Need som help / advice

[SkepticalDougO]

Been a while since my last update- I've played 4 league games, and quite a few pickup games. I was traded after my 2nd game to try and even the teams out. My 2nd game was similar to the first for the first period, but the C on my line lost just about every faceoff so I switched to that position and won almost all of them, was in better position and had about 5 quality shots in the 3rd period, no goals though.

The 3rd game, on my new team I again played a lot better, better positioning, better passes, everything. I scored 2 "trash" goals, go to the net dig the puck out and put it in- our team lost 11-4 though. The good thing is there are only 2 lines, and my line had 2 goals for and only 3 against we played very well defensively.

This last game was this sunday and I was feeling sick all day, and it showed. I was completely drained of energy and while I was always in good position and didn't make any bad plays I wasn't able to make any good plays either. I'll chalk this one up to being sick and just a bad day.

My skating has improved dramatically over the last few weeks I can hockey stop on one side great everytime, the other side needs a little work but i'm almost there.




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Need some help with this though, when I'm skating backwards and need to stop what is the best way to stop backwards?

ALso, same situation going backwards but then say I hit the puck and need to break out the other direction whats the best way to go from backwards to going full speed ahead without losing much ground.

 

[Headcoach]

Need some help with this though, when I'm skating backwards and need to stop what is the best way to stop backwards?

In a "T" stop where you have the majority of the balance on one leg and the other skate turns perpendicular to the balance skate. Once you set the stopping skate down, then you transfer more weight to the stopping skate. The faster you transfer that weight, the faster you stop. I recommend that you start the transfer slow and then gradually move the weight transfer faster.

ALso, same situation going backwards but then say I hit the puck and need to break out the other direction whats the best way to go from backwards to going full speed ahead without losing much ground.

I recommend that you do a heel to heel pivot from back to forward, also known as a step out. This places you in a forward skating direction. Then, I recommend you move into a crossover stride to pick up speed for advancing forward up the ice.

However, if you are playing defense and you want to make that transition, I recommend that you just pass the puck. Don't skate with the puck out of your defensive zone...pass it out of your defensive zone. This way the pass gets out of the zone and not get held in by a pinching defenseman. A good rule to follow is that you only get to hold the puck no more then 4 seconds.

You get it...you give it! Yes, this is a team sport, it's not tennis.

Head coach

 

[Beerfish]

A key to these stops is also top lean forward as you are planting feet to stop when going backwards, that keeps your center of gravity in the right place and you are less likely to stumble when trying to stop and then go forward. Your body wants to keep going in the direction it is moving when you try to stop so moving your body weight forward as you stop (when going backwards) should help you to stop and be in a better position to start going forward again.