Good skater = Good Hockey Player?

[Deathmoves 0]

Is there a link between good skaters and good hockey players??? I would have said no a few months ago because a player may be a poor skater but have a good "Hockey head" Or just be very good at scoring. But having recently gone to the czech republic for hockey school/camp i feel that there is a correlation!

When i was at the camp we were told by the head coach "If ur skating is S*it then YOU ARE S*it!" At first i didnt really believe him but as the 2 weeks went on you could see the difference between the Czech players and the English and American players! There skating was Impeccable!!! Knees bent! Correct starts! Sharp turns with minimal lost of speed! Gr8 stride recovery! Also there stick handling and shooting was at a very high level!

Towards the end of the 2 weeks i asked the czech coach that trained the czech team all year around how he got them all to be such good hockey players? He bascily explaned to me that is was all to do with skating. He said "Once your skating get to a very high standard everything else picks up with it!"

So what do you guys think? Good skater = Good hockey player? or not?

[sonsplayhockey 0]

Hockey is a combination of skills and tactics.

There are key elements required

Skating

Stick handling

Shooting

Positioning

Tactics

Strategy.

Skating is a very big part unless you are at a very very jr level.

There was a guy on my team this summer that bragged about getting 6 goals and 4 assist. But was he a better hockey player than the guy who got 2 goals and 3 assists? No, because the first guy could not skate and when the other team got the puck, he was useless. If we kept +/- stats, he'd probably be -20. All he did was camp in front of the net and wallow back to D usually after the goal was scored.

I think there is no debate, Is Skating important for Ice hockey? Is running important for soccer? Duh.

I think its simple. better skater improves your overall performance.

That being said, you can not just say "he's a better skater so he's a better hockey player". There are plenty of good hockey players in Jr/Rec Leagues, Adult Leagues that are not fast or great on thier feet but because they know how to shoot, pass and position, they are an asset and not a liability. But they thier skating is not S*it though.

[beaucoup_fish 0]

In agreement there. Skating is huge, and if you look at the pro ranks, there are very few guys that have gotten away with sub-par skating ability while having any measure of success. Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille come to mind, and of course, if you can pot goals like those two, then you don't have too much to worry about.

That being said, the difference between an NHL player and someone at a lower level is likely skating. I ran into some people that played with Wade Belak during the lockout, and while he's not known as a great skater, he had to play at half speed so everyone else could keep up. That should give you an idea of just how important a skill skating is. For some guys, their skating is their bread and butter and keeps them in the league - just look at Marchant or Draper (granted, both guys can chip in offensively).

I read somewhere that when Paul Coffey was a kid, he spent his summers in Power Skating school while everyone else was at hockey camp. Look what happened.

Bottom line: skating is probably the most important skill in hockey.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

In agreement there.  Skating is huge, and if you look at the pro ranks, there are very few guys that have gotten away with sub-par skating ability while having any measure of success.  Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille come to mind, and of course, if you can pot goals like those two, then you don't have too much to worry about. 

That being said, the difference between an NHL player and someone at a lower level is likely skating.  I ran into some people that played with Wade Belak during the lockout, and while he's not known as a great skater, he had to play at half speed so everyone else could keep up.  That should give you an idea of just how important a skill skating is.  For some guys, their skating is their bread and butter and keeps them in the league - just look at Marchant or Draper (granted, both guys can chip in offensively). 

I read somewhere that when Paul Coffey was a kid, he spent his summers in Power Skating school while everyone else was at hockey camp.  Look what happened.

Bottom line: skating is probably the most important skill in hockey.

Skating ability is the greatest skills, not skating speed. Sometimes we look at speed when talking of a good skater. For me a good skater is someone who control his edges, turn on a dime, crossovers are great...Some skaters are fast in straight line but they have no skating ability. How can you stickhandle or shoot correctly if you have no skating ability. It's often easy for me to make the difference between a grinder and offensive player just by looking at them skating.

[Crazy Otto 0]

Speed helps but like Kovy said it's different from skating ability, which in hockey is huge. An average skater can have decent speed and it won't help him be a great player. But an excellent skater who can maneuver and make tight turns, accelerate quickly, skate backwards as well as forward, pivot and stop well can compete just as well as the skater with greater top speed.

