Beginners: learn to hockey stop or crossover first?

[titaniumexpose]

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.

True, I'm thinking there was a quote about that in Laura Stamm's book, to the effect of "hockey stops are easy to learn but difficult to master." I'm not sure though, can't find it in the chapter on stops.

 

[haveandare]

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.

They are now comfortable and playable the second I step on the ice. Really, they were the first few times too, I just had no idea what I was doing until I had them worn down a bit and could get the mechanics of stopping down at lower speeds.