Slapshot advice

[Overtime 0]

gymmonster Posted on Oct 28 2005, 11:39 PM

  what do you guys mean by taking too much ice?

do you mean hitting the ice too far behind the puck or driving your blade too hard into the ice?

I think my problem is I'm hitting the ice with my heel and not hitting it with the blade flush on the ice that's why I get the patheticly loud slap noise and then the puck dribbles forward 

i think "hitting too much ice" is exactly what it means in other words hit less ice more puck. correct me if iam wrong.

just a tip dont dig the heel of the blade into the ice when you shoot. or maybe try not to hit the ice so hard and remember puck positioning is also really important

[Cavs019 710]

what do you guys mean by taking too much ice?

do you mean hitting the ice too far behind the puck or driving your blade too hard into the ice?

I think my problem is I'm hitting the ice with my heel and not hitting it with the blade flush on the ice that's why I get the patheticly loud slap noise and then the puck dribbles forward :(

Could be a lie issue, but its all speculation unless I actually see you shoot.

[asdfa 0]

a guy i played with has a problem similar to yours, he has a huge backswing, but when he hits the ice/puck, he'd make a huge noise but not really shoot the puck well. you should focus on leaning into your shot, getting your stick to flex as you hit the ice. if not, your blade will sort of bounce up a after making contact with the ice (because it's not flexing and absorbing the energy you put into it) and you lose a lot of power when that happens. my 2 cents

[cobrAA 0]

http://www.shotandagoal.com/teach/

hope this helps.

nice vid..if only they could come to Quebec! lol:(

[thejackal 46]

I second that.

[gymmonster 4]

uh not too familiar with lies on the stick

I've been through a few curves, modano, drury, allison, Kabrle, Shannahan but eventually settled on the Sakic/Naslund pattern and been using it ever since.

I do notice that after practices and games the tape will have severly worn down on the heel part on the bottom of the blade and that' susually where my blade's begin to crack, whereas the tape from the mid to the toe is relatively intact.

[Chadd 916]

uh not too familiar with lies on the stick

I've been through a few curves, modano, drury, allison, Kabrle, Shannahan but eventually settled on the Sakic/Naslund pattern and been using it ever since.

I do notice that after practices and games the tape will have severly worn down on the heel part on the bottom of the blade and that' susually where my blade's begin to crack, whereas the tape from the mid to the toe is relatively intact.

you either need to use a shorter stick or a lower lie. The 5.5 lie on the Sakic (Naslund is 6) is too upright for you to use with that stick length.

[gymmonster 4]

damn shorter? the stick already is at my chin on skates I dont wnat to become the hunchback lol

[Stampede 0]

I couyld never shoot slap shots.

One day I watched a kid at the rink who can really drill em and I noticed that when he swung he never even looked down at the puck, just felt that it was in the right position and swung away.

I tried it and it has made a hell of a difference... I'm no Rob Blake or anything... but it really has added a lot to it and a lot more accurate cos my focus is completely where it is going not how I'm swinging...funny when you try it with one timers too!!!!

[bekster 0]

I couyld never shoot slap shots.

One day I watched a kid at the rink who can really drill em and I noticed that when he swung he never even looked down at the puck, just felt that it was in the right position and swung away.

I tried it and it has made a hell of a difference... I'm no Rob Blake or anything... but it really has added a lot to it and a lot more accurate cos my focus is completely where it is going not how I'm swinging...funny when you try it with one timers too!!!!

That realy helped me, too!!

Everytime i tried to have the correct motion, hit the puck at the blades sweet-spot and hit the ice 2'' behind the puck. while concentrating on that i ever looked at the puck / blade hitting the puck and i couldnt get of a good shot ...

Then i tried to just look at the puck when i swing up and then look at where i want the puck to go!

It realy was a huge difference, and i realized that its not just my eyes that are towards the target but my whole upper body, wich results in a better follow through.

