Stickhandling tips....

[kovalchuk71 212]

Hey, im working on my stickhandling and it seems that I hop over the puck with my blade or it just gets tuck under my blade....Do i need to apply more force when I put my stick down after dribbling the puck?

[MDE3 0]

That often happens when the upper hand is held back at the hip, instead of both hands being out in front of the player. When the upper hand is held against the hip, it promotes more up and down motion than side to side, which you can effect much more easily when holding the stick in front of you and rolling the wrists to create the blade motion..Practice blindfolded, or with eyes closed..stickhandle from feel not from sight..the eyes are for watching the play not the puck.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Thanks MDE3, I appreciate it....Ill give it a try ;)

[MDE3 0]

;)

[this guy 0]

Keep your head up. To practice not looking at the puck, just get a golf ball in the backyard or driveway and stickhandle w/o looking at it. (If you don't do that already)

Also.....practice! I used to be terrible at carrying the puck but if you really want to learn and practice you will get better.

[kovalchuk71 212]

You mean just practice dribbling over and over....its not so much the not looking at the puck, i've been working on that and have noticed an incredible difference, I just seem to "chop" way too much and get ahead of myself I guess

[bulletproof_funk 0]

Definitely roll the wrists like MDE3 has suggested. One other thing to try is adjusting the position of the lower hand on the shaft. One of my instructors suggested starting with the lower hand be about forearm's length from the upper hand (while wearing gloves), and adjust to comfort. Any closer and you may have more trouble leveraging your stick properly, which maybe part of the reason you find yourself "chopping."

Also, your legs play a big part in stickhandling. I find it helps to shift your weight side to side as you're dribbling the puck rather than letting your hands to all the work.

As for the upper hand at the hip, my upper hand actually sits higher at my waist and I have no problems sitckhandling. I personally don't feel comfortable with my hands out in front of me when stickhandling, with the exception of stickhandling to my side. Maybe it's the balance of my stick, my weak forearms or both, but I feel I need a fairly wide grip to have control the puck properly. It may not work for everyone, but it works for me.

[Chadd 916]

Also, your legs play a big part in stickhandling. I find it helps to shift your weight side to side as you're dribbling the puck rather than letting your hands to all the work.

Doing that limits the moves you can make and can make it easier for a defenseman to read you. An excellent stickhandler should be able to make moves no matter what position his legs are in. I have hands of stone and prefer to shoot or pass instead of trying to deke a guy. I do know how to play a guy defensively based on his body position though.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

Interesting observation, but wouldn't that be considered to be more advanced stickhandling? As a fundamental, shifting the weight during stickhandling wouldn't be a bad thing to have mastered.

[crosskore 0]

Using a golf ball screwed me up. Theres too much of a weight diff.

[Chadd 916]

Interesting observation, but wouldn't that be considered to be more advanced stickhandling?  As a fundamental, shifting the weight during stickhandling wouldn't be a bad thing to have mastered.

Being able to shift weight is a good thing, doing it as part of stickhandling by default isn't. You never want to develop bad habits, they can be very hard to break later.

[MDE3 0]

Chadd is quite right here...a great stickhandler can appear to have his body going one way and the puck and stick the other...the more independant they are the better...harder for a defenseman to stick with the "chest" when the puck is temptingly held way out from the body.

Also when stickhandling try not to go just side to side with the stick, but work on an "eliptical motion" too, rolling the puck up and down your blade..this will aid to develop feel. This becomes easier with the hands held out in front and when you have learned to "roll" the wrists. Learn to move the puck not only side to side but in and out from your body..all with eyes "away" or even better... closed..less temptation to sneak a peak. The old "figure eights" around your gloves laid on the ice/floor and spaced about 3' apart is always good (depending on your size of course) As you get comfortable with the feel, then you can start to make much wider transitions back and forth as well as fore and aft. The "feel" is the key to all of it.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

Try stick handling around with a broken in half blade. Then when you have a full blade it will be that much easier.

[all-star 0]

when ur on the ice and doing moves. always keep ur legs moving.

[Fedorov91 0]

Try one of those smart stickhandling balls, they work pretty well. I'm a good stickhandler and one thing I used to do a lot when I was younger was use a ball/puck and stickhandle around a chair like it was a d-man. I did it a lot when watching games on TV and I really believe that little things like that help. Plus when I saw a guy pull off a nice move in a game I could practice it right then and there. Of course there's no NHL right now so you might have to resort to old videos

[Chadd 916]

when ur on the ice and doing moves. always keep ur legs moving.

yes, learn to shoot the same way too. when you start coasting it can be a big tip off.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

Interesting observation, but wouldn't that be considered to be more advanced stickhandling?  As a fundamental, shifting the weight during stickhandling wouldn't be a bad thing to have mastered.

Being able to shift weight is a good thing, doing it as part of stickhandling by default isn't. You never want to develop bad habits, they can be very hard to break later.

Oops, talk about a major brain fart on my part, comes from me being under the weather I guess... When I posted earlier, I was thinking of shifting weight side to side while stickhandling very wide as one skates down the ice in a straight line. I was dribbling a Smart Hockey ball in the living room just now and I don't shift my weight at all.

That often happens when the upper hand is held back at the hip, instead of both hands being out in front of the player.

