The Halo hockey training aid

[kovalchuk71 212]

Anyone tried this? Any thoughts? Seems like something that would be great for practicing muscle memory on the rug that is in my house

http://www.wickedhockeyhands.com/index.html

[mnpucker 33]

My son won one at the Hockey Expo this weekend. Glad it was free. I will have to play with it a little more but I am not very certain it works on the wrist roll as billed. One of the things I teach is over-exageration or max field of motion when working on mechanics. The Halo almost limits range of wrist movement, once your wrist goes past a certain point, the ball rolls out from onder the halo. You can counter this by rotating your lower hand over with the wrsit roll but the point is to develop muscle memory with the top hand and very little bottom hand involvement.

We were using the standard size stick handling ball which seemed to slide out too easily, I will use a bit larger ball and report back. We did a bit of shooting with it as well and I have a bit more confidence that it may indeed help with trunk rotation and wrist snap.

When done I wondered why anyone would practice with anything other than a stick and ball?

[furlanitalia 1]

I don't see how it would help with stickhandling as you're only rolling your hands on top of the ball, and not really moving the stick up and down, or cradling the puck or ball. I guess the rolling aspect can help but it wouldn't strengthen your wrists so much as you're just repeating the same motion, not making it any more difficuly. Secondly, it seems to be more for roller hockey training. Thirdly, how do you shoot with it?

EDIT: The best thing I'd recommend for muscle memory is to fill your stick with water, cap it, tape it, and use that to stickhandle with. Get a sheet of fake ice and stick handle a puck or pick up a smart hockey ball. The extra weight speeds up your hands and requires more energy then you normally output as the stick weighs more. If you really want a challenge then get a weighted puck as well. Or, if you can't find fake ice or a smart hockey ball, use a tennis ball as they are bouncy and soft hands will keep it flat. You can also just go through the motions without anything (including snapping your wrists like you're taking a shot) as again, the weighted stick will make everything more difficult.

EDIT X2: Just watched the video. If anything this teaches poor technique. When passing you should finish with your blade closed and your toe pointing to your target. To get the ball out of the halo though he has to open up he blade and finish open, which will result in little to no control and no power.

[mnpucker 33]

I don't see how it would help with stickhandling as you're only rolling your hands on top of the ball, and not really moving the stick up and down, or cradling the puck or ball. I guess the rolling aspect can help but it wouldn't strengthen your wrists so much as you're just repeating the same motion, not making it any more difficuly. Secondly, it seems to be more for roller hockey training. Thirdly, how do you shoot with it?

EDIT: The best thing I'd recommend for muscle memory is to fill your stick with water, cap it, tape it, and use that to stickhandle with. Get a sheet of fake ice and stick handle a puck or pick up a smart hockey ball. The extra weight speeds up your hands and requires more energy then you normally output as the stick weighs more. If you really want a challenge then get a weighted puck as well. Or, if you can't find fake ice or a smart hockey ball, use a tennis ball as they are bouncy and soft hands will keep it flat. You can also just go through the motions without anything (including snapping your wrists like you're taking a shot) as again, the weighted stick will make everything more difficult.

EDIT X2: Just watched the video. If anything this teaches poor technique. When passing you should finish with your blade closed and your toe pointing to your target. To get the ball out of the halo though he has to open up he blade and finish open, which will result in little to no control and no power.

Well there is some scientific data that refutes your heavy stick suggestion......You need to use a combination of weighted stick/ball/puck and very lite weight/ball/puck to develop the arm/wrist muscles properly. Quickness is almost more important that strength when it comes to stick handling make sure you develop both muscle factories equally.

You are absolutley right on the passing aspect, the Halo replicates very poor mechanics in both passing and stickhandling.

Shooting, I did notice that the shooting mechanics resemble those of shooting effetively with a one piece stick. It amazes me to watch people use one piece technology that have no idea of how to use it effectively. In order to raise the ball with the Halo you really need to focus on quick trunk rotation and wrist snap in order to get the ball off the ground. It is not easy to raise the ball on the first try. It is hard to explain but once you get the hang of it I can see how they can tout it as an tool to develop good shooting mechanics....

Would I suggest it over a stick, a bucket of pucks and a net or a tarp? NO WAY.

[EndBoards 0]

EDIT X2: Just watched the video. If anything this teaches poor technique. When passing you should finish with your blade closed and your toe pointing to your target. To get the ball out of the halo though he has to open up he blade and finish open, which will result in little to no control and no power.

That was my first thought too. The way the guy receives those passes is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

I can see some benefit on shooting though. Lots of people try to "pick up" on the puck to gain elevation, when a lower follow through is actually what's needed.