Puck Handling Help

[Yakus 0]

What can I do to make the puck feel lighter when stickhandling? I've tried working out but that doesn't seem to help. I know guys that work out regularly and are pretty strong but the puck also feels heavy to them and then there are small guys that don't even work out and they can stick handle the puck like it's a feather, with one arm and stuff.

[gavin 0]

Do a search for "strength" and "wrists" cause you need to work on your wrists. A lot of very good threads have discussed that. Also.. just work on your quick hands. Not only do you strengthen your wrists, but you also get smoother hands.

[Quintin 16]

Two words - Soft hands.

[cause4alarm 6]

Practicing with a weighted puck sounds like a pretty obvious solution.

They also make weights for your stick. I think epuck.com has a lot of hockey-specific training equipment.

[Neo5370 132]

I think the best way is to practice for as many loooong hours as you can w/ a normal puck.

Working w/ a weighted puck is good but I like the idea or practicing w/ what you'll be playing w/.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Can't be better than that, neo. Nice post.

[bullet1 0]

Another pretty decent idea I stole off Epuck was wrapping your blade and stick with pennies to make it heavier and using that for a while. Not only will it make your normal stick feel extremely light it should also make it easier to shove the puck around.

[Nick23 0]

How about practicing with a heavier stick? In finland i have been told below the age of 18 you can ONLY use wooden sticks, cause composites effectively do some of the work for you.

Although it is not the same situation, but still, musicians such as double bass players will practice with a heavier bow, so when they come to perform, they will use a lighter bow, and it is so much easier to play.

So theoretically, if you practice with a heavier stick, then for games move to your ops, you will be able to reap the benefits of improving technique and strength overall with te wooden, but using the of composite stick to maximise performance in games! This would work for the stickhandling as mentioned, along with shooting and passing.

[pantherfan 0]

That wooden stick idea in Finland sounds like a good idea but i doubt they actually stick to it

[Patrick67 1]

Nick23: You shoot sligthly different with a hard composite blade compared to a wood even if they are the same curve.

The "give" in the wood makes your shooting motion a little different. e.g. my slappers are a little to the left (i'm LH) compared to shooting with a composite, bacause the wood blade bends more.

Use exactly the same stick as much as you can, and make you wrists stronger by playing and off-ice workout.

Like the Finnish Idea, never heard of it though, you can't bitch to your parents when everybody is useing the same stick. :P

[bucko 0]

IMO neo is absolutely right! all that little tricks will also just have a little effect, listen to gavin, just practice more to get smoother hands. to switch around different sticks with different weights for practice or game doesn´t sound like a real good idea to me, but i am very used to my gear and sticks, playing the same custom curve for more than six years now...

[hockechamp14 0]

I found the best way to build my stickhandling wasn't doing weighted whatever, it was in working out. I found these to help the most:

Use a highly weighted stick and swing it back and fourth overhead, then do the shooting motion down low. (like put a 25 or something on the stick, Jagr uses a 45)

Plate Pinches:

Take two or more 5's or 10's and hold them together with one hand for as long as you can or for set time, then repeat with the other hand - or do both at once. I can do 3 10's in each hand for a minutne now, and it helps power transfer into the stick for shooting, and finger stregnth for soft hands.

Bent press:

I found the blance portion in the forarms to be awesome for stickhandling, even wood sticks feel like measley twigs doing the bent press with little more than the bar. Great as a power excercise too. (http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459681 first excercise on the page if you don't know how to do a bent press)

Wrist rolling:

don't be the dummy that does the wrist roller with your shoulders out... this is for your forearms--- not your shoulders. I like doing these two ways:

With a barbell: On an olympic barbell I tied a skatelace to the bar, and the other end I used two 45's, and a 10 (note: don't be stupid enough to use a skatelace). I did three sets rolling the bar both ways, and it defenately worked my grip, my forearm rolling, and mental determination at that.

With a small roller: Using anything like a cut down stick, stripped dumbell, or anything else similar (you can use a lace on this one) tie one end to the center of the object and the other to the weight, I use like 30. I usually stand on a plyo box to do this to get a fuller range as I don't hold my shoulders up. Anyhow, wrist rollers are pretty good once you can use good weight.

Weighted ball:

Ok I guess I lied that a weighted ball didn't help, but I felt it was just the finishing touch that transferred what I built up into stickhandling. I like the smallest kwikhands ball for this, but barely ever use anything besides a golf ball to stickhandle off ice anymore.

hopefully this will help some people.

[tume 0]

That wooden stick idea in Finland sounds like a good idea but i doubt they actually stick to it

Yes, there is a rule in Finland that became mandatory this season. E Juniors ('94) and younger have to use wooden sticks. I believe this was due every kid wanted their parents to buy those cool and expensive composites (also wood is little safer). I can't help but laugh when I see some G-juniors using composites, as they won't get any more out of them than from wooden ones.

[Ultimus 0]

Gretzky used to do this as well, only during the season he would start with a heavier stick and work towards lighter sticks as the season went on.

So as he would wear down as the season went on, he thought the lighter stick would help compensate. Who is to argue with the Great One?

Did you also know, he pissed all over himself in a World Cup game? I believe it was the WC. It was mid 80s if I remember correctly, between reg season+playoffs several years in a row and the WC he had been playing hockey nonstop and was physically exhausted.

What I did for helping build strength was use an ice hockey puck in my basement, it didn't move as well and would bounce more(polished concrete) I would weave in and out of the 3 support poles and also shoot against the wall. The puck would bounce back and I would have to stop in and control it.

It helped for ice but was wonders for inline. Now that I live in near the ocean, no more basements, no more practice.

[TBLfan 25]

take a OPS and fill it with sand to make it heavier, then practice. heh

[SickLife 2]

could try the old school method (i think it was bobby orr?) of taping pennies to the stick to make it heavier in warmup. haha.

man i wish i didn't have carpal tunnel so bad, would probably make my hands better.

[chikinpotpie 137]

Take an old broken stick and drill a hole in the middle. tie a skate lace through the hole and the other end around some weights. Then roll the wiehgts up and down the handle using only your wrists.

[Muzza_77 0]

At a pick up game tonight, there was a new kid. He could skate fast (this was outdoors, so I don't have the guts to go fast, as hockey stops never turn out well). Also this kid had quick hands, I when I say quick I mean really quick. Though he had problems which brought him down heaps. He would always skate full speed, unfortunately he couldn't stickhandle at full speed, and every time got stripped of the puck. And with his quick hands, they where strong and quick, though they weren't soft, so each time he reached full stickhandling speed he would lose control. So really no matter how strong or quick you get. Without soft hands your screwed.

just my 2c

[hockechamp14 0]

At a pick up game tonight, there was a new kid. He could skate fast (this was outdoors, so I don't have the guts to go fast, as hockey stops never turn out well). Also this kid had quick hands, I when I say quick I mean really quick. Though he had problems which brought him down heaps. He would always skate full speed, unfortunately he couldn't stickhandle at full speed, and every time got stripped of the puck. And with his quick hands, they where strong and quick, though they weren't soft, so each time he reached full stickhandling speed he would lose control. So really no matter how strong or quick you get. Without soft hands your screwed.

just my 2c

In effect he's making himself better because he's pushing his comfort zone. If you're not screwing up while practicing/scrimaging, you might want to think about going faster or trying harder.

[Muzza_77 0]

I have tried going fast, and hockey stops never work well. My pants are shredded from falling over. Besides this kid didn't stop. He just ran into things.