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If you are learning to skate get lessons from a figure skating instructor. You can still wear a hockey skate. In my experience a figure skating instructor will teach you how to use your edges, maximize your stride and all around balance. When my son was playing at a high level the teams always brought a figure skating instructor in to help them. Once you get the skating down then you can work in using a stick and puck.

you look great. my only thought was don't let your body get to tight. The way you are holding your right arm and glove looks like you don't want to move them. Keep the glove up but relax and let things move a little. Time to let your body go on auto-pilot. You are a great example of what persistence is. Keep i up.

It takes more endurance and sometimes strength to do things wrong. If you have good technique you use less energy in the motions. IMHO a physically weak person who has great technique is a better asset that a physically stronger player that has lousy technique. The best players are the ones who have both.

Most of the people I've talked to here would have preferred Desert Knights.

I was not a big supporter of getting a team from the start. The last thing the NHL and hockey needs is another Coyote or Panther problem. The team will do well here the first few years, but if they don't do well after that then what? Move them or sell them? Both will make the NHL and Las Vegas look bad. Las Vegas had a tough time supporting our minor league teams (Thunder and Wranglers). Foley said 6-7 years to become a contender for the cup. Hopefully he keeps his commitment on putting together a top notch team and lets management run it like a pro sports team, because we saw what happened in Tampa Bay when Koules tried to get involved. After the newness wares off I hope we don't have a tough time supporting a pro team. Up until the new team was local headlines most people didn't even know we have ice rinks, let alone a hockey program here. I guess what it feels like is the people here have put a lot of faith in Foley by purchasing enough season tickets to get the team. Instead of honoring the city with a name that means something to it, he gives it a name and image that don't connect with Las Vegas. We are more than the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" image that most people think we are.

Anaheims' original name was because of Disney (which is pretty much what Anaheim is known for) and the movie so that ties it to the city and gives the name some value. When they were bought, the new ownership dropped Mighty but the Duck name was already established. The Whoopie, Bananana's and other goofy named teams are minor league teams which is a far cry from a pro team. Minor leagues are well know for off names. I guess the Canadian team can be called the Yellow Snowmen and the people are just suppose to support it.

No, they're complaining because it took many, many years to get a professional team and it seams like the Owners did not take any consideration for the city, only for the name they wanted and marketing. The last thing a city with a new team needs is the wrong name for a team. To a lot of real Las Vegans (especially natives) calling it Vegas and not Las Vegas would be like calling them the Philly Flyers, Tampa Lightning, Jersey Devils. Those are nicknames of cities, not the actual city name.

They're complaining because they feel it was an insult to the city of Las Vegas.

So he could keep his West Point theme he could have used Desert Knights and kept the black and gold. But a lot of natives here don't like "Vegas" and would rather it be "Las Vegas". Like I said. Seems like an ego thing to me. I'm afraid it will turn into another fiasco like Tampa Bay had with Koules/Barrie, more of a personal toy than a team.

Las Vegas looks more like a Christmas tree at night than golden. That is just their BS excuse to use his West Point team name. Like I said before, the city's name is Las Vegas, and that is what most locals, especially the ones born here, call it. The people who call it Vegas as mostly tourists or transient residents. They went with Vegas because some marketing idiot thought it sounded cool. This is suppose to be Las Vegas' team, why not treat it that way.

