Hockey Stop?

[Fury of One 6]

I've been playing roller for a few years and I'm just getting into ice and I love it. I just wanna know, how do you hockey stop? I've tried doing what people say and it doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Redmen02 0]

when i learned i had to get used to turning my ankle in and like do the "snow plow"technique your skates look like this" / \ " then the one i felt more comfortable with i started to throw my hip and then bang a hockey stop

[EBondo 233]

practice practice practice, i went my whole first year practicing it, i didn't learn for a while, just be patient, thats the best i can say

[vivaotravez12 0]

When I first was learning, I had the right motion down and everything, but always fell flat on my ass. Then, a coach told me to bend my knees nice and low...never looked back.

[biff44 0]

Practice doing a T stop first, one skate facing forward, the trailing skate dragging behind at 90 degrees. Get the feel of dragging the back skate. You don't want it to dig in too much, but you want it shaving the ice to cause friction.

Once you get the concept, try the regular stop with both skates parallel to the direction of motion. Once again, you don't want the skates to dig in, but shave the ice. Balance a little more weight on the front skate.

Practice your stops away from the boards, as you do not want to crash into the boards feet first! It really hurts.

[micke 0]

im also new into icehockey, i played rollerhockey a lotta years!

can some1 show me or us some pictures how to stop?

like for the newbies like me

or can you list some important aspects?

[biff44 0]

http://www.omahahockey.net/drills_hockey_stopping.html

http://www.laurastamm.com/TIPS/Hockey%20Stop.htm

It really all boils down to making a very quick turn in the skate direction, balancing well, and having the skate blades be not too sharp. If you hear your blades chattering on the ice, then they are too sharp.

[JCYC5 0]

While I know these photos are on skis... <_<

Imagine that kind of body position on skates

Use your stronger leg in front.

I also found that it was easier to practise what my coach calls a "1 o'clock stop" (If you're right-footed) or a "11 o'clock stop" (if you're left footed) before the hockey (parallel) stop.

Basicly, it's a stop where you keep your weaker leg gliding and push forward with your stronger leg, transferring weight across to it.

Here is some ASCII art to show that (nevermind the dots, they're space fillers):

...................................................\ <-- thats your stronger leg (Right here)

Your weaker leg (left here) |

Note, this stop will NOT immedietly stop you, it's more like using friction to slow you down quite a bit.

Once you got that working for you, try doing the same thing except, you use your shoulder to make the turn on your stopping leg. Try to turn your skates 90° from where you started towards the inside... Keep practising. It may be easier to keep almost all of your weight on the front skate, the one doing the turning and the blunt of the stopping. Keeping most of your weight on it makes it much easier to balance, at least for myself. I even may lift up the skate at the back when practising this stop.

REMEMBER: KEEP YOUR KNEES BENT AND STAY LOW, ALMOST LIKE YOU'RE SITTING ON AN INVISIBLE CHAIR!

Hope that helps :D

[bulletproof_funk 0]

Check that your skate blade edges are not sharpened with too deep a hollow for your size, or you'll always feel like you'll catch an edge and will have problems scraping the ice and thus stopping. There are some threads in the Ice Hockey Equipment section on skate hollows that will give you more information (avail. through Search).

[Fury of One 6]

Cool, thanks for all the replies. I'm sure I'll eventually get it. My friend, who plays for an ice hockey team, needed an extra guy so I said yeah. It's in certain situations I overskate the puck and I wish I knew how to stop. Thanks again.

[Dangles 0]

Practice doing a T stop first, one skate facing forward, the trailing skate dragging behind at 90 degrees. Get the feel of dragging the back skate. You don't want it to dig in too much, but you want it shaving the ice to cause friction.

I used to do this and my coach told me it wrecked your ankle <_<

[biff44 0]

Not at the speed a beginner is going to do it at!

[EndBoards 0]

Practice doing a T stop first, one skate facing forward, the trailing skate dragging behind at 90 degrees.  Get the feel of dragging the back skate.  You don't want it to dig in too much, but you want it shaving the ice to cause friction.

Just to present the other side of this coin.. I've seen guys do this, and then start doing it in games and never learn a real hockey stop. A dragging skate is sliding, but you aren't using your edges in the same way so it doesn't really teach you the edge control you need. You're just dragging an edge, not balancing on it...

I started playing 3 years ago and it took me a LONG time to learn to stop. I would go hard, turn my skates, and I'd just do a tight turn instead of breaking the skates loose and sliding. I'd go faster, and turn harder, but the blade would dig in more instead of breaking loose.

The big breakthrough for me was at a clinic. I asked the coach to watch me & tell me what I was doing wrong. I tried it once and he immediately told me: "You're loading up on your inside edge. Try to flatten your edges out. Be on both of them, not just the inside one." I immediately tried again, and the skates broke loose exactly like they're supposed to. About 3 or 4 hours of ice time later, I was throwing snow right along with everyone else...

So for me, the key was edges. If you load up on the inside edge, it'll hold and won't slide - like an inline skate. Instead, use your ankle to flatten your edges out. Try to keep both edges equally engaged in the ice and the skate will slide just fine. Once you get the feel for your skates sliding, it's easy from there. Just add speed & intensity and you're gold.

[DrMolotov 0]

Check your local rinks for powerskating or hockey programs. A little professional instruction goes a long way. Make sure to do your homework and maybe go watch them run a class because there are a lot of programs out there with horrible coaches and you just end up wasting money.

[Hipster 5]

Fury of one:

The snowplow method is one way, but people who do the snowplow usually stop with straight legs and what you really want to be able to do ultimately is to stop fast and hard while going full speed and go in the other direction. Stopping with bent knees will give you better balance, a lower center of gravity and an automatic power source for starting up in the other direction.

Just keep practicing until you trust yourself.

Good luck.

Oh yeah, Once you have mastered stopping with your feet facing one direction, then try mastering the other direction. This will help you reach your highest potential as a player. If you can stopp both ways, you never have to turn your back on a player or a one timer shot in front of the net.

[Edge 0]

Just a tip, I don't know if it's been mentioned already, but instead of stopping with both of your feet side by side, you should stop with your feet more horizontal to each other, so you can get back going the other way quicker.

say you're skating down the right boards and you stop facing the right boards...stop with your right foot out in front of you rather than in the same position as your left. This will allow you to cross over and get back going the other way much easier. :D