As far as the other parts of the game (shooting, puck handling, positioning, overall hockey sense) if you are a great skater you can overcome some of the weakness in the other areas.

[wickedwrister 0]

When you are a proficient skater, you don't have to think about what your feet are doing. They just do their thing and it all becomes sub-conscious/ second nature. From there is where your game takes off because you can think about the rest.

[martyStlBD 0]

In my opinion you have to be a great skater to play high level hockey. If you cant skate you cant play!!!

[thejackal 46]

There is a lot of facettes to skating. It was by no means easy to push Hull off the puck, and Robitaille would be quick enough to win the puck at key times. Straight line speed isn't much in hockey.

[beaucoup_fish 0]

There's a difference between being strong on the puck and being a great skater. Now I'm not saying that you can't be both, several examples come to mind - including Forsberg and Zednik. However, it was no secret that Hull and Robitaille weren't the most agile of players, regardless of straight on speed. Hull and Robitaille were excellent at finding holes and positioning themselves.

Draper and Marchant can both skate very well too, never mind that they're fast. Marchant just doesn't have the hands.

[Jim A 4]

also..guys like Luc worked on their skating tirelessly over the summers to improve and even make the NHL, they recognized their deficincies and attacked them..he spent many a summer working with power skating instructors..

[jason37 2]

When you are a proficient skater, you don't have to think about what your feet are doing. They just do their thing and it all becomes sub-conscious/ second nature. From there is where your game takes off because you can think about the rest.

Well Said

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

In my opinion you have to be a great skater to play high level hockey. If you cant skate you cant play!!!

ask dave andreychuk. He can't skate backward and still have difficulties with his forward speed.

[Chara3 0]

Look at Pierre Dagenais, he can't skate well but he can shoot as hard as anyone and is a good offensive goal scorer (when he gets the ice time <_< )

[MDE3 0]

Skating is THE fundamental platform for good hockey.....the better balance and agility you achieve on your skates, as well as acceleration...the better your playing potential.....being a good skater does not guarantee you will be a good hockey player, but it sure increases the chances. Being a poor skater almost guarantees you will not be a good player however.

With the new emphasis on the anti interference rules, there is a lot more opportunity for great skaters to excell in today's NHL, so the skating skills which were somewhat nullified in the old NHL, have suddenly become a premium commodity...maybe even more defensively than offensively.

There have been "exceptions that prove the rule" like any other endeavour...Gretzky being one of them....he skated way too bent over to be considered a "great skater" technically, but somehow he made it work. However he did spend countless hours practicing his skating and stick handling to where he could do all the things he had to...even if it was technically flawed. Good chance that's why he developed back problems.

When I was still running clinics, Gretzky's skating style was one of my biggest obstacles to teaching good skating posture to kids....they all want to look like him....

[Neo5370 132]

Or maybe they just wanted to wear their skates like Gretz.

Taping that tendon guard is no good. Though I am guilty of it sometimes.

[thejackal 46]

Good chance that's why he developed back problems.

A Gary Suter crosscheck from behind will do that to you.

[malcb33 97]

reading this thread has got me motivated to work hard on my skating! However I play inline hockey (no ice around me)! I know that inline skating is different than ice, I was wondering if anyone has got any drills or advice(technique) for me? The areas I need to work on the most are:

Basic posture will skating

Knee bend

Acceleration with the puck

spin moves with the puck

I realise stick handling pays a big part or the last two! Any Drills or advise?

[asdfa 0]

if you're good at stick handling with your head up, and just feeling the puck, it should be much easier to accelerate/spin with the puck. with acceleration though, i was always taught just to put the puck on your backhand with your stick out to in front of you (so the blade is flat on the ice with the backhand facing forwards) and just skate, unless you have people on you

[Nick23 0]

Since the age of about 8 i was always told ice hockey is 90% skating. Which i used to stick by, but with my new team, i have a couple of what we call 'session skaters' they are fast as hell but balance without their stick, and can't do anything with the puck, so for that reason ice time for them is a commodity. Until recently i had never realised how much my stick handling sucked, and since then i am now joint top point scorer in the league, playing for the age group above and local adult team, and actually getting noticed for once. So the way i see it is, skating is vital, but so is stick handling and shooting, you can't really have one without the other if you want to be a top quailty player.

[Nick23 0]

talking about skating being so important what are the best power skating schools around? to improve speed and agility