what is a wrist shot?

[Chadd 916]

There's fair bit of incorrect information and bad assumptions in there.

[gxc999 7]

There's fair bit of incorrect information and bad assumptions in there.

I have to very, very much agree. Why do people call it shooting off the wrong foot? It's not, they're actually doing a full weight transfer! People are looking at the players end shooting technique at likely high speed. The only way to properly assess that technique is to do a frame by frame. Some of the time, they have very limited room/time/space and have to shoot using a very compact motion.

[HattrickSwayze 3]

That picture of Ovechkin shooting is on a slap shot. Normally his snap shots look like this. All the times I've seen Ovechkin shooting, it's right off the toe. You don't see him doing a 'true' wrist shot very often, only occasionally. Mostly on the power play, or if he cuts across the slot or something.

[Chadd 916]

That picture of Ovechkin shooting is on a slap shot. Normally his snap shots look like this. All the times I've seen Ovechkin shooting, it's right off the toe. You don't see him doing a 'true' wrist shot very often, only occasionally. Mostly on the power play, or if he cuts across the slot or something.

Given the amount of windup in those pics I would consider those to be full wrist shots. He's coming from behind his foot and the puck is spending a fair amount of time on his blade during the shooting motion before it is released. If you look carefully, you will see that he usually cradles the puck in the area where the curve really starts, that's spot will vary depending on the curve you use.

[HattrickSwayze 3]

I guess it depends on where you personally draw the line between a wrist shot and a snap shot. Most peoples definitions vary, since it's sort of a gray area. For me, I consider a wrist shot like the picture of Shanahan. Start off your back foot, transfer weight to front. Whereas the pictures of Ovechkin I'd consider a snap shot, where he's shooting off one foot, with more of a snapping motion compared to a 'sweep' if you will. But, my definition of a 'snap shot' might not match up with someone else's. Just typically when I think of a wrist shot, I picture a "by-the-book" wrist shot like the one of Shanahan.

[Jarick 5]

I misspoke, I meant Roenick liked to shoot by putting his foot up and behind him. Probably to load up the stick, although I found if you do that, it freezes the goalies too.

With Ovechkin, I couldn't find the good pictures (thanks Hattrick), but his shooting motion is very much vertical, stick is much closer to straight up and down than with most players. He does that by dropping the bottom shoulder, raising the other, bring the puck closer to the body, and shooting from the toe. I'd assume it's to get more weight into the shot.

When they interviewed Sakic on his jersey night, he said he kept his stick quite a bit shorter than most other players, said Hull did the same thing (Hull says in his DVD he cuts to below the bottom lip, not sure if that's considered very short), and that he was forced to use his legs to get power on his shot. It looks like that more vertical shooting style is conducive to a shorter stick.

Oh, and I'd love to have a nice high def Time Warp style analysis of Ovie's shot from many angles.

[IniNew 53]

There's fair bit of incorrect information and bad assumptions in there.

I have to very, very much agree. Why do people call it shooting off the wrong foot? It's not, they're actually doing a full weight transfer! People are looking at the players end shooting technique at likely high speed. The only way to properly assess that technique is to do a frame by frame. Some of the time, they have very limited room/time/space and have to shoot using a very compact motion.

Actually, out of everything he posted, the wrong foot analysis is the most accurate point. It's considered the wrong foot because the foot closest to the puck is typically your back foot that weight is being transfered from. However, players have found that lifting the front foot, and leaning onto the stick as another technique to load the stick for a shot.

[Chadd 916]

There's fair bit of incorrect information and bad assumptions in there.

I have to very, very much agree. Why do people call it shooting off the wrong foot? It's not, they're actually doing a full weight transfer! People are looking at the players end shooting technique at likely high speed. The only way to properly assess that technique is to do a frame by frame. Some of the time, they have very limited room/time/space and have to shoot using a very compact motion.

Actually, out of everything he posted, the wrong foot analysis is the most accurate point. It's considered the wrong foot because the foot closest to the puck is typically your back foot that weight is being transfered from. However, players have found that lifting the front foot, and leaning onto the stick as another technique to load the stick for a shot.

Most of the guys that lift a foot (either foot), still transfer a lot of energy from their legs. They will generally squat a bit and then drive off the foot still on the ice as they shoot.

Oh, and I'd love to have a nice high def Time Warp style analysis of Ovie's shot from many angles.

I'd love to have access to Warrior's vault of video, even without the accompanying data sets.

[raygunpk 0]

Kovalchuk has a really fluid shooting motion, and his follow through is so high up.

[gxc999 7]

Trust Chadd on this one, guys. He's one hell of a good resource when it comes to shot technique. I argued with him before only to learn the true meaning of what a snap shot is, where I was mistaken before. It's helped me a lot in game. BTW, one thing you'll notice about Ovechkin is that he's always 100% square, always transferring max energy, even if you can't tell because he does it so fast.

[Scotty 8]

There's fair bit of incorrect information and bad assumptions in there.

I have to very, very much agree. Why do people call it shooting off the wrong foot? It's not, they're actually doing a full weight transfer! People are looking at the players end shooting technique at likely high speed. The only way to properly assess that technique is to do a frame by frame. Some of the time, they have very limited room/time/space and have to shoot using a very compact motion.

Because in the traditional sense, the back foot is the "wrong foot" to end up on. I didn't coin that term; the guys that began shooting like that (ex. Messier) did.

