How to become a better 1on1 player?

[Adam91 0]

What kind of drills and excersises can I do to become a better one on one player. You need to be a "shifty" player with good hands but what can I do to work on my "shiftiness" and other things that make me become a more dangerous one on one player.

[Thockey17 1]

Speed. Try and get more explosive. Do some quick feet drills.

If you are close to the boards, pass it off the boards and go around the other player, then go get the puck.

If "driving" to the net from the wing, try and get under the other player, and shield the puck with you're body.

[flip12 712]

Go out for track as a sprinter/middle distance runner. Even if you're no good it will make your body faster on land and ice and much more used to controlled movements at top speed.

[aoes812 0]

I'd say work a lot on your crossovers, and just general agility on your skaters (i.e. starting, stopping quickly, being able to cut on a 'dime'). Also stickhandling would be a good idea, so you can get used to dangling and such around guys, which will even help you through traffic. I'm still working on this stuff myself.

[snipe-show12 0]

For off-ice work an agility ladder will help with your speed/agility, As for on-ice 1on1 keep your feet moving! and use on - off speed. So if a 1on1 breaks out go full out then slow it down a notch then when the Defenseman slows up or trys to close the gap Kick it into 5th and blow by him, Also Make sure you can control the puck at full speed.

[Chadd 916]

In addition to changing speeds, work on not only making good moves but making those good moves very quickly. It's the guy with the lightning quick crossover that is tough to stop.

[UMWhockey 0]

on ice plyos. Like take your basic inside and outside edge work drills, the one where you make c's down the ice using one foot and then the other, or crossovers down the ice for outside edges. Add in a jump from foot to foot instead of just putting your foot down. any type of jumping on the ice is going to help with leg strength as well as explosiveness.

also, work on the basics of cross overs and your stride. Most people focus on being stronger and quicker, but have so much wasted movement in their skating that really all they need to do is work on being more efficent to have the edge over someone else

[ktang 34]

A lot of guys do the wide drive without a fake to the middle first. That makes it easier for the D to react and turn.

Work on a fake forehand pass - drag to backhand move. You can follow that with a drive or a backhand pass.

[Neo5370 132]

Vision and reflexes. If you aren't able to do all of the above with your head up and able to read what the defenseman is giving you then you're dead. On top of that if you don't have the reflexes to pull off that fancy toe drag you've practiced in your basement when the d-man poke checks you're dead.

Take me for example. If I'm on the rink all by myself practicing all sorts of dipsy doodles it looks pretty nice because that's all I practiced when I was a kid. But in a game situation my hockey IQ and reflexes are zilch. Nevermind puckhandling with my head up. I never learned.

I am a practice player. Don't become one!

Head up!!! After that I'd suggest practice stickhandling for hours upon hours a day. Regular puck, roller puck, weighted pucks, golf ball, street hockey ball, marbles, wiffle-balls, racquet balls, tennis balls. Anything and everything. For hours.

I guess I didn't answer your question directly so here's something I used to do a lot when I couldn't get to a rink or go outside.

I'd set up a few chairs around the room and just stickhandle around and in between. Between 3 chairs you've got 12 little "pylons" you can get creative around. Bounce a pass to yourself off the wall, practice passing "under dman's stick" or "between his skates" (those are all chair legs btw)

Just don't break your mom's good china. She'll be mad.

:P

[hock20 0]

Focus on going around the D and not through him, this is pretty common for a lot of guys.

[cause4alarm 6]

If you can, it helps to know your competition.

How good/experienced is the guy you're taking on?

Is it a natural defenseman or just some forward who's backchecking?

Is he fast or a particularly good skater?

How big is he?

Is he going to stand you up at the blue line or back off and give you some room?

Are your chances better if you speed around the outside or if you do a move and go inside?

Is he aggressive or will he wait for you to make the first move?

Is he likely to take a penalty to haul you down?

[DamnLocust 0]

You don't need to have amazing flat-out speed. I know that I don't have any, but because I can change speeds and read where the D man is moving/andticipating, I find my way around people here and there. Keeping your head up, focused on the D's movements will help with this. It's also helpful with getting around forcheckers when playing D, and knowing when your time/space is running out, and making a decision to shoot/pass/dump the puck.

One thing that not enough people seem to do is shoot through the D. You don't need to go around everyone on the ice to have a good quality scoring chance. If you can open up a shooting lane between the D's legs/stick/whatever, and are within range that you can pick a spot on net and hit it, don't be afraid to let the puck fly. You'll catch the goalie off-guard and the d-man will screen him. After releasing the shot, head straight for the net. If the puck doesn't go in, there's a good chance that there will be a nice rebound. Also, the D will often stop for a moment to look at where the shot is going, and you may catch him off guard as well.

[kingjames23rulz 0]

what are some ways to help myself improve to change speeds?

[DamnLocust 0]

Changing speeds is pretty simple, actually. It's just a matter of moving your legs to speed up, and coasting to slow down. Coasting still involves pumping your legs, but not as fiercely as you would when accelerating fully.

Don't always skate at top speed, especially when first moving into the zone/up to the D. When you see him slowing down, deke in one direction, pull the puck across and just power your way around him- pump your legs like crazy and protect the puck with your body. You want to do this so that you've got enough time and space to get to the net for a quality scoring chance. You don't want to do this so low that you'll wind up taking a crazy angle shot from the goal line when you could have taken a shot through the D from closer to the slot.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

You always have to have more than 1 move in mind. Maybe add something to your "regular move" to throw the defence off. Watch Ovechkin on a 1 on 1, even watching him from the crowd you can't tell what he's going to do.

