Slapshot advice

[Chadd 916]

Dont try and kill the puck, find the right amount of power.

Correct, proper mechanics are the most important part.

[MDE3 0]

now I don't know if this is still considered a slapshot, but when I take one I bring my stick up to waist-level at highest (normally knee level).  If I take the stick all the way up, I tend to 'cut' the puck (not a full arc).  I find that when you shoot with a smaller wind-up you tend to shoot "thru" the puck (I don't know how to describe it).

What you are describing is usually caused by opening the face of the stick on the takeaway...and if you are "cutting it" it usually means you failed to close the face when you come back down. Rather than worrying about opening and closing the face of the stick (there are many who do this successfully, but it takes more practice to find the timing, requires a more perfect balance and has a much smaller margin of error..all of which means it's harder to get it off in a real live game situation), grip the stick with the face closed for all your slap shots and keep it that way throughout the shot...then you are no longer having to control too many "force vectors" as you sweep through the shot.

Taking the blade back knee high is slightly more than a "snap shot". A "full slap shot" takeaway is when the lower arm comes back to parellel with the playing surface with both arms held straight.(longer arc, more consistant horizontal motion)) However there is nothing wrong with starting out using a shorter takeaway to learn the timing..in fact that is a good idea.

[polk 0]

I'm a pretty small guy but one that worked for me was to close the blade on impact. Basically, I would have the toe hit first. I almost set my hands with the stick upside-down and let it turnover. It worked for me, it might help you.

[ponty 0]

Keep is simple. Get your confidence going in the right direction and you will be fine.

Take a stick you dont care about a wall that IS NOT YOUR HOUSE and shoot pucks till your arms fall off. Try your bottom hand at different parts of the shaft. Try shooting with bottom hand folding over during the follow through and with it more opened.

Try different things until your comfortable.

Once you get a groove bring what you learned onto the ice.

Shoot, shoot, and shoot again.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

Ponty, I did that over one summer to work on my slappers and wristers. Came out with bullets for both, but I had to pay for my garage door, lol!

[GeeZa32 0]

Hehe ponty, I dont know what you mean. I cant get the ice feel without ice. If you are talking roller/street hockey pucks, I have absolutely no problem shooting those indoors or out. I just cant seem to "get it up" on ice...hehe.

[Chadd 916]

The blade should do the lifting regardless of what type of puck you use.

[ponty 0]

Shoot a puck on the pavement. It helps you get the feel for the puck when shooting slappers. Ice is a bit different but this is a good place to start.

[GeeZa32 0]

The blade should do the lifting regardless of what type of puck you use.

While this is true, the balls/rollers in roller pucks lift the puck off the surface even a tiny bit, allowing you to get under them easier. Pucks are just flat to the ice surface.

My problem may be that im just too lazy, coming from Roller and being able to shoot any kind of shot at any kind of power I wanted effortlessly my entire life, now ice is kicking me in the ass because I need to work my shots.

[Chadd 916]

If you don't want to buy a synthetic ice to shoot off of, use a piece of plastic or cardboard sprayed with a lubricant.

[GeeZa32 0]

If you don't want to buy a synthetic ice to shoot off of, use a piece of plastic or cardboard sprayed with a lubricant.

Well I'll be damned...cardbord or plastic...never thought of that...

[Chadd 916]

When I shoot, I trap the back of the puck lifting the front. whatever surface you use has to be somewhat slick or it's not going to produce accurate results.

[MDE3 0]

When I shoot, I trap the back of the puck lifting the front. whatever surface you use has to be somewhat slick or it's not going to produce accurate results.

This will happen naturally if you come at the puck with the blade "closed"..whichever puck you are using.....as I stated you can try to 'time" opening and closing the blade at impact, but that just adds one more complication to the shot....take it back closed and keep it that way through impact..letting the ice/floor or whatever surface torque the blade slightly more open just prior to impact(you should be making contact with the surface from 1- 4" in front of the puck)..then keeping pressure on your wrists through the shot to keep the blade closed....this will add increased torque and power. Pulling back on the upper end of the shaft at the point of impact with the playing surface will also help further "preload"(bend) the shaft....basically "storing more energy" to be released.

Always remember you are not trying to "scoop" the puck off the surface, so you do not want it too far out in front...as Chadd said, the face of the blade actually contacts the upper edge of the puck first..because the blade should actually be tipped somewhat forward at impact......Here are some images to help picture the blade to puck action:

Beginning of the "sweep": -----> / [____]

Middle of the "sweep": -------->l [____]

Finish of the sweep: ---------> \ [____] (I cannot "tip" my puck)

The acceleration "pins" the puck against the face of the blade, and it then rolls across the face of the blade, and leaves the face of the blade at the angle the blade has achieved at the release point. The major key to a successfull slap shot is maintaining blade acceleration through the shot. Often the motion people use is too vertical, or the puck is too far away, or too far ahead, and these all cause the blade to decellerate at impact..and the puck simply bounces off weakly.

