Beginners: learn to hockey stop or crossover first?

[818]

Which is best to learn first?

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[DonskoiDonscored]

Depends how big you are. I'm a big guy, and I still can't figure out how to hockey stop, but I can crossover pretty well. Guy at my rink told me that I'm too big to learn it now.

 

[Wilch]

Depends how big you are. I'm a big guy, and I still can't figure out how to hockey stop, but I can crossover pretty well. Guy at my rink told me that I'm too big to learn it now.

You can never be too big or small to learn hockey stops.

It's all about body control. Need to keep grinding away at it until you get. It took me 3-4 weeks of non-stop practice to get one side.

 

[818]

I have a month before skating school starts, so u am trying to learn on my own for now

 

[TheRedShadow]

Do both. If you spend an hour at the rink 30 mins on each is quite enough. You should do things that help you learn to control your edges too, like one foot glides on all edges and slaloms cos hockey stops and crossovers all depend on edge control and balance.

 

[Pilky01]

Do both. If you spend an hour at the rink 30 mins on each is quite enough. You should do things that help you learn to control your edges too, like one foot glides on all edges and slaloms cos hockey stops and crossovers all depend on edge control and balance.

Yeah. Granted I learned to skate when I was just a little kid, but I feel like targeted training like that isn't really practical. If you just work on maintaining your balance through all sorts of maneuvers, stopping, crossing over, turning backward, etc... then the techniques will come to you.

 

[maplehawk]

why would you need to learn one or the other first? why wouldn't you just practice both?

 

[startainfection*]

stopping is all about being comfortable on your skates, if doing crossovers makes u more comfortable so be it

 

[LarryO]

I think I'd learn to stop first, just as a safety issue. You don't want to be accidentally running into other skaters because you couldn't stop. In the meantime you can turn without doing crossovers.

 

[Goonzilla]

If you had to pick just one or the other, it's probably more important to be able to stop where and when you need to, providing you can skate in some way, shape or form in the first place so as to actually get around the ice.

 

[ekm01]

Yeah. Granted I learned to skate when I was just a little kid, but I feel like targeted training like that isn't really practical. If you just work on maintaining your balance through all sorts of maneuvers, stopping, crossing over, turning backward, etc... then the techniques will come to you.

Agree. I was 20 when i started playing. I kind of just went out there and skated around, after a while, you start to trust your edges, which will help a lot with the crossovers. and you stop thinking about doing it and it just happens. It may take some time, and some falls, but dont get discouraged.

 

[KuralySnipes]

I've been playing basically my whole life (I didn't play 6th - 9th grade), and I have never learned to stop on my left side. Granted, I obviously am not really good. I can stop fine on the right side. I can do everything better on my right side (crossover and stop). I can crossover on my left side fine, but its not as strong as my dominant side.

I'm currently in high school, and I've been able to play ok stopping on only one side, but obviously I'd like to do it one day. When I was being taught how to skate, I think I gave up at a very young age trying to stop on that side (House league level) as I just fell behind everybody else, making it hard for me to learn right now.

 

[PK16]

Stop...for safety reasons.

 

[Bengerm77]

Stop, stop, a thousand times stop. Crossovers just make you go faster for when you'll inevitably crash into something because you can't stop.

 

[jazzykat]

STOP. Crossovers are important. A hockey stop keeps you from hurting yourself or others.

 

[cleveland408]

Learning to stop will help you from getting injured.

 

[mikitas donut]

Definitely stopping. You can get away with not doing crossovers at lower levels, but stopping is a basic skill and a safety issue. The most dangerous players at lower levels are the guys that go all out and can't stop. Start with snowplow stops to get used to the feeling of scraping the ice.

 

[titaniumexpose]

Definitely stopping is more important. Heels to turn, toes to stop. Get up against the boards for balance (if needed) and try to shave ice, it lets you feel the proper angle for your skates. Weak side edges (I'm right handed) have been tougher for me, but I can stop well enough on my right outside edge that I tend to favor that over learning the proper stop including the left inside edge. On my feet the weight seems to be on my outer toes/ball of my feet when doing a full hockey stop.