People that know me and my family know how important hockey is to us. They just announced the name of Las Vegas’s hockey team and to say I’m disappointed would be an understatement. It seems like this is more a toy for Bill Foley than something for our city. Everyone knows that he went to West Point and they are the Golden Nights but to call this city’s team that is absurd. Does he not know or care that Nevada is the “Silver State”? The Silver Knights would have been a much more appropriate name. At least it would have honored the state instead of stroking his ego. Yes, the Kings are silver and black. We still could have been that (how many black and yellow or blue and white teams are there) or just pick another color like scarlet or something. When they first showed the logo my first thought was that’s more of a Spartan helmet than a Knight’s helmet, if the name isn’t with the image it should confuse a lot people. We live in “Las Vegas” not “Vegas”. Las Vegas is the city we love, work in and raise our families in. It’s not perfect but it’s ours. Vegas is the place where tourists come to gamble and party. Vegas Golden Knights sounds more like a bad porn fetish movie than the name of a professional team. For Las Vegas and the NHL I hope the team does well or it will be an embarrassment. As for me, I might go to a game every now and then, especially if they are playing a team I want to see. I doubt you’ll see me in any of their stuff for a while. After this naming fiasco, they need to do something to earn my support instead of assuming I’ll support them since I live here. I’ll keep supporting the Red Wings like I have done for the last 40+ years.

First....NO CRYING IN HOCKEY!!! Don't ever be embarrassed if you can't do something or have a question. That is part of the learning process. We all had to learn, some just did it earlier than other. When you are practicing, don't every be afraid to fail or fall. You learn that way. As long as you are putting in a honest, hard effort you have nothing to be embarrassed about. If someone gives you crap because you asked a question, fell during a drilled or whiffed a shot they are the fools not you. Even the pros still make mistakes and they will tell you they are always learning something.

Keep up the hard work. Skating and stick handling all come with time and hard practice. Defense positioning takes a long time to get right. If you don't have speed you need to learn the spots and angles. That is what makes older D-men hard to play against and how you keep the faster guy under control. One thing I have always suggested is watch as much high level hockey as possible on TV. It gives you a great insight on where to play, how to play and why. It is even better when you have a commentator who breaks it down for you. You can freeze the screen, go forward, back ward and slow mo and it helps you understand things. As you play more you will start to put the two together.

I am convinced Keith Richards died about 15 years ago but his body doesn't know it yet.

You're doing great, keep it up....Loosen up and breath a little, you look pretty tense. Try to extend your leg more and pull it in all the way. keep your shoulders in line with your hips. It looks like you upper body is turned into the inside so it's twisting you up. Your hips are pointing one way and your shoulders another. Don't try to get your outside leg over to quickly, that's when you start developing that little hop. I would try doing it without even moving your outside leg. Just work on getting a good extension on the inside leg and pulling it in. Once that feels comfortable then work on bringing the other leg over. Make sure to work on both directions.

Our bench would have cleared from that, if no one on the ice did anything they should be ashamed. I feel your pain. We have one idiot we play against who tries to play tough guy. He got a 30 day suspension for two handing one of my team mates in the back. First game back from suspension and he boards me head first. We came together about 5 feet off the half wall. He gets to his skates first goes back about 10 feet and drive into me as I'm getting up. Fortunately I saw him out of the corner of my eye and was able to minimize his hit. I got up and literally chase him from almost the blue line, behind his net all the way to the bench. The POS wouldn't even stop to face me. He pulls this crap constantly. Always causes problem but won't back up his actions. Pretty much anyone who has a free shot on him tries to take it. At least we all know to keep an eye on him when he's on the ice. Guys like that are a danger to everyone and it would be better if they just left the game.

Said before but will say it again...love your commitment. To me you look like you are swinging with a bad golf swing. Start in a good position. knees bent (knees over toes, shoulders over knees), a little wider than your shoulders. Keep both feet planted. You can't raise your heel in skates. You need to turn your upper body and feel your back foot dig in (that is where you will get the power to load the stick), don't slide your hips back. When you swing, don't get the blade up, it should be a little lower and around your body (it should be just like unwinding a spring). When everything goes high like that it creates a steeper swing. Like a golf swing it starts from your planted back foot and goes up. As you go through the puck you transfer the weight from the back foot to the front (don't slide because it throws you off balance). I would move the puck to the middle or forward of middle. When you have it to far back there is a tendency to have a steeper swing that doesn't allow a good follow through and makes the stick want to bounce alittle instead of loading up and going through. You only need to hit the ice behind the puck far enough to load the stick. To far back and you loose everything, to far forward and you either hit part of the puck or miss it. Make sure as you are following through you roll your hands/wrists over and finish with the stick pointing where you want the puck to go. Keep your head relatively in the same spot. When you raise your heel you lift your body up and when you swing you dip down, this is another thing throwing your balance off. Less motion is better. Stand good, twist around, untwist and drive, turn the hands over. Just my thoughts. Keep up the hard work.

