Any tips on how to hockey stop on ice?

[CodyTC21 1]

Im fairly new on the Ice, I used to go every once in a while. Now just getting more into it and starting to do open hockey. Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Chadd 916]

Practice away from the boards and just go for it. A lot of guys feel more comfortable learning to do it with a more shallow hollow.

[PHunter 0]

Bending your knees is a big point, especially when you're just starting out. Also what helped me was to think of the stop as more of a smoother, more fluid motion. It shouldn't be in slo-mo, but definitely not choppy and stiff, either.

Shallow hollow helps me out a ton, too.

[CodyTC21 1]

What do you mean by shallow hollow?

[Chadd 916]

What do you mean by shallow hollow?

One that has less "bite" or grabs a little less when you turn or stop. That makes it easier for most people to learn.

[CodyTC21 1]

Oh okay, thanks for the help.

[MThockeydad 469]

Focus on the balls of your feet--front of center of your skates instead of trying to stop through your heels.

"Sit/squat" a little as you stop. Think about driving your weight downward through your skates.

[traffic626 1]

I just started skating a year ago and one of the biggest things that helped me was having my skates sharpened at 5/8 versus 1/2. I am pretty sure I was doing the same thing to stop, but I actually stopped versus feeling like I was going to topple over. Definitely stay off your heels like MT was saying. Put some gear on and just try it.

[CodyTC21 1]

Sounds good, will try them ideas.

[MThockeydad 469]

Oh--and another thing I was taught...when you learn to stop, you'll try to spread your feet out for balance.

If you stop with your feet more than shoulder width apart, you will then have to take a step to get your feet together so you can push off for your initial stride.

You want to stop with your feet fairly close together so you can do a quick crossover stride and get going in the opposite direction.

[pisani34 10]

is there any tips for someone who can do 1 foot stops on every edge, EXCEPT my right foot outside edge? every other edge i can comfortably do a stop with, even 1 legged, but i've never been able to understand why i can't do it with the right edge. i feel like its a 90% mental block and i'm doing a myriad of things wrong that prevent it from happening.

[MThockeydad 469]

Can you skate on that outside edge? (how is your balance there?)

[CodyTC21 1]

Can you skate on that outside edge? (how is your balance there?)

What do you mean by the outside edge? The outside edges of the blade? I mean I guess I am, I'm going to put more focus on practice today on stopping.

[MThockeydad 469]

Yes, outside edge of the blade. Can you glide on it? Glide on the outside edge of your right blade (you should make a long, swooping cut to the right). Then cross over to your left and glide on your left. Wondering if you've worked on those as "edging drills" and how your balance is while moving.

[CodyTC21 1]

I havent tried that. I will though tonight. My balance is fine where I can do fast laps around the rink.

[YesLanges 127]

For some reason, I can't copy/paste or quote or upload anything. You help me with that and I'll help you with stopping and blade radii, OK? I can't paste the link, but just go to noicingsports.com/skate_sharpening_radius.html. Or just Google "radius of hollow" + "skate blades."

Leme ask you something: Are you talking about a hockey stop or like a T-stop on the outside edge of your inside skate? Because if it's a hockey stop, that's your problem: wrong edge. When you stop to your left side (right skate leading and left skate trailing as you twist to your left), you should be on your right inside edge and your left outside edge, and vice-versa in the other direction. If you're catching your outside edge and going over the top, it's because you're on the wrong edge.

Here's a drill I used to use that helped people overcome stopping problems: Drop the gloves, face the boards and hold on. Try to just scrape up some ice pushing one foot at a time like a stop, or like a goalie prepping his crease on fresh ice. You need to get used to angling your outside skate so it's the inside edge doing all the scraping. Once you can scrape up some ice that way, you're on your way to the coordination to get on the inside edge of your outside skate.

The only time you'd stop on the outside edge on one foot would be the way you see guys stop to get off the ice for a shift change after a whistle: with the bench on your right, you'd turn toward the boards, lean back and stop on the outside edge of just your right (trailing) foot.

Also agree with Chadd: practice when your blades or dull or even ask for a shallower hollow with less bite. You can always go back to a smaller radius with more bite the next time you get them sharpened unless they don't let you request a specific hollow because they're too cheap to dress the wheel for requests and just do everybody at 1/2" or 5/8."

[Gambitt 0]

Hi, I am a roller hockye player that started in ice hockey since three weeks ago.

Do they have any advice or tutorial for don´t hit my bone on the ice again?

When I try to brake, I have a abrupt stop, the blade not slides and crashes, inevitably I fall.
I have a good level skating and stick handling, but I´m playing scared because I can fall me in anytime that I try to stop.

Thanks.

[swineanddine 2]

Couple of things helped me learn hockey stops. One was scraping up some ice like YesLanges suggested two posts up. The other was learning through a natural progression of stops. First, learn snowplough stops and learn to do them quite aggressively so you stop quickly. Just go straight across the ice, two strides and stop, two strides and stop. When you can do it without thinking move on. Next you want to learn to do this but stop with only one foot; one foot glides, the other does the snowplough.

As you get comfortable with this, you can slowly start to turn for body and your trailing foot as you stop. Once you can do this you're ready to hook into it as a hockey stop. All you need to do now is to make sure your trailing skate gets down on its outside edge. It's an annoying process if you're in a rush but it's fool proof and you learn two other ways to stop in the process.