Also, sharper blades (radius) might make crossovers easier but dulling them a bit makes stops easier to learn, imo.

 

[zombie kopitar]

I've been playing basically my whole life (I didn't play 6th - 9th grade), and I have never learned to stop on my left side. Granted, I obviously am not really good. I can stop fine on the right side. I can do everything better on my right side (crossover and stop). I can crossover on my left side fine, but its not as strong as my dominant side.

I'm currently in high school, and I've been able to play ok stopping on only one side, but obviously I'd like to do it one day. When I was being taught how to skate, I think I gave up at a very young age trying to stop on that side (House league level) as I just fell behind everybody else, making it hard for me to learn right now.

I broke my left ankle playing hockey, and from then on I really couldn't hockey stop.
I haven't played in a while but I'd still really like to learn once I inevitably start playing again.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I mean I'm a good skater and very good stopper on my right side, it's just like my ankle buckles when I try on my left.

 

[El Nino 22]

Yeah, work on both but stopping would be more important. Don't be that guy at pick-up skates that cant stop and goes plowing through people. Yesterday a guy like that came and hit me like 3 times on one shift and slashed me. I was thinking this guy wanted to do something but when he went head first into the boards I knew better. It was weird because he wasnt THAT bad of a skater but couldn't stop.

 

[TheRedShadow]

I agree stopping is more important, but you can't practice stopping for an entire skating session. Well, you could, but I doubt it'd be worth it. Errors/bad form/fatigue are going to creep in over that time.

 

[beltjones]

Learn to stop first.

Hit up a public skate, wear gloves and at least elbow pads, and give yourself permission to look stupid. Make a goal of falling at least 3 times.

Practice more on your weak side. Getting better at your good side doesn't seem to help your weak side much, but getting better at your weak side seems to transfer to your strong side to a degree.

 

[haveandare]

Definitely stopping is more important. Heels to turn, toes to stop. Get up against the boards for balance (if needed) and try to shave ice, it lets you feel the proper angle for your skates. Weak side edges (I'm right handed) have been tougher for me, but I can stop well enough on my right outside edge that I tend to favor that over learning the proper stop including the left inside edge. On my feet the weight seems to be on my outer toes/ball of my feet when doing a full hockey stop.

Also, sharper blades (radius) might make crossovers easier but dulling them a bit makes stops easier to learn, imo.

This is so key for learning to stop at the beginning IMO.

At first, I was trying to learn to hockey stop without really hauling on newly sharpened blades, and it was nothing doing. I couldn't even just stand still and slide side to side on my inside edges.

After skating enough to dull my blades a little, (and also just practicing skating more of course), I could feel the insides way better than before, and I could get stopping down at a reasonable speed at first. Now, with them newly sharpened, I can stop way better than before. Still not great when I'm really gassing it, but it's getting there.

 

[TickleMeYandle]

Don't be that guy at pick-up skates that cant stop and goes plowing through people.

And then once you DO learn to stop, don't be that guy who likes to show off his newly-learned hockey stop by doing drills at practice and then throwing snow up at the people who already finished the drill.

Yes, I know that you THINK you have learned how to stop - but it's not 100% and I really don't want to have my day ruined because you wanted to show off to all of the other beginners and then plowed into me because you actually aren't as good at it as you thought you were.

 

[nystromshairstylist]

This is so key for learning to stop at the beginning IMO.

At first, I was trying to learn to hockey stop without really hauling on newly sharpened blades, and it was nothing doing. I couldn't even just stand still and slide side to side on my inside edges.

After skating enough to dull my blades a little, (and also just practicing skating more of course), I could feel the insides way better than before, and I could get stopping down at a reasonable speed at first. Now, with them newly sharpened, I can stop way better than before. Still not great when I'm really gassing it, but it's getting there.

You got the wrong sharpening cut; your skate edges should be comfortable and playable the second you skate onto the ice - if they are too sharp and need to be dulled than experiment with the next flatter cut until you achieve the right fit.