I can see the hands being in front when stickhandling with the puck to your sides, so is that what you mean by having both hands out in front of the player? Now it maybe PP, but I don't feel comfortable with my upper hand in front of me when just stickhandling the puck directly in front of me. I'm ok with moving it around when stickhandling to the sides, etc. though.

[Karly14 21]

how long is your stick kovalchuk? youd be suprised how much going to a bit shorter of a stick can help your stickhandling, it keeps your hands farther from your body so they wont be at your hip, and it also keeps the puck closer to you, so its harder for the d to poke it away.

[MDE3 0]

I can see the hands being in front when stickhandling with the puck to your sides, so is that what you mean by having both hands out in front of the player?  Now it maybe PP, but I don't feel comfortable with my upper hand in front of me when just stickhandling the puck directly in front of me.  I'm ok with moving it around when stickhandling to the sides, etc. though.

LOL..learn to feel comfortable like that...it will develop much more dexterity in your stickhandling..trust me.

The reason you do not feel comfortable is that you have not yet learned to stickhandle by rolling your wrists. Place your gloves on the floor/ice about 2-3' apart in front of you, and learn to do figure eights around the gloves with the puck...you cannot do this until you learn to roll your wrists. Start while watching the puck, but eventually learn to do this with eyes closed. Once you can do this, you will be amazed at your new found skills.

[kovalchuk71 212]

My stick comes to my chin....I dont think I can go any lower, because my lie is too high, and I wear the blade too mcuh...once my R+ breaks, i'll get a blade with a lower lie...

[bulletproof_funk 0]

I can see the hands being in front when stickhandling with the puck to your sides, so is that what you mean by having both hands out in front of the player?  Now it maybe PP, but I don't feel comfortable with my upper hand in front of me when just stickhandling the puck directly in front of me.  I'm ok with moving it around when stickhandling to the sides, etc. though.

LOL..learn to feel comfortable like that...it will develop much more dexterity in your stickhandling..trust me.

The reason you do not feel comfortable is that you have not yet learned to stickhandle by rolling your wrists. Place your gloves on the floor/ice about 2-3' apart in front of you, and learn to do figure eights around the gloves with the puck...you cannot do this until you learn to roll your wrists. Start while watching the puck, but eventually learn to do this with eyes closed. Once you can do this, you will be amazed at your new found skills.

Actually I do roll my wrists when I stickhandle, been doing it for some time now. I can do the figure 8's around the gloves fine as well though not lightning quick. I just don't have big or strong forearms, which almost seems to be a prerequisite for stickhandling well with the hands in front.

Now wouldn't having your upper hand in front of you mean that the stick has to be on the shorter side, or the upper and lower hands are fairly close together (i.e. closer than forearm's length apart)?

[Cavs019 708]

a good drill to do is to stickhandle stationary, as well as moving until your arms literally fall off. Do this with the puck in front, and on each side of your body. Increased forearm strength makes handling the puck alot easier.

[MDE3 0]

Now wouldn't having your upper hand in front of you mean that the stick has to be on the shorter side, or the upper and lower hands are fairly close together (i.e. closer than forearm's length apart)?

Well when I say "roll the wrists" you cannot do that with your upper hand against your hip the way I intend it, you actually have to cross over the upper hand with the lower forearm, and yes it means the hands are fairly close together. It's easier with a shorter stick to be sure, but not impossible with a longer stick...as your roll over (more with your forearms almost than your wrists), you compensate for the difference in lie somewhat as you angle the blade against the playing surface. Picture your top hand above the lower hand when on the backhand side of the blade and rolling underneath when moving the puck on the forehand side of the blade(while doing the figure eights with hands out in front)

Learning this will help you develop stronger wrists as well as more feel for the puck.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

I tried holding the stick in front of me and now I see what you are saying about crossing under the upper hand when cupping on the forehand side of the blade. Now I understand what you mean by 'rolling the forearms' when using this style of stickhandling.

I can see the advantages of stickhandling this way as it lets you cover a wide space with your stick/arms, and the puck is further out in front where it can be more easily seen with the peripheral vision. But as you confirmed with the closer grip/hand spacing, this style requires very strong forearms to be effective.

Undoubtedly forearm strength will help with hockey in general, but not all of us can develop big/strong forearms. Part of the reason I've adopted a wider grip is because it's easier to leverage the stick with it 'under' you vs. in front of you. It doesn't require strong forearms to get decent results. I can still roll my forearms/wrists (albeit slightly differently than your method), and I'm able to stickhandle smoothly and quickly with little to no choppiness, and feel of the puck isn't a problem for me. Even though my top hand starts near my hip/waist, it moves around if I'm stickhandling beside me, for example. Keeping it planted there would obviously be very limiting, but this isn't the case. I may not have the reach of the hands-close-together grip style, but I do play with the puck closer to my feet (if that's what one prefers), my hands are in a position for a snap shot most of the time, not to mention I'm stronger on the puck.

Just so you know MDE3, I'm not criticizing your style. Like comparing different hockey equipment, it's also helpful sometimes to compare different techniques too. B)

[MDE3 0]

:D It's not really "my" style, but one that's widely used to teach stickhandling in many clinics...of course what you are doing now has it's time and place, but the wider you stretch your skills, the more options will become available.

Just practicing what I told you will go a long way to developing the strength you are looking for(your forearms do not have to be "big" to be strong)..benefitting your shooting and passing skills as well. It doesn't happen overnight..thats why we call it "practice" :P