Other tips as everyone says, stay low and stay on your toes (on your heels/mid is for turning...toes for stopping/sliding)

[YesLanges 127]

Speaking of this, anybody else catch Mark Wells on 60 Minutes Sunday? Granted, he was laid up and not even walking for much of the last 20 years with half a dozen back surgeries, but the clip of him trying to skate spooked me. I've never stopped working out, but the last time I skated was 1995 and I'm gonna have that Mark Wells clip in my head until I take a couple of strides as soon as I get my skates back and/or put an edge on these NXGs I'm planning on trying out to compare to the old Langes...and it doesn't help that (I think) he was also in NXGs.

[bigdmac 12]

When I was young I was cursed with being able to stop with my left foot in front of my right foot, instead of vise versa like many young kids. So when coaches would say "stop at every line and facing your right side" I never had a problem, but because the majority of kids have a hard time stopping that way it was all I ever practiced, and I could already do it no problem. That resulted in me not being able to stop on my right side at all for my first season or so as a little tyke. I still remember to this day being at some sort of Christmas vacation hockey school and the instructor making us stand motionless, with our knees bent in the "stopping" position and would yell out either right or left and we would have to pivot in that direction. I learned to stop on my right side almost instantly, just by focusing on that pivoting motion that he had us do. It was an excellent drill, and I use it all the time on the kids I've coached throughout the years. Trying something like that on your own time could be very beneficial, and may help you tremendously.

[swineanddine 2]

^^ great advice. Even many adults have a weak side and it's probably only the pivot action that holds one back.

[pisani34 10]

this pivot drill seems like it could be exactly what i need. i have seen some progress now with my right foot outside edge. its my weakest edge of the 4, and like i said before i have trouble with that left foot lead stop, right foot trail on outside edge. i know i really just need to do it one time to get that feel down, and it'll be there. just gotta commit.

[YesLanges 127]

Pivoting is definitely important, but in my experience, that's not the main obstacle: plenty of skaters can pivot to both sides and turn around 180 degrees but they still can't stop on their weak side because they haven't established the muscle memory of angling their edges and scraping the ice on that inside edge of that weak foot. If you do both the pivot drill and the scraping thing and you still can't commit, then just remind yourself you're in pads. When I encountered that in groups of novices, I'd ask one of them to lend me one elbow pad for a minute and then I'd purposely cut sharply until I lost an edge or stop and catch an edge to show them that they have to trust their pads and just do it wrong a few times. That usually did the trick and they started trying, falling, and getting it.

Not to hijack the topic, but instead of starting a new thread: Anybody familiar enough with older Icetek holders with the 2 screws holding the steel? Can you swap out those steels by those screws or are they in there permanently? (Thanks in advance.)

[fsteiner 0]

Goalies scrape is a great tip asmentioned u want to degrip the ice as ur blades approach 90 I say 88 urskates lose grip as theg approach 45 u increase grip

Think of a two foot glide turn done at 88 will result ina drift " like a car

hope that helps u stop

tip sit to lock ur ankles "drift at 88 degrees" vs 45 and u have a hockey slide which is waht what u want a hockey stop is actually a controlled slide "drift"

[Warren 1]

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2014 at 11:03 PM, CodyTC21 said:

What do you mean by shallow hollow?

A 'deep' or 'deeper' hollow is a skate blade that has had a 'u' shaped grind put into it for the purpose of having a sharp blade for skating etc.  The deeper you go, generally, the relation is that it is sharper.  The problem is that it can be too sharp and cause one to 'catch an edge' and then its 'yard sale' time!.  Generally speaking, the flatter the 'hollow' is -- or in this case, a 'shallow hollow', the easier it is for one to 'slide' across the surface of the ice without the possibility of 'catching and edge'.  One has to watch it though because one can go to a too shallow of an edge and stopping take a lot of time, distance and effort at that point.  Conversely, one can go too deep and, as mentioned before, can ended up catching an edge and end up goin 'ass over teakettle' -- as they say.

 

My advice?  If you are just starting out, start out with a shallower or flatter hollow and then work your way up to whatever feels good for you.  It is not like it is a case where the deeper the hollow, it translates to more advanced skater.  Most pro hockey players have medium hollows as a base and they adjust to different ice as-needed.  Us Equipment guys, we HATE this because in the normal MORNING skate around when playing as a visitor in a new barn, it is the time where players say they need to have changes because the ice is different from home ice.  That means, OVERTIME for us (and we do NOT get paid for it, buhleeve me!  Some might say: 'Why don't you keep a diary of conditions at various places you know that you will have to play at later?' -- in theory, this is a sound way to go about things, however, so many factors go into stuff that one must factor into succeeding sharpenings, that it is impossible to keep track or rely upon.  FOr instance, my home barn is pretty 'honest' when it comes to humidity and temperature.  They are usually consistent and they don't play game of heating up the ice in order to slow down a 'speed team'.  Some places DO indeed do that!  However, their insulation isn't the best so in the waning days of the season, guess what happens?  Ambient air, temperature, pressure, and humidity ALL rise (in general) and the ice gets soft and now you generally go to a lesser hollow so you don't catch that edge -- conversely, in the 'dog-days' of December, January and some major parts of February, the outside ambient air (where I live) is usually brutal and the ice is VERY hard.  I go to a deeper hollow then to allow for a more positive feel whilst on the ice.  Maybe you go play at a place and through weather randomness, it is unusually warm in the area -- your 'cheat' notebook about ice conditions -- well its just been thrown out with the trash.  Hence the reason that 'cheat-sheet' just isn't practical to maintain.