Shootouts and Penalty Shots

[syinx 139]

I've got two questions. I've been practising dekes and dangles recently to try and improve my penalty shot skills.

One) Are there any good ways to practice dekes on dryland?

Two) One move I've always had trouble with in terms of skating while puckhandling is the spinorama. Does anyone have any tips or a breakdown of the relevant steps and techniques?

[Davetronz 109]

I'll address skating and puckhandling as the main point of issue here.

For dryland training, try using a balance board, or similar, and stickhandling while standing on it and varying your balance.

Be sure to keep your head up and focused in front of you, or side to side - don't find yourself staring down at the puck.

No spin-o-ramas, hockey in real life isn't like EA Sports NHL 2008.

[Zjack38 46]

What kind of floor do you practice on? And something you should do if you aren't the best stick handler in world, on a penalty shot/shootout, come in on the goalie with speed, it gives them less time to think/react.

A move of mine that works pretty well is I start skating at the goalie and to random stick handles left right, left right, then when I'm like 2 feet from the goalie I deke right, then at the last second deke left onto my backhand, works like a charm? So out side you can just work on the last two deke parts of my shootout move. But when you do it to have to go to the right hard, so the goalie actually thinks your going to the right, drop your shoulder to the right, do a head fake, or something but you have to make sure the goalie bites on that first move. And if your fast enough, if he has the side your going to shoot on covered, then you can just do a spin a rama to the opposite side.

Oh and what level do you play?

And sorry if this is hard to read, or if you don't get it, I got a lot of info in that paragraph.

[Souldriver 64]

I agree with the spinorama especially in a shootout.

I find in shootout 90% of the time you can come up one side do any type of move or even a flinch then cut and you usually have an open net because the goalie took the bait. especially in lower tier leagues goalies dont practice shootouts besides warmups when people goof around with said spinoramas so they are flinchy and go for the first move.

Ive also seen shooting for the sides of the goalies stomach around belly button height work pathetically well. A lot of goalies just cant move their arms back down fast enough and it deflects off their stomachs and in.

[syinx 139]

Been playing mostly Beer League hockey, though have been playing B level hockey before having to quit due to a focus in studies before getting back into it about a year ago. Trying to pick up the slack where I've found that I'm lacking in. The spinorama was just a flight of fancy, really :) Realistically, I would like to be able to make a maneuver like that, even if just being able to make an agile 360 in skates, if one day it became necessary outside of a shootout.

[Apes44 7]

The biggest thing people do is think to much what they are going to do when they get a breakaway or shootout type shot. Make up your mind what you're going to do before you pick up the puck and go with. A lot of times goalies are expecting "moves" and so just ripping good hard wrister can be more effective!

[chk hrd 164]

Stop wasting time practicing on penalty shots and fancy moves, spend that time on your complete game; hands, skating, vision. Once you get that under control then the tricks come naturally. Why spend alot of time on something like a PS that does not happen very often or dekes and dangles that you'll only use a few times before everyone figures you out. The time is better spent being complete hockey player instead of an ESPN NHL2012 wanna be (no offense).

[mcne0101 16]

Take what the goalie gives you. If hes deep shoot, if hes out further fake a shot and go by him.

[Jamie_tnt 6]

Stop wasting time practicing on penalty shots and fancy moves, spend that time on your complete game; hands, skating, vision. Once you get that under control then the tricks come naturally. Why spend alot of time on something like a PS that does not happen very often or dekes and dangles that you'll only use a few times before everyone figures you out. The time is better spent being complete hockey player instead of an ESPN NHL2012 wanna be (no offense).

There is always someone like you who rains on people's parades. Maybe he gets enjoyment out of it. Or maybe he plays penalty shots in training and wants to improve.

[Chadd 916]

Take what the goalie gives you. If hes deep shoot, if hes out further fake a shot and go by him.

That's my thought on the matter for the most part as well. The only difference is that if the goalie is out, I just try to get enough of an angle to get the shot off, not stickhandle all the way to the goal line. If I get to the hash marks, it's just a matter of hitting my target. If I hit the target, it's a goal. I spent a lot of time working on my wrist and snap shots, but it's a lot easier than trying things like a spin on ice conditions that vary from period to period, let along game to game or rink to rink.

