ive hit a plateu

[thorpedo26 0]

ive been skating alot and working on things but ive hit a plateu and cant seem to get my skills better, is there a spot where sombody just isnt going to get any better?

[chef_ducky 0]

Thats when they say a player is on the downside of his career!

[DEATHTRON 19]

Its all in your head that you cant get any better. Unless youre the best at every skill when you get out on the ice, there is plenty for you to work on. Sounds like you may be frustrated. Can you hit upper 90 on the corners 9/10? Hows youre skating? You stick handling like Kovalev yet? While you may think that youre not getting better, the truth of the matter is that youre getting better everytime you get on the ice. Keep at it, it will come together slowly but surely.

Zach

[gxc999 7]

What you have to do is try newer, more challenging exercises and drills. Get to work on the super-advanced dekes, shots etc. If you can do them all perfectly, say to hell with it and go pro.

[masterpeice_patrice 4]

so are you wayne gretzky yet?

[DarkStar50 679]

Get a drills and skills book at Barnes and Noble. I bought a few and sent them to my friend in Finland for his teams. There is plenty of stuff in those books to keep you working on the ice to improve.

Now, if you're my age, old, then, yes, you have hit a plateau. :lol:

[biff44 0]

It sounds contrarian, but when they hit a plateau, the pros go back and work on the basics--stickhandling a ball, shooting pucks at the net, skating instruction on the basics (edges, balance, power stride). As you work on the basics, magically your brain puts it all back together and the complex stuff starts happening again.

[starsfan71 9]

If you have the money private lessons I did it one summer when I seemed like i wasn't getting better and I advanced leaps and bounds.

[thorpedo26 0]

got an assist last nigth and some good hits hopefully i do better now

[chippa13 1844]

Work on your hockey smarts.

[Smitty34 0]

Not too long ago, I thought that I couldn't get better than I am now just because I thought I just didn't have it in me. However, I started watching a lot of tournament teams play, and I started picking up on the little things that guys were doing that made them successful. Just watching has helped me improve my game and hockey sense tremendously.

[Engine37 0]

I agree with the "getting back to basics" idea, but that doesn't always work for everyone. Try just really trying to find one weakness that stands out in the way you've been playing. Are you avoiding getting ugly in the corners? Are you easily pushed off the puck? Is your backhand shot as accurate as your forehand shot? Are your quick/explosive starts as quick/explosive as they need to be? What is your mental game like? Try doing new drills and start trying things that you normally don't do in an effort to reveal/expose your weaknesses.

Maybe it's a motivation problem? By this I mean are you sure it's because you can't improve at all because you're just that good, or is it because you're not motivated enough about the game to improve more (I think most players go through this feeling at some point)?

[raygunpk 0]

Bumpin an old thread...

How can I improve just by playing once a week in a beer league? This is my 4th season, and I feel like my skills are the same as the start of my 2nd.

Sometimes I'll make some nice plays, then there are stretches of games where it seems like I just learned how to skate. Very frustrating.

[Chadd 916]

Bumpin an old thread...

How can I improve just by playing once a week in a beer league? This is my 4th season, and I feel like my skills are the same as the start of my 2nd.

Sometimes I'll make some nice plays, then there are stretches of games where it seems like I just learned how to skate. Very frustrating.

Short answer, you can't. You need to be on the ice more often or at least doing off0ice skill development if you want to improve.

[Law Goalie 147]

Find empty ice.

The easiest way is to find a shinny game with nobody on before it, or nobody on after it. If there's nobody on before, show up a good bit (like 30+min) early. The first time you do, if it's a morning skate on the weekend, the ice may not be ready. If so, go chat with one of the rink guys and see whether he'll flood a little earlier out of the kindness of his heart or the freeness of your wallet. If it's after, repeat in reverse, convincing them not to kick you off for a few more minutes.

I'm convinced there is no substitute for the Guy Lafleur Plan of just getting out there by yourself and inventing the game from the ice up.

[usahockey22 0]

There is no substitute for just getting in extra ice time. Doing a camp, clinic, or lessons on ice is even better.

