tips for using edges and stopping

[Ravrius 0]

hey i just started playing hockey this past year and still havent quite gotten the hang of stopping yet. I tend to use only my front leg to stop and cant seem to dig the outside edge in on my back foot...Is there anything i can do to get the feel of using that outer edge or anything i can do to practice? Also I'm a pretty light guy, around 130 and get knocked around a lot sometimes even though its non contact any tips on how i can stay stronger on my feet and remain upright even with all the pushing and shoving? any help is appreciated thanks in advance

[truSteh 0]

I play for 3 seasons now, and I use one leg to brake too, sometimes I can do it with two but it isn't that easy :P I can only break with right too :D Left just won't happen for god sake, I get punished at practice all the time but I just can't do it :(

[Fletch 219]

I still have a lot of trouble stopping on my left side.....dammit. My right side is fine, but my left side is pathetic.

[technophile 0]

I still have a lot of trouble stopping on my left side.....dammit. My right side is fine, but my left side is pathetic.

You and me both. I'm a decent stopper on my right leg (stop facing left), but if I try to stop while facing right it's a comedy of errors.

My stop on the right usually goes:

1. Shift weight to left leg

2. Turn right leg so that I'm doing a half snowplow

3. Shift weight to right leg, start to bend right knee

4. Turn left left so my left foot is parallel to my right foot, with my left toes farther up than my right toes

5. Bend both legs into the stop.

For some reason I have a lot of trouble flipping steps 1 and 2 around so that I'm half-snowplowing with my left foot. I think I need to spend some time practicing skating only on my right foot as well as full snowplows to get used to it. In my experience once you get the half snowplow down, you've pretty much got it; the only part left is to lift your other foot and turn it parallel.

[brokenskate 0]

Ravrius,

I'm a pretty light guy too, but there's nothing like deep knee bend to plant yourself on the ice and make you immovable to bigger guys out there.

For stopping, definitely just practice -- with pads so you aren't afraid to fall over.

But have you also checked your radius of hollow on your blade (see thread elsewhere in equip section) to make sure it's appropriate for you? Your edges may be grabbing too deep , making you feel like you can't use your outside edge. That or just really dull up your skates, so you can practically slide across the ice perpendicularly (sp?).

And then to practice it, I'm not sure if this is the *right* way, but what i can think of is to just get going, and turn your skates to one side not trying to dig in, but to float across the ice, and then slowly try to get your edges to dig in. Just remember deep knee bend!

[devilsrule711 0]

at first when stopping w/ two first try not to use the entire blade start small and try to just use the toe of the blade wna dwhen youve master that add more blade to the ice i have the same problem and just use the toe of the blade when stopping w/ 2 feet

[ktang 34]

All of the above, plus:

Skate all summer, but try to go a long time without sharpening. Do the stopping and turning drills. You will need to improve your edge control in order to avoid slipping during the turns.

That's similar to brokenskate's tip about dulling up your edges + using a shallower hollow.

If you aren't stopping well at all, another way to learn is to avoid doing the snowplows or half snowplows, because they reinforce some muscle memory that is difficult to overcome later. This other way, for stopping to the left:

(i) put your left knee over the left toes. Trail the right skate a little bit;

(ii) turn your left skate outwards, with the weight towards the front of the skate. You will start scraping on the left skate's outside edge. This is easy if your skates are a little dull / have a shallower hollow; then

(iii) As you start rotating to the left, scrape with your right skate's inside edge and really push / extend your right leg behind you. This will lower your centre of gravity, stop the rotation, and really throw up snow.

[yipperzz 28]

i think everyone has said good ideas about how to stop. as for your size, you need to eat more and start lifting a little to get some more bulk on you :P