Dryland Shooting Practice

[Swlabr11 69]

I know this a topic that has been covered extensively however I didn't come across exactly what I was looking for. In my shoes on a shooting pad my shot is gorgeous. Add skates and it suffers. I don't feel like my practice on dryland is transferring to the ice at all. Unfortunately synthetic ice is not an option. My thought was to put down a rubber skate mat, like they have at the rinks, and use my shooting pad to be able to practice shooting with skates on. I know it won't be exactly the same as being on ice but I feel like it would be closer than just standing.  

 

Has anyone tried this? Is it a stupid idea? Anybody have suggestions?

 

Thanks.

[Vet88 673]

Nothing really changes as you don't get to learn the weight transfer as the feet aren't moving. Off ice your best bet is use inline skates, this is as close as you can get to ice skates. Otherwise standing on a pad to simulate the height of the skates is about as effective as standing in your skates on a rubber surface.

[kmfdm86 112]

Seconding the suggestion for inline. I don't play ice much but I have the exact same experience if I practice my shot in shoes then go out in inline skates and try the same thing.

[specs78 33]

Inlines +1. If you want to come as close as possible to the mechanics of an ice skate you can get an aftermarket chassis like a sprung, marsblade, or the new Fizixs? one the Keith is talking about on the roller forums. I got a Sprung chassis a while ago and it definitely feels "more" like an ice skate than the HiLo chasis I came from before. Still pretty different though. In a game over the weekend I instinctively tried a roller hockey stop in my ice skates...didn't go well.

[Swlabr11 69]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I'm going to put a roller chassis on my old skates.

[Chadd 916]

Work on your skating every chance you get, that will help. However, standing still on rubber mats or with inline skates is still going to give you a lot more grip and weight transfer than steel on ice.