[DarkStar50 679]

Want to improve your stick-handling? Buy a weighted puck, throw some cones on the ice, and start dangling in and out of the cones. Want to improve your legs? Get in the gym and ride the bike. It will keep your legs strong that when the end of the game comes, you're ready to keep playing another period.

[CannonBall 0]

Try to practice or play with people that are much better than you as much as possible.

[SolarWind 23]

Want to improve your stick-handling? Buy a weighted puck, throw some cones on the ice, and start dangling in and out of the cones. Want to improve your legs? Get in the gym and ride the bike. It will keep your legs strong that when the end of the game comes, you're ready to keep playing another period.

why weighted & not the one that is actually lighter? how do you know whether it's the strength or the speed that's his problem?

[Aussie Joe 0]

To get better, simply put I have found the following useful....

- Get extra training on the ice where possible with a decent coach

- Watch pro games, NHL, hell even the next level above you. You will learn no matter what.

- Get a personal trainer, even if just for a session or two, they will give you a program specific to your needs. This will help you get more out of things when on the ice.

- Read books about hockey. Whether its a Bio (rec. Mark Messier or Pavel Bure) coaching book or even something on the Psychology of Winning Hockey. Its all relevant.

- Talk to guys around you about your play, they maybe able to offer a different perspective.

- Make sure you enjoy every moment on the ice. This is important if the heart isn't in it even 1% less its going to mean a big reduction in lots of things.

- Take breaks between sessions, if its a couple of days or even weeks on the odd occasion it will help boost your drive to get better.

- When you screw up, blow a tyre, miss an open net, etc. laugh about it. Take the seriousness out of hockey and you will improve without noticing.

[Chadd 916]

Want to improve your stick-handling? Buy a weighted puck, throw some cones on the ice, and start dangling in and out of the cones. Want to improve your legs? Get in the gym and ride the bike. It will keep your legs strong that when the end of the game comes, you're ready to keep playing another period.

why weighted & not the one that is actually lighter? how do you know whether it's the strength or the speed that's his problem?

Any other issue can be resolved with practice. Why not improve ability as well as strength at the same time?

[usahockey22 0]

Any other issue can be resolved with practice. Why not improve ability as well as strength at the same time?

Because if you really want to improve ability (stickhandling regular pucks in a normal game), you should be using standard pucks. A weighted puck will not slide the same, and any strength gained by it will not help when your feel for the puck is off due to excess practice with a heavy puck. Using one on occasion would probably be fine, though I really don't see the point. Stickhandling requires feel and endurance much more than it does strength, so you might as well practice with a normal puck for long periods of time.

[Chadd 916]

Any other issue can be resolved with practice. Why not improve ability as well as strength at the same time?

Because if you really want to improve ability (stickhandling regular pucks in a normal game), you should be using standard pucks. A weighted puck will not slide the same, and any strength gained by it will not help when your feel for the puck is off due to excess practice with a heavy puck. Using one on occasion would probably be fine, though I really don't see the point. Stickhandling requires feel and endurance much more than it does strength, so you might as well practice with a normal puck for long periods of time.

He's on the ice once a week and expects to get better. He obviously isn't going to do anything for long periods of time or he would have been doing something by now.

[usahockey22 0]

So you think that one time a week would be best spent using a puck that is not a standard weight? He's trying to become a better hockey player, not build up his forearms at the expense of more productive practice.

[Chadd 916]

So you think that one time a week would be best spent using a puck that is not a standard weight? He's trying to become a better hockey player, not build up his forearms at the expense of more productive practice.

Yes I do. A few minutes a week on or off the ice isn't going to make him a significantly better puckhandler, regardless of the weight. The heavy puck will add some velocity to his wrist shot and tends to soften the hands a little bit once you get on the ice. The first time you touch the puck after using the heavy puck you tend to be really heavy on the touch, after that it softens remarkably for most people. The kids I've coached told me they found that puckhandling was easier after using the heavy puck because there was less effort to it.

Obviously the best way to improve is to practice and play more. I'm just going with the best bang for the buck, or time spent in this case.