reiterate some tips from earlier: Keep your hands away from your body. Your top hand shouldn't be glued to your hip, get it out away. Seems kind of unnatural at first, but it will help with the second part: use your top hand / wrist roll to really move the puck, not your bottom hand. Keep a loose grip on the bottom hand (I have my kids practice with a toilet paper role to make sure they keep a loose bottom hand).

This whole, "keep your hands away from the body" thing is definitely the uncomfortable thing for me. I see deke wizards and it just looks strange, how far they get the top of the stick away from their body. I think probably because i do use such a long stick, with a lie that reflects that. So to get the stick that far out, feels like i'm at weird angles where i'm just trying to toe drag in every direction, and have that top hand extended pretty much all the way out if i want to drag the puck in tight, where it doesn't feel like i have any room to stickhandle back out with any authority. I'm just not really sure how to make that feel right.

Problem is, i don't really want to start using a shorter stick, because i feel like i'm always just going to be a trash stickhandler, and i like the other things i can do with a long stick. Plus, it's just what i've become accustomed to. Feel like i'd be giving up more than i'd ever gain at this point, to totally change the way i do everything else.

Eyes and head UP. This is the biggest one. I see too many kids/players that can destroy me on a Super Deker, but I will smoke them on the ice because, well...those aren't cones playing defense, but people. Learn how to read the defense's stick and skate positioning. If you are going to practice in the house, watch TV while you are doing it...good way to keep your head up and use peripherals to see the puck/ball.

I mean, this is the thing i don't have an issue with. This is my life...just sorta pick left/right and maybe throw in a fake...but it's a sorta one move thing.

In the end, use your speed, it's way better than dangling anyways (if you slow down to dangle, backcheckers will always catch up, you'll have to beat the same guy over and over). A good chip and chase (not dump) sometimes works better than trying to get too fancy.

This too, is pretty much my gambit. 1 on 1 off the rush, it's pretty much pick a side, maybe a body fake thrown in. Try to skate around them, or at least shield the puck away while i do it. It often actually works. Sometimes i'll even just accidentally end up Jeff Skinnering and doing a 360 trying to use my butt to drive a defender off when i panic. Just all positioning and trying to either speed around someone, or put the puck out of reach until someone else shows up. It works sometimes. Other times it doesn't. But stickhandling is basically just...kinda...push the puck away and try to vaguely maintain control while doing whatever.

I figure it's probably just a hopeless cause, because like you said...work is the key to it all. I just don't have the time or energy to devote to that anymore. I enjoy playing just fine and i've got a niche where i can be plenty useful. I just always feel like a dumbass when i'm 1 on 1 and freeze up with a simple one direction move...or even just goofing around playing pretend shootout and my "move" is basically "take a shot".

 

[I am toxic]

I struggle with stick-handling. And that is an understatement. So a few things I will work on:

- the McDavid drills, and using a Power Edge Pro: working on legs moving while stickhandling, and having upper body move at a different pace than legs

- tight figure-8 drill: start doing figure-8's around the ringette dots in the centre-ice face-off circle with as few "face-of-blade" changes as possible (while keeping head up as lots of other skaters going by), then tighten the figure-8 to one of the ringette dots and the centre-ice faceoff dot

- watching the D's skates/edgework as I reach the critical scoring zone around the top of the circles - make some quick lateral moves (just one or two steps) to get them crossing over their feet and then make my slip-through or drive when they are beginning a crossover

May get a steel heavy puck to practice stickhandling in the garage, maybe building up that kind of wrist strength will help. I dunno, getting old and slow is making it tough to improve

 

[Hattrickkane88]

playing ball hockey with a tennis ball is the best offline method, you have to have soft hands or the ball will bounce, you have to built good hand eye and control to stop the ball when it's bouncing. It's really
just the best.

I use a heavier stick as well so the stick has the weight of the puck.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Don't overthink it either. Just get out on the ice when you can and work on it.



I like this drill. You have obstacles to stickhandle through and around, you are also skating and moving your feet, and you can work on turns and edgework while handling the pill.