[Jarick 5]

Went to stick and puck this morning, just the change of dropping my shoulder before shooting put a LOT more power on the shots (shots were much, much louder when they hit the glass/boards and I was scaring the hell out of people that walked behind the glass not paying attention, which is kind of fun) . Accuracy went to hell, but that improved as I exaggerated the wrist snap and follow through. And even better, the One95 felt much, much, much better shooting like that. It's more a snap shot than a wrist shot, but I think this could replace my incredibly slow release slapper as I'm supposed to have the biggest shot on my team from the point.

[NYRSinceBirth 0]

I always figured the sweep/cradle to define a wrist shot. While a snap shot being more of a 'chop' at the puck.

Watch Ovie come in 1 on 1 with a dman. He's very aggressive, cuts across the slot, pulls back, and sweeps the puck. I always considered that a wrister (obviously) but the sweep allows him to create space to prevent a poke check and to use the dman as a screen also. The point being he sweeps/cradles the puck.

Snap shots, imo, has much less contact between the puck and blade. Similar to what Shanny says about going through the puck. Loading of the stick is done without the puck and contact between the 2 is at the point of release.

The idea being the loading of the stick. Snappers are much quicker because of it's technique, and the fast twitch muscles allowing loading to be fast because you're, like I said before, 'chopping" at the puck (hitting the ice first). Loading for wristers comes from the sweep, imagine it as one long 'chop' if you wish. The differences in loading also plays a role in puck/blade contact.

It's tough to put into words, but when you see it everything becomes much clearer. Then again, I could be completely wrong, but that's at least what I always saw them as.

[raygunpk 0]

That's how I always saw it too. A wrister consists of the full sweeping motion, which you can see by watching Naslund, Kariya, Ovechkin for examples.

I never thought Sakic or Kessel had true wristers, as they had the puck in front of their body while skating and just drove through it causing the stick to flex and rocket the puck off.

Sakic is a rare case though, as he sort of did the sweeping heel to toe motion, but the puck was in front of him and he was always square to the net. I guess you can call it a hybrid. Or more fittingly, the Sakic!

[gxc999 7]

Ovechkin takes a lot of shots that seem like wristers but I think are hybrid snappers. The drag to start the snap shot is a part of proper technique, but it's not supposed to be as long. It's something that differs a lot person to person.

[stevelknievel 51]

hate to bring this back from the dead but is there any specific positive to shooting from the "wrong foot"?

im a LH shot and shoot my wristers/snappers from my right foot however some are telling me im better off shooting from the "wrong foot" but its mad uncomfortable for me

[IniNew 53]

Shoot how your comfortable, but it wouldn't hurt to practice shooting off the wrong foot so you can use it in a game situation.

[Chadd 916]

Shoot how your comfortable, but it wouldn't hurt to practice shooting off the wrong foot so you can use it in a game situation.

People don't spend enough time learning to shoot when the puck isn't in a perfect position.

[stevelknievel 51]

Shoot how your comfortable, but it wouldn't hurt to practice shooting off the wrong foot so you can use it in a game situation.

People don't spend enough time learning to shoot when the puck isn't in a perfect position.

i can shoot with the wrong foot dont get me wrong, but im saying like just shooting wristers/slappers

[gxc999 7]

Shoot how your comfortable, but it wouldn't hurt to practice shooting off the wrong foot so you can use it in a game situation.

People don't spend enough time learning to shoot when the puck isn't in a perfect position.

Very, very good point. I began practicing making myself shoot only with both feet pointing at the net or off one foot a while ago and it does help a lot for in game situations.

[farhanshak 1]

at powerskating we did wrist shots non stop for about 20 minutes...standing about 7-8feet away from the boards. my shoulders (i shoot right and it was my right shoulder/rear deltoid) killed for about 5 days and so did my obliques.

our instructor pretty much told us to transfer our weight from our back foot to front foot as we were shooting, and follow through.

i have also found (as chadd mentioned earlier) that using a softer flex does help with wristers.

i use a easton 80 flex shaft with an st blade (currently) its a pretty soft flex and it has helped with my wrist shot.

when i first started using composite sticks i would use a 120 flex (they were usually on sale lol), and the softer flex has helped alot.

just a quick question for everyone that shoots off the wrong foot. i try to do this during shinny/game but i find it really hard to do although i am getting better at doing it.

anyone have any pointers on how to get better at this ?

thanks everyone :D

[Chadd 916]

just a quick question for everyone that shoots off the wrong foot. i try to do this during shinny/game but i find it really hard to do although i am getting better at doing it.

anyone have any pointers on how to get better at this ?

thanks everyone :D

Some people feel more natural shooting off the wrong foot. I wouldn't really worry about it if you feel more comfortable shooting off the other foot.

[freestyla 0]

just a quick question for everyone that shoots off the wrong foot. i try to do this during shinny/game but i find it really hard to do although i am getting better at doing it.

anyone have any pointers on how to get better at this ?

thanks everyone :D

Some people feel more natural shooting off the wrong foot. I wouldn't really worry about it if you feel more comfortable shooting off the other foot.

I'm definitely in that boat, shooting normally actually feels weird to me.

[farhanshak 1]

i can aim pretty well shooting normally, but i find when shooting off the wrong foot, balance is hard and i always end up hitting the goalie in the chest, but the shot seems a bit harder "IF" i can get it off :( .

but yah i guess practice will make perfect and if it aint broke, dont fix it (shooting off the normal foot)

also one thing i forgot to mention, alot of wrist shots and slap shots, use alot of lowerbody and core movement/power. you have to remember to have a strong mobile core...if you know what i mean (like the twisting motion)

[Speedz98 15]

I'm Left-Handed and I strongly prefer shooting on the wrong foot. I feel like I am able to put more weight into my shot and get some flex from my stick. When I shoot normally I almost feel like I'm gonna shoot wide right all the time.