Technique of the inline hockey stop

[JSchultz 25]

As I sit here at work, bored as ****, I think to myself if my stopping technique is as good as it should be.

When I inline-hockey stop, it seems that alot of the weight and emphasis goes on the inside of the wheel. Although, lately I've been sliding around like I'm on ice (could be the sub-par Factory Halo wheels though) and I question my technique. Do most others try to stop more like and ice hockey stop (where it's more sliding across the ice, and not cutting into it)? I feel like I've been sliding alot lately, and maybe I'm digging TOO Far into the inside.

Any suggestions/comments?

[Prhockey2607 0]

Your wheels could be to hard for the surface you play on. If you use a sport court or tiled floor, you should use 72A to 76A

[JSchultz 25]

Your wheels could be to hard for the surface you play on. If you use a sport court or tiled floor, you should use 72A to 76A

I'm using 74-76A wheels already. Which is why I'm questioning my technique.

[Jim A 4]

one thing that I tend to find different is when stopping say with the right side..is that the leg is slightly outside the hips instead of underneath...and has a bit more push since you are stopping more with one foot than the other...like in ice where its more 50-50 or 55/45

[JSchultz 25]

I see, so it's possible that the leg with the most weight being shifted to is getting too far outside my hips. It's possible that it's getting extended out too far?

[Deathmoves 0]

Be very careful when tyring to stop on inline skates! I friend of my recently tryed to stop and dislocated his shoulder. He had to have an operation where pins are inserted into his shoulder. (Bankart operation). He hasn't played roller since, and i dont think he ever will. :( Not trying to scare anyone, just be careful.

[logan 0]

I didnt dare try to stop like I do on ice. I started out doing mostly power T-stops (not the dragging one leg behind you type). Once I got more confident, I slowly adjusted my back leg closer to the ice hockey power stop position. But I always favour putting more weight on the leading foot for roller to get more control.

[Chadd 916]

For me it was the same as a hockey stop on ice, followed by a barrel roll.

[JSchultz 25]

For me it was the same as a hockey stop on ice, followed by a barrel roll.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Patrick67 1]

Guess I use the power T stop, but can also stop on the inside of my left foot (looks very cool ingame) sort of a opposite T, but only use that when I stop behind our goal to build up a play.

Never Try the traditionel (ice)hockey stop! 'insert barrel roll/crash here'

[SPG 0]

I just shut my eyes, turn my hips and hope. Same as shooting really, i mean with all them uber sized goalie pads that are the rage nowdays how else are you going to score.

[DaveTheWave 0]

You will cut in at a sharper radius (measured from your skate to the floor) if you lean in and bend your knees more. This will stop you faster, along with new, correctly chosen wheels. A faster stop isn't always desirable, however. I suggest practicing faster stops by getting low and skating through turns as tight as you can.

[Hiub 0]

One thing to take into account, on ice hockey you use both of your feet almost equally to stop, while many people stopping on a roller hockey surface will exaggerate and use just one foot to slide. You lose 50% of your stopping power by only using one foot, so by using both feet equally you should gain some more stopping power if you are not already doing this. On my Beemers with Rink Rats I have absolutely no trouble stopping and turning on a dime, and I am a pretty heavy guy at 190 lbs, so I do believe technique is important. Almost equally important are the wheels that you are skating on. Those Factory wheels are garbage, and they will be adding a lot of hassle to your stopping.

[Reijo29 0]

Not to argue but I stop almost identical in roller as I do in ice. Maybe a little steeper angle as someone already mentioned, but basically the same. The reason I think a lot of people say to not stop on roller as they do in ice, has much more to do with them stopping incorrectly on ICE. Most have feet very close together and don't have their knee's bent anywhere near enough.

I do find in both ice and roller, and also teach players to put more pressure on front foot and try to keep back or trailing foot actually a little open. This is a big help in quicker transitions, which is usually the idea in stopping. Biggest key is staggered feet for roller(and ice). A lot of ice players don't separate and stagger feet but would be way better off if they did. Be as low as you can be with deep knee bend, wide, strong and staggered.

In my experience, if you stop the right way in both ice and roller, the stopping is very, very close.

[Deathmoves 0]

Not to argue but I stop almost identical in roller as I do in ice. Maybe a little steeper angle as someone already mentioned, but basically the same. The reason I think a lot of people say to not stop on roller as they do in ice, has much more to do with them stopping incorrectly on ICE. Most have feet very close together and don't have their knee's bent anywhere near enough.

