What You Need To Play
Tips
Staying Fit In The Off-Season
Sep 2nd
With the off-season in full force for some players, training can sometimes become relatively non-existent as well. The fact is, though, that you should be using the off-season to keep your body in shape. A good off-season workout routine prepares you for the upcoming season. Whether you have weeks or months between seasons, you really need to take this time to hone your skills and work on perfecting your moves.
Hockey, by nature, is a rigorous sport that requires agility and stamina since the average hockey player will be on the ice a full 15-20 minutes during a 60-minute game. But More >
How To Determine Your Hockey Skate Size
Jul 14th
Whether you play ice hockey or roller hockey, a good pair of skates with the perfect fit is essential. Getting that perfect fit can be a challenge when ordering online. The best way to get a pair of skates to fit is to try them on in your local hockey shop first.
Each manufacturer produces a skate that will feel a bit different, so you need to know your size in the particular make and model that you are interested in. Also keep in mind that a hockey skate boot is designed to fit tightly on your foot to reduce movement More >
Learning Basic Skills:
Dump and Chase
Jun 15th
Hockey is a game of tremendous speed, contact and strategies. Effectively executing your strategies and techniques can give your team an advantage. One such strategy is the Dump and Chase… an increasingly popular move that gets the puck into the attack zone and (hopefully) away from your defender.
What exactly is Dump and Chase? With a standard rush, the player carries the puck with him across the blue line… but with the Dump and Chase, the puck is actually released into the offensive zone. This strategy is somewhat risky as it relies on the speed of the offensive player to More >
Learning Basic Skills:
How and When to Pass the Puck
May 19th
Knowing how and when to pass the puck is a skill that separates the great hockey players from the average ones. Every player wants to be the one who scores the goal, but a player who can pass when necessary is worth more to the team. For young players, this concept can be a difficult thing to even consider. They play hockey for those glorious moments that they have the puck and the chance to score a goal. And now we’re telling them to pass it so someone else has the chance to score? Don’t worry… As young players progress More >
Coach’s Guide To Interacting With Parents
Apr 26th
Being a coach can be hard enough without parents becoming an issue. But the fact is that a good parent-coach interaction is important to the team’s success.
Most parents are very supportive and try not to complain. Furthermore, most issues are non-issues and have a way of working themselves out over time. If you are well-organized, coaching well, are modeling great sportsmanship and your teams are competitive, you won’t hear many complaints.
Many parents are simply misinformed, don’t really understand the game or just love to complain. The bigger issue is usually the “player agents”… akin to stage moms. These parents believe More >
Sports Nutrition:
Fueling Your Little Athlete
Mar 22nd
All too often, we complain about how inactive this generation has become. With all the technological options keeping so many occupied, it’s refreshing to still see so many kids at the local baseball field, hockey rink, gymnasium or swimming pool. These parents have done a great thing by keeping their kids active!
Right after sign ups, parents scramble around for the proper equipment… which, of course is necessary to keep them safe. So, we’ve addressed the outside… let’s work to get the inside healthy! It’s a well known fact that athletes require a special diet to fuel their activity. Much like More >
Suiting Up For The First Time
Mar 2nd
New players to the game of hockey inevitably face the task of putting on all their gear for the first time. While getting dressed in all that gear seems like a daunting task, it’s really not as difficult as it sounds. New players may want to practice a few times at home until they feel comfortable.
Remember that all your gear is adjustable. If it doesn’t fit quite right the first time, try adjusting them until you find the right fit.
Here is a step by step guide to putting on hockey equipment: 1. Put on your undergarments. These can be compression More >
How To Replace T-Blades
Feb 17th
T-Blades are an alternative to regular steel blades. They are sold on top-end hockey skates such as CCM’s Vectors and Pro Tacks and Graf Skates or can be installed onto any skate boot. T-Blades are primarily plastic and only contain a small amount of steel. This design makes the skate blades much lighter (30% lighter). T-Blades also stay sharper much longer (reportedly up to 4-5 times longer) than a traditional skate blade.
T-Blades are louder and have a bit of a scratchy sound when cutting into the ice. The blades are sold pre-sharpened and some believe that the harder the steel More >
Executing an Effective Slapshot
Oct 27th
Harder than any other hockey shot, the slapshot (or “slap shot”) is a fast and wild maneuver that can generate a puck speed of over 100mph. The technique requires a powerful downward swing on the stick with the blade brushing firmly against the ice prior to striking the puck, building tension that is then released against the puck. Certainly one of the most exciting aspects of the game, the slapshot is traditionally less accurate unless perfectly implemented. When done properly, the hockey puck becomes the fastest moving projectile in any professional team sport.
A good slapshot is mostly technique, practiced More >
Icing Rule Explained
Sep 10th
Hockey is a game of tremendous speed and constant contact. It’s also a game of strategies and techniques that can give a team an advantage. But these strategies are not always without consequence. The three major NHL rules that limit the movement of the puck are icing, off-side, and out-of-play. For now, we’ll concentrate on icing.
- What exactly is icing?
Basically, icing is a tactic whereby a player on his own side of the red line dumps the puck to the end of the ice from behind the center ice red line. If the puck crosses the opposing goal line untouched, More >