As was stated frequently in this post...try working your way up from a minimal takeaway, and standing close to your target. As you find yourself getting more loft and power(confidence) move further away. Once you get comfortable from say 30 feet out, gradually try to extend the length of your arc (takeaway) a little bit at a time....like Ponty says...practice practice practice.....til your arms fall off.

[Crazy Otto 0]

GeeZa, you say you've only been playing on ice for four months. Are you sure you just don't need more practice to work on your technique? No one just steps right onto the ice right away and starts firing 90 mph slappers.

[GeeZa32 0]

I know I need to adjust my shot, but im just mad because Im used to playing roller and being able to hit a shot anywhere I want with any amount of power I want. Ive played with many types of roller puck and I can rip them high and hard, but ice...my technique needs a tweakin.

[MDE3 0]

One more thing which may be more difficult on ice..is keeping your front foot pointed no worse than 45 degrees away from your target...when you are learning it is common to have the front toe turned at 90 degrees, which tends to get your momentum going the wrong way. I only mention this if you are new to ice, as your balance on the ice skates will probably not be as good as it was on your inlines, and that is a trap which is easy to fall into. If you have your front foot at 90 degrees to the target, what usually happens is that your weight is going sideways as you come into the puck instead of forward....this type of motion makes it much more difficult to time your shot, and takes more strength and flexibility to execute.

Note: I know there are lot's of shooters whose foot does not point at the target in the pro leagues(there are also lot's who execute their slap shots "correctly" too), but that's due to practice...they are still stable through the shot, and generate lots of power and momentum just through superior strength and flexibility.

[mickz 107]

Don't worry about it. You're not going to produce a big booming slapshot just playing 4 months of hockey. Get a puck or a ball and work on your technique outside on the pavement or anywhere.

[Fedorov91 0]

It's alright, you dont need a lot of size and strength to have a good slapshot. I'm only 5'9 155lbs and I can shoot harder than lots of guys who are stronger than me. It's all technique, just practice, practice, practice and you'll start to figure out what works best.

http://img7.exs.cx/img7/8840/Slapshot2.jpg

http://img37.exs.cx/img37/7464/fedorovme.jpg

Those are about 2 years old, I was using too long of a stick tho...

http://img7.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img7ℑ=Keiths.jpg

That one is about 3 years old, I couldn't have been more than like 5'8 140lbs and I could still shoot pretty hard

If you can find some footage of pros shooting (the Superskills is pretty good, or even just highlights from games) and watch it in slow-mo that can help with your technique too, try to see what they do and incorporate into your shot.

[Chadd 916]

Make sure you're actually getting the motion correct and not just copying the body position.

[Fedorov91 0]

Yea, good point. But I've also seen some guys who have the right form but have the puck to far in front or behind them. Or some people dont follow through correctly (like their blade will be facing straight up) your blade should kind of sideways or facing down depending on your personal preference

[LetsGoWings13 0]

maybe a grippy stick could help

[thejackal 46]

Make sure you got the right lie. I put an old Titan Gilmour blade in my M-2 and used it at practice today. Sickest wristers I've ever made, but my slapshots sucked like hell because the tape was wearing more towards the toe (lie is too low).

[Stampede 0]

I've never been able to shoot slap shots in 10 years of hockey.

One kid at our rink can shoot lasers so I watched him for a while and learnt the trick. It's not correct technique I know but it's worked for me.

When shooting I always used to look down at the puck on concentrate hammering it as hard as possible.

Now I don't even look at the puck (unless it's a one timer), just take one one touch so you know where the puck is and keep looking at the net, slower wind up and don't think about power. Point the blade, as usual, where you want it to go and it just rips. Think I must scuff the floor a bit more because I'm not staring at the puck.

As I said, probably won't work for everyone but has really helped me with the weakest part of my game.

[MDE3 0]

To simplify all my complex postings on the slap shot...the key is acceleration of the blade through the shot, caused by the release of the flex in the shaft, as well as the closing of the blade through the shooting motion. If the acceleration is lost..the shot does not work.

[gymmonster 4]

I've been working on mine for about a year now and it just doesn't happen for me......at all :(

I would say I have a pretty good wrister and snapper and I would almost always be more inclined to use those shots than the slapper, but it is something that I would like to add for situations such as dumping the puck on a PK or getting a harder one timer to the net when needed.

I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Everytime I pull back and thing swing and follow through wiht my shot, I can feel my blade slap the ice, smack the puck and then the puck just sort of flies forward slowly remaining on the ice. It's very pathetic.

I'd hate to go to shooting school to solve this, let alone know if they can, but at this point it is something I'm considering.

I've had teamates with awesome slappers try to help me out to no avail