I do find in both ice and roller, and also teach players to put more pressure on front foot and try to keep back or trailing foot actually a little open. This is a big help in quicker transitions, which is usually the idea in stopping. Biggest key is staggered feet for roller(and ice). A lot of ice players don't separate and stagger feet but would be way better off if they did. Be as low as you can be with deep knee bend, wide, strong and staggered.

In my experience, if you stop the right way in both ice and roller, the stopping is very, very close.

I agree with you Reijo29. Knee bend is such an important factor in stopping in ice and roller. But stopping only really becomes easy when ur knee bend is subconscious.

[MDE3 0]

Actually the knees are very important but not just "bent"..Try unweighting, pivoting and then weighting...like an old style ski turn....Basically you lift up pivot the skates, and then come down allowing your knees to flex deeply, then push up again...The rate at which you push up, controls the amount of force you apply to the wheels/floor, and thus in part how abruptly you stop...the other part being the learning of the correct leg angle to the floor..This angle will vary with wheels, floors, and speed..so takes a bit of practice.

One technique I used to teach when running clinics, was to have players lay their sticks on the floor and start out skating slowly towards the stick at right angles...then hop over the stick and turn 90 degrees in the air. On landing allow the knees to sag, then push up. This teaches the turn above in an exaggerated fashion, but get's the job done, eventually you will learn to pivot on the leading or trailing wheels to accomplish the same thing..one thing about jumping though, it does allow you to put maximum "bite" on the floor when you land, so in learning this technique, be sure you are fully padded with all equipment in place....it can certainly create the "barrel roll" effect....remember the "toe pick" sequence in that figure skating movie..similar effect. However by starting slowly and gradually building up speed you can learn this technique in relative safety.

[ViperJQ 0]

www.icewheels.net

These wheels are supposed to help you stop like you are on ice. i have a pair and they slide a little more so it does feel similar to ice.

[Hiub 0]

So how do those actually work? I don't believe that either in roller or ice you stop by having your feet perpendicular to the ground. I watched the videos on that website, and I am pretty sure that when I stop it looks just like that, exept less sliding. Wheel companies have been trying for years to create grippier compounds and this wheel is supposed to slide more? This baffles me! I wonder what they are going to come up with for the people that can't stop well on ice...

[Deathmoves 0]

Donno if this will help but here is a video of someone doing a hockey stop on roller blades. http://www.londonskaters.com/video-miscell...os-de-skate.htm

Scroll down and click "Hockey stop - 1.5MB" To view the video. :)

[MDE3 0]

So how do those actually work? I don't believe that either in roller or ice you stop by having your feet perpendicular to the ground. I watched the videos on that website, and I am pretty sure that when I stop it looks just like that, exept less sliding. Wheel companies have  been trying for years to create grippier compounds and this wheel is supposed to slide more? This baffles me! I wonder what they are going to come up with for the people that can't stop well on ice...

actually you are dead right..the whole idea about being able to stop rapidly without sliding is fundamental to the game of hockey....it allows you to create separation on offence if you can out stop an opponent, or maintain closure on defence if you can stop faster than the puck carrier....maintaining proximity more easily...or avoid unwanted contact if you are playing MLRH or some other full contact version of the sport of inline hockey..... a slide stop is simply a safety manouver for those who have not learned to "stop on a dime"....

[logan 0]

Not to argue but I stop almost identical in roller as I do in ice. Maybe a little steeper angle as someone already mentioned, but basically the same. The reason I think a lot of people say to not stop on roller as they do in ice, has much more to do with them stopping incorrectly on ICE. Most have feet very close together and don't have their knee's bent anywhere near enough.

I do find in both ice and roller, and also teach players to put more pressure on front foot and try to keep back or trailing foot actually a little open. This is a big help in quicker transitions, which is usually the idea in stopping. Biggest key is staggered feet for roller(and ice). A lot of ice players don't separate and stagger feet but would be way better off if they did. Be as low as you can be with deep knee bend, wide, strong and staggered.

In my experience, if you stop the right way in both ice and roller, the stopping is very, very close.

After playing mostly roller for a few years, I've noticed the same thing. I pretty much use the staggered stop for both roller and ice. In fact I've untrained myself to the point where I can't do a perfectly parallel stop anymore. It almost feels unnatural and unstable for me. Roller is all about flow and transition, and I find the staggered stop gets me going in the opposite direction much better.

I'm no skating expert, but I think stopping on a dime before heading a different direction does not equate to quicker transitions. When you have some slide, and a staggered stance, you are effectively already set to go in the other direction, and are also able to redirect that energy right away, versus having to accelerate from scratch.