There is always someone like you who rains on people's parades. Maybe he gets enjoyment out of it. Or maybe he plays penalty shots in training and wants to improve.

A spin move is rarely effective in a shootout or breakaway situation and is more about looking cool than scoring goals. The same move can be very effective in creating space or getting away from a defender, and it's a tool everyone should have in their skill set. If he wants to improve on penalty shots, working on spin moves is just about the last thing that I would suggest anyone spend time on.

[syinx 139]

The same move can be very effective in creating space or getting away from a defender, and it's a tool everyone should have in their skill set.

This is one of the reasons why I asked about the spin move in the first place. It's a tool I'd like to have, and would like to know if anyone had tips towards performing it.

[chippa13 1844]

Being able to play with your head up and make quick changes in direction and speed will help your game a heck of a lot more than a spinorama. Master those and you'll be just fine.

[shooter27 116]

From the standpoint of the shootout/penalty shot, all you really need is one very good move that you've worked on and perfected, ideally it should have a shot option in the event you come in and the goalie cheats. Back in college we used to end the last practice before a game with a team shootout. I used the same move on every shot for all four years and still managed to win my share of the team shootouts.

Breakaways you need a little bit of variety because you don't get to dictate where you attack from. Again though, you don't want to work on too many things because you end up a jack of all trades, master of none. Usually one good one coming from the right wing and one good one coming from the left wing will suffice because you can use either coming down the middle (and I've always found if you're coming straight down the middle a shot tends to be the best option).

[Zjack38 46]

Or if you get a chance to walk out of the corner, skate right past the goalie and do the behind the back pass thing as a shot, goalies don't expect that to happen, could get a couple of goals that way. Works pretty well for me

[tareatingrat 4]

If the ice is crap, I like to take off hard from the faceoff dot, come in fast, then slow up around the ringette line. They usually give you a fair bit to shoot at because they go back into their net pretty quick if you've got some speed.

If not, I fake a shot, and pull it in for a backhander.

[Cavs019 708]

Or if you get a chance to walk out of the corner, skate right past the goalie and do the behind the back pass thing as a shot, goalies don't expect that to happen, could get a couple of goals that way. Works pretty well for me

Good way to get cut or benched on any legitimate team the first time it doesn't work.

[Zjack38 46]

Nah worse case a rebound comes out, and it worked at 16u aaa tryouts the first time I tried it so yeah.

[interpathway 9]

Worst case is a blind backhanded pass that settles in the corner actually, if that's the phrase you want to use.

[Zjack38 46]

Nah I'm accurate, I've had some pretty sick behind the back passes right on the tape for assist, and I haven't had a bad pass yet (knock on wood). So the only way that it goes in the corner is if it gets pokechecked or I lose control or something.

[pittu 15]

As far as deking or toe dragging practice on dryland, take a wiffle ball and tape it up with duct tape. It seems to act suprisingly similar to a puck on ice when I stickhandle on my back deck. Its not exactly the same obviously, but it gives us alot of entertainment with my kids and is good practice for my stone hands...

[ktang 34]

This is one of the reasons why I asked about the spin move in the first place. It's a tool I'd like to have, and would like to know if anyone had tips towards performing it.

You could learn it as a 270-degree spin first.

Slow fake to the backhand, then a quick fake to the forehand.

As you're going forehand, start a hard stop with the forehand skate's outside edge while you cup the puck on the backhand side of your stick blade. This J-hook turn starts your spin. Add some inside edge on your backhand skate to tighten the spin.

Then ease up on the stop, so that you're gliding again on the forehand skate's outside front edge. You'll start going backwards. Get most of your weight on your backhand skate's inside edge.

Use your angular momentum to turn backward to forward (I prefer doing this with my skates at a 90-degree angle, with a little hop, so that I'm in position to resume a forward stride, but you can also do a Mohawk turn).

Or, as Patrick Kane does it, keep going backwards towards your original backhand side in order to shield the puck from the defenseman for an extra split second, and make a forehand pass to the trailer.

[Levsauce 2]

I usually go in slow but that only works if you have magic hands like pkane or naz kadri like me