chk hrd

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.

A friend of mine who is a retired pro use to do this to kids just starting out. He would take a stick and put it on the ground and tell the kid to just go pick it up without thinking about it. However they picked it up was usually how they felt most comfortable holding it. One of the things you don't see anymore for kids just starting is a straight blade. We use to get kids just starting to use them so they could figure out what felt the best. If you want to see how ingrained your stick hand is with your skating, grab the opposite hand stick and play that way (right plays left, not right plays right with a left stick). I have seen a lot of high level players loose most of their senses trying to do this. Everything goes. Try it sometime and you'll be amazed.

don't just work on skating and stick handling. Learn the game and rules before you get on the ice. Watch as much hockey as you can to see what is happening. If you can watch games with someone who has knowledge it really helps because they can answer questions, show you things you missed or tell you why something happened. When you start to play you will have a good idea where to line up, where to be and what to do. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. I've seen a lot of newbies play their first games and it is always fun to watch and help them progress.

Had a great 50th birthday on Wednesday; Dinner at home with the wife, watched the Wings beat the Hawks then had a game that night (I play with my 21 year old son) and smoked the other team. What more can you ask for!

a unicorn would have looked better

do the jerseys have rainbows on them? Nothing wrong with it...just wondering

Young entertainers could learn alot from Shirley Temple. She always conducted herself with grace and worked hard to make this a better place. From helping the US get through a depression as a child to all of the charity work she did as an adult.

ohhh you would be surprised! Or I should say wouldn't be surprised if you ever came in contact with my wife's mother and oldest sister.

I watched it also, hope he does well in Edmonton.

After 27 years of marriage and 30 years being together I might have to argue that...Same crazy, just different things now

At our last game one of our players who wear his helmet really loose with no shield had some minor contact and his helmet somehow got spun around backwards. We were yelling from the bench Kyle Daddy Goes Jump Jump...seamed appropriate.

Chrissy Amphlett of The Divynlys, age 53, breast cancer and MS. Who can forget her singing and the video "I Touched Myself"

I thought it was to make ugly women pretty

Ohh...excuse me...had mexican for lunch.

You forgot to add the guy saying "Dude you were in the crease...I had to clear you out"

4 penalties (hooking, holding, slashing & interferance) are lazy penalties that the Pens took because they were being outskated and outworked. The goalie interferance call was legit, if you are going to complain about #96 before the game then the same rules need to apply to your team. The high stick to #40 was also a good call. Even the penalty on Crosby at the end of the game was right, he should have been called for cross checking at about the 19:50 mark. Yeah the refs missed some calls, both ways, but it always happens. The Pens just got outworked last night and Crosby's actions at the end of the game showed the teams frustrations.

Yeah, most folks are absolutely shocked at just how much body contact is actually allowed under the rules..... Kinda why I hate it when I see other schedulers assigning kids to officiale mite and squirt games. They can barely get icing and offsides correct and they're expected to decide if the kids ran into each other or if it was intentional... add to that, the parents and coaches scream for a penalty every time they bump together..... But I digress... the rules for this are written.... and mis-understood. thats why you have to pair a QUALIFIED veteran ref with a new ref regardless if they are kids or not. The kid has to learn sometime and I would rather a ref learn correctly on a mite or squirt game than a rookie adult learning in a checking PeeWee or Bantam game. You should also have to have a few seasons under your belt before reffing an adult game.

Well if you don't have video cameras it would have been real tempting to beat his ass, call the police and say that you were defending yourself while trying to get your merchandise back. I'm not a violent person but a guy like this needs an ass whoopin'. There is very little worse than a thief.

You park yourself in front of the net at pickup/shinny??? never said it was pick up or shinny. It's a mens league.

He should get a match penalty for intent to injure (603a) and be suspended until he goes before your ruling disciplinary board or at the very least a major plus a game misconduct (616c)