Along the same line of logic as with going to a more shallow hollow on ice, I've have started using harder wheels for roller, and find that I transition so much better, and a bit of slide in your stop gives you much more control. I like to use the analogy of a good clay-court tennis player who is able to take advantage of the slide and set themselves to power out in the opposite direction while finishing up the last stroke.

[Hiub 0]

I'm no skating expert, but I think stopping on a dime before heading a different direction does not equate to quicker transitions. When you have some slide, and a staggered stance, you are effectively already set to go in the other direction, and are also able to redirect that energy right away, versus having to accelerate from scratch.

I understand your personal preference. I believe that any sliding that happens within your stop is wasted energy. If you are sliding when you are stopping, then it is a given that you will slide when pushing off, again losing energy. The technique MDE3 is talking about makes sense if you have a wheel that can achieve high grip. By using your knees and legs as "springs", you can absorb some of the energy from the stop and apply it to the first stride for a quicker transition. Ovbiously, ice hockey skates the advantage that the ice skate can regulate the force of the stop. You will see some experienced refs sometimes take 5 feet to stop, while a player fighting in a corner will take 10 inches of ice to stop. One thing ice skates do not do is slip or slide at all when you are pushing off, which would be bound to happen using a harder wheel or that new product a couple of threads above this one. I don't know that every wheel maker in the market could be so dead wrong when everybody is going for the same goal, which is higher grip.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, it actually is possible to control the force of stop in roller hockey. I have seen experienced players do this, and I have been using this same technique recently. Instead of performing a regular full-fledged stop, you can do a sort of "half-stop". By having the knees bent and a wide stance, one can have one foot, say your right foot slide to the floor at this angle - \ while the other foot follows sliding slightly at this angle - /. Basically having something like this:

*****************|***|**----> Direction of stop

*****************|***|

*****************/***\

****************/*****\

foot follows --->**/*******\** --> foot sliding

Don't laugh at my drawing :P By doing something to this extent, I can control the length of my stop to a pretty good extent. Say I am going to stop behind the net and I don't really have pressure on me, I can do one of these and at the same time pivot around to look up, without having to worry about coming to a full head on stop. If you don't get what I am saying, I will make a video and post it up on here.

[MDE3 0]

In discussing the "stop on a dime" technique, I do not necessarily mean that this would be used under all conditions, but...that it is a technique which can greatly enhance your performance. It is harder on the leg muscles and uses more energy....however in the heat of "combat" the technique is invaluable...perhaps more appreciated by those who have played full contact semi pro or pro inline.

In fact traditionally the stopping in inline hockey was what caused the game to be percieved as slower for a long time, because the transitions were not as rapid as seen in ice hockey, consequently players heading into the boards would start to stop 10 - 15 feet away, and players would often make wide turns to change direction, instead of sharp cuts....making for a slower transition. With the ability and confidence to "stop and turn on a dime" players can go after loose pucks much more aggressively in inline than previously seen, and the game has sped up as a result.

This and the ability to accelerate rapidly are the biggest recent changes in the inline game..particularily when being played at the top levels where these techniques are seen more commonly. Narch and Tours Pro, MLRH, PIHA etc. The new wheel technology and floor technology has had the greatest effect on changing the speed of the inline game in the past 2 - 3 years.

[logan 0]

Very good points. Our thoughts are actually not that far off. When I refer to slide, I dont necessarily mean 15 feet long stops. I guess it's just a personal feel thing for me. I want to feel that bit of slide. In any case, my main point was that I do believe that the staggered stop is the way to go vs. parallel.

[JSchultz 25]

As a defensemen, it is CRUCIAL that I can stop/pivot and change directions quickly. Good forwards can cut like glass (hyperbole, of course) and I'm seeing this all the time at higher levels of play. With terrible wheels, when they cut in hard, and I try to stop to play their body, I would slide 1-2 feet, and they'd quickly cut back out the other way and i'd be screwed. I think playing defense in inline hockey requires just as quick of feet as the forwards. There is no clutching/grabbing allowed (obviously), and I have pretty much one shot to line up their hips/chest and stop them. Some forwards have become so rediculously good at cutting in and out on inlines, it's scary.

Another thought: I played last night on ice court for the first time in a month. MUCH better surface in my opinion. Maybe it's because it was clean? the sport court in my home rink seems to have LOTS of slide. Hell, even my crappy Factory Halo's were gripping like champs last night.