You are making great progress! Definitely keep both hands on the stick when you turn and put the blade into the side you are turning on. This helps shift your weight and body which gives you the edge bite you need to make a quick turn. I know you are trying hard to do everything perfect but you need to let your body relax. You look very stiff. Your body has trouble doing things if everything is tense. Don't forget to breath, this is another mistake people make. Before you know it you will get comfortable with things and your body will go into auto pilot.

I love the effort you are putting in. It's great to see. Couple of things to put on your list: Stop looking straight ahead and trying to use your peripheral vision to see the puck. In the video when you do this you look very tight and locked in. When you tense up lack that everything goes stiff. Relax, don't be afraid to look at the puck and everything around you, everyone does. In a game you have to keep your head on a swivel. Just keep practicing and you'll start to know where the puck is. before you know it stick handling will become second hand. For your cross overs do Russian circles, both forwards and backwards. Work on getting good leg extention because that is where the power will come from. After you get comfortable doing circles do figure eight circles using both face off circles so you use both legs and learn to use your edges better.

George Barris, creator of the Batmobile and many other custom vehicles

I agree with MThockeydad about your arms. Also your stick will help you turn. Don't just push or drag it through a turn. Get two hands on it and put the blade on the inside of the turn. It will help turn your shoulders and upper body making your turn more effective. Straighten up a bit more at the waist and bend your knees some more. For the short time you have been working on skating you are doing great. keep it up. One last tip, relax and don't forget to breathe. Sometimes your mind gets so locked in on trying to do something right it becomes mechanical and not natural.

My Son just got back from deployment late Thursday night, got to play in a tournament with him on Saturday. And better yet get to play with him again on our Wednesday team. Doesn't get much better than that.

One problem I see with a lot of refs is that they just show up at low level games for the paycheck. If you are going to do that stay home. When these refs are there they give no respect to the players or game so they get very little in return. They don't talk to players and explain what they did wrong, most just yell "go to the box". If the low level guy doesn't understand what he did then he can't correct it. If the player argues, explain that you're not going to be talked to or treated that way, call the penalty and skate off. To many refs think it's a war of words. It's frustrating for players to get called for a penalty and then the next guys gets off because "he can't skate well". A penalty is a penalty. You don't have to call them all, just be consistent. Control the game before it starts. Go to each bench before the puck drops and tell them civilly what you expect and what you will not tolerate. It is by no means an easy job, especially because it is a fast and emotional game. The best refs are the ones who do it because they love the game and communicate with the players. If there is a scrum for the puck tell them "keep it moving", if you see a penalty that you're not going to call tell the player "watch the hooking" or "watch whatever". Same for the crease action. It helps to hear "out of the crease". Part of reffing low level games should be helping to teach the game. And it's always nice as a player for the ref to say something positive to them occasionally "nice goal", "nice breakout". Give respect, get respect.

Carefull with arm swing though. It has to move forwards and backwards in a straight line. If you start swinging them at angles it throws your balance off.

Your skating stride looks like you are trying to run. Work on proper stance, shoulders over knees, knees over toes and push closer to a 45 degree angle. Have someone at the rink show you what a C cut is and do a C cut with one leg for the full length of the ice and then switch to the other leg. A running stride won't get you any speed or power and will waste a lot of energy. I would also suggest talking to a figure skating coach to see about some one on one lessons. They will teach you the best skating stride and edge work. I know friends like to help but the only way I would have them teach you is if they are extremely good skaters and know how to teach. At your stage it will be a lot easier to learn how to skate right now then learning how to skate incorrectly and fix the problems later.