Edit: Use your decoys too. If the defence is thinking about you passing, or about the move you tried earlier on him, you can suprise him with a totally different move.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

what are some ways to help myself improve to change speeds?

When your out sprinting, run at about 85-90 then kick it in to 100. Keep doing that and it will become natural, like anything else.

[DamnLocust 0]

You always have to have more than 1 move in mind. Maybe add something to your "regular move" to throw the defence off. Watch Ovechkin on a 1 on 1, even watching him from the crowd you can't tell what he's going to do.

Edit: Use your decoys too. If the defence is thinking about you passing, or about the move you tried earlier on him, you can suprise him with a totally different move.

I try to not go into a 1 on 1 with any move in mind, even on a breakaway. I try to go in and react to what the defenseman is giving to me. If I go in with a move in my head, I will often do the move wonderfully, but at the wrong time- just a bit early or a bit late- and the move will be unsuccessful. Not that I have a ton of moves to use, but I try to just let it all flow. I try not to think too much- just react.

I use decoys when possible, but it's even more often that I am the decoy- I'll drive hard to the net, and as the D seems to notice me and starts cheating my way, I'll call for a shot. This will often freeze up the D, leaving me to pick up the rebound.

[BGM 0]

I always try and go in on an angle at the person instead of straight on--gives you some space to change which way you want to go.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

on ice plyos. Like take your basic inside and outside edge work drills, the one where you make c's down the ice using one foot and then the other, or crossovers down the ice for outside edges. Add in a jump from foot to foot instead of just putting your foot down. any type of jumping on the ice is going to help with leg strength as well as explosiveness.

also, work on the basics of cross overs and your stride. Most people focus on being stronger and quicker, but have so much wasted movement in their skating that really all they need to do is work on being more efficent to have the edge over someone else

this is so true...

[chk hrd 164]

What kind of drills and excersises can I do to become a better one on one player. You need to be a "shifty" player with good hands but what can I do to work on my "shiftiness" and other things that make me become a more dangerous one on one player.

become a student of the game and learn how to use the ice to your advantage. It doesn't matter how good of a skater, stick handler, shooter, etc you are if you give up the ice because of bad position. It works either way. For offense it gives you a better understanding of how to open the ice and what the offense and defense will be doing. For defense it helps you learn angling, shooting lanes, passing lanes and how to shut the offense down.

I would rather play with an intellegent player who has a decent all around game than great skater/stick handler who has no brains at all.

[Adam91 0]

[become a student of the game and learn how to use the ice to your advantage.

I know exactly what you mean but how do I pratice it? Visualization? and just recognizing certain situations?

[Grave77Digger 1]

I think it comes down to experiance

[Adam91 0]

Will the on ice plyos still help if I do them on rollerblades?

[hockeymom 2]

I'm interested in comments on this as another way to be a better 1-on-1 player.

Everyone has experienced the phenomenon of how the action slows down as you master a sport. Eg in tennis or baseball, the ball "appears" to be slower giving you more time to hit it, in hockey you "see" the ice and the play better which gives you both more time and more room to read and react.

I've always thought this was simply mastery, you are less "occupied" with the mechanics of the game, so more of your brain gets freed up for other things.

However, a guy who is a martial arts master as well as excellent hockey player/coach was just telling me that this phenomenon actually is your breathing. As you master a sport your breathing becomes more regular and this causes things to "slow down" for you. He thinks people can actively learn breathe control in hockey to not only have increased energy and stamina but more time to read and react.

Has anyone heard about this? Any thoughts?

[Project824 0]

I'm interested in comments on this as another way to be a better 1-on-1 player.

Everyone has experienced the phenomenon of how the action slows down as you master a sport. Eg in tennis or baseball, the ball "appears" to be slower giving you more time to hit it, in hockey you "see" the ice and the play better which gives you both more time and more room to read and react.

I've always thought this was simply mastery, you are less "occupied" with the mechanics of the game, so more of your brain gets freed up for other things.

However, a guy who is a martial arts master as well as excellent hockey player/coach was just telling me that this phenomenon actually is your breathing. As you master a sport your breathing becomes more regular and this causes things to "slow down" for you. He thinks people can actively learn breathe control in hockey to not only have increased energy and stamina but more time to read and react.

Has anyone heard about this? Any thoughts?

There may be some truth to that, slow breathing can give you the illusion of calm, thus slowing things down.

I think a better way to put it would just be confidence in the move you're about to make will give you calm, making things seem slower and more managable... and since you're not nervous pulling the move, your breathing will slow.

The only true way to achieve this is by actually having that confidence, which can only be attained through practice - a move that has been relearned at full speed until it is routine will be much easier to pull off in a game, and will seem to take less effort. Meditating or slowing your breathing won't suddenly give you dangles.

A CHA study estimates that a single movement must be practiced properly 30,000 times before it becomes muscle memory - a shot, a stride, a stickhandling move, a pass, much like a golf swing.

As for the original question, there've been some good answers. Change of pace/explosion and lateral movement are most difficult for most defenders. You must develop dynamic skating ability and train on dryland to become a better athlete to fully take excel in these two. Stickhandling ability is necessary and good, but without the physical ability to seperate yourself from a defender, you won't get too far... we've all seen that roller hockey player beating the crap out of the puck but not moving his feet and ending up with a shoulder in his chest and his butt on the ice.