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Skating 4 - The Hockey Stop Stopping is a skill that most people find quite challenging when they begin to skate. It is difficult for someone who is not used to the feel of their edges (inside and outside) to understand how these are required to slide sideways along the ice. Interestingly it is often the case that so-called "good" players also have some trouble stopping on their "wrong" side. This happens because players often do not practice stopping both way, tending to only use the side that they feel most comfortable on - a big mistake, because during games you often need to stop quickly, and it can be very dangerous if you have to turn your back to the game in order to stop. The easiest way (which does not mean that it is easy) to learn to stop is to begin by learning to glide in a straight line on one foot. The reason for this is so that you can get used to having all of your weight on that foot, without falling over, leaving you free to concentrate on your other foot, which is the on that you will be using to stop yourself. What you need to do to begin your stop is to gather enough speed (so that you don't slow down without trying to stop) and glide on one foot. Once gliding, place the "free" foot (the one you're not gliding on) gently on the ice at a 45 degree angle (toe turned in), just touching the ice enough so that you shave the top of the ice - you should not come to a sudden halt, the aim is to glide, lightly touching for as long as possible. Become good at doing this - remember to practice ON BOTH SIDES. you should, after a while, be able to glide from the far blue line all the way, across the red line to the end of the rink while scraping the ice. The next step is simply (well, it's easy to say anyway) to scrape the ice while gliding (as above) and then turn your whole body side on, while applying slightly more pressure to the scraping foot, and simultaneously lift the gliding foot (weight is now in the scraping foot) and then placing it down as you come to a stop facing 90 degrees from your original direction. You need to practice this and eventually you will be able to scrape/glide on your rear foot edge, in the classic two foot hockey stop. Remember that stopping is an essential, and so-called
"basic" skill of hockey, but everyone has a "bad"
side, and you MUST practice and master this skill if you are serious
about playing the game - You will not (or most certainly should not)
make a state team without decent stopping skills - it is one of the
easiest things for coaches to test and says a great deal about your
playing ability. |