And now there are just these two things i concentrate on when doing a slaposhot: after i swung up i keep my eys on the target, and have my upper body turned towards the target (with the follow through). Otherwise: grip and rip!! ;)

[djinferno 2]

practice makes perfect, start slow, just keep shooting, eventualy you just get a bigger wind up and 'voila' start from the begining

[gymmonster 4]

WOOHOOO I CAN DO IT NOW lol

switched off my XXX and took my ultra lite with Drury curve to the rink, went really slow at it, and I actually held the stick a little different, closing the face a little more and BAM first shot I took I ripped it

so happy hahahah

[Overtime 0]

Nice to hear that, I was really happy too when i learned how to shoot a hard and consitent slapshot.

[MDE3 0]

The key to a good shot of any kind is maintaining acceleration through the contact point of the blade and the puck. The shot taken by Brett Hull in the video, creates acceleration of the blade by compressing or flexing the shaft both from the acceleration created through his driving motion(the shaft is bending well before the blade hits the ice) as well as the extra flex created by contact with the ice surface by the blade.

Now if you are not yet coordinated or strong enough to drive through this ice contact, the blade can actually decelerate as you contact the puck, causing it to flutter away off the blade(too much vertical component instead of lateral). Having the correct lie as has been mentioned, is of course of extreme importance, as an incorrect lie may cause the blade to twist badly on impact...effectively causing a form of "deceleration"..and the resulting shot to be weak and inacurate. Correct blade to ice first contact should be from the toe, to just past the center of the blade, depending very much on what curve, and stick flex you prefer.

Learn to bite off as much as you can chew....the lighter and weaker (relatively speaking) means take less "bite" of the ice, so you can always maintain acceleration..meaning the blade is speeding up as it sweeps through the contact area.....This is why many players learning the shot, can make a better shot with a "half backswing" than a full one...they are not yet coordinated enough to keep the blade accelerating with a full swing....using their energy instead to drive the blade vertically into the ice surface, and thus losing blade speed..or decelerating.

Always make sure the blade is constantly increasing in speed as it moves towards the net.....this will keep the puck on the blade through the shot, instead of bouncing off, which is what happens if your the blade is slowing down through the contact zone..

[kkancho 6]

I've been playing ball hockey for over 10 years now and I've developed my wristshot really well (scored half my goals with wristers from behind the blue line) but I have a horrible slapshot. I can't seem to be able to get my weight behind it. I looked at a bunch of tutorials that tell you stuff like.. point the blade to the flow on your back swing and blah blah but I'm still pretty bad. Any of you ball hockey players have any suggestions?

[Chadd 916]

don't bother if you have a good wrister

[Keith 0]

It's all in weight transfer and wrist control really.

[DarkStar50 679]

Hold your stick very tightly. No loose grip.

[Quintin 16]

When you swing down, the blade should come in contact with floor just before it hits the ball. Now that's some people call "the sweet spot" where the stick flex's before it hits the ball/puck. Grip your stick tight and swing away!

[Sven 1]

Well just shoot slappers, that will do the work.

Sounds kinda unprofessional, but thats a good receip in my view.

I had a horrible slapshot and i just tried to shoot/slap it in different ways with different motions and then i found the best combination (= the proper technique) and now theyre rockets (yeah yeah, whatever )

[purple_haze 0]

ya, im pretty horrible at slappers also and i've been playing hockey for 8 years and my slappers are still crap, so i just stay with my wrister. Plus i dont wanna go out and spend money on replacement blades ;)

[LetsGoWings13 0]

Really the best thing you can do is just take slapshots. Everyone has a different technique and you just have to find the one that works for you.

[lando_8 0]

I had a big poster from Cdn. Tire with Mike Bossy on it and a step by step that I used to look at when I was a kid...anybody remember that? B)

It broke down all the different mechanics of the shot, you may want to find something along those lines.

[top_shelf_24 0]

just start simple. I started by holding the bottom hand on my stick very low and then gradually moved it up while practicing and same thing with the amount of ice i was taking. Again, dont start with a huge wind up and perfect follow through, putting as much weight behind it. Start small, build a technique that you'll be able to progress on.

[badsk8ter 0]

Watch some of the pros and try to mimic what they do. Then, just practice it over and over.