Coaching Tips (fan, man, Rams, team)

[Head coach]

Why do more Canadian players shoot left, than American players?
Answer: They were taught the proper way to shoot.

You see, the hand that you write with, goes at the butt end of the stick. That part of the stick is used for the artistic side of the brain.

The top hand controls the artistic side of stick handling. The bottom hand provides the power. The top hand will allow you to move the puck forward, away from your body and backwards towards your side.

So which way do you shovel dirt? That's the way you should shoot!

Now, most people will say...."Which way do you bat?" If you bat right, then you shoot right. This is wrong. Why? Because you are driving through with the bat and the left arm is leading. That arm is the driving arm.

Same in Golf. When you tee off, the left arm (If you are right handed) drives the ball. That why your golf instructor will have you practice driving the ball only with your left hand only.

The sad part is. No one ever tells the parent how to select a stick for their child. They go into the pro shop and they ask the guy at the counter for a stick.

The young guy working the counter says...."Which way do you bat?" Next thing you know, the kid is shooting the wrong way. See it all the time.

That's why more Americans shoot Right handed then Left....sad. In fact, everywhere else in the world, the majority shoots left.

[Steve-o]

Very, very interesting. I shoot right, it feels a lot more natural, but it doesnt mean that its necessarily the CORRECT way. This is a great article, thanks for sharing!

[Ocuri]

Shoot left.
Bat right.
Golf right.

[Head coach]

Originally Posted by Ocuri

Shoot left.
Bat right.
Golf right.

This is correct! I have found that when player that should shoot left, are shooting right, their shots are more accurate. Where if you write with your right hand and you shoot correct (left handed) then your passing is going to be more accurate.

However, passing accurately is more important than shooting accurately.

[Ocuri]

I also write with my right hand.

[Head coach]

Well, we all know how to do this one and just about every kid in the world wants to do the big slap shot.

Well, lets talk a little about it . I hope I don't bore you....so here goes!

In the last coaching tip "Why more Canadians players shoot Left," we talked about what each hand does in relationship to the stick and shooting or passing.

In a "Slap Shoot" a lot of factor come into play.
1. Hand Position.
2. Puck Placement.
3. Weight distribution.
4. Angle of approach on the shot.

Hand Position
First, lets look at where your hands go on the stick. Place the first hand that goes at the end of the stick which is located on the butt end of the shaft. Then place your other hand on the shaft. Move that hand down the shaft to where your elbow rest on the top of your glove at the end of the shaft.


Notice the hash marks above the top glove. This is the area where you place your hand for "Slap Shots." The area below, is where you place your hands for normal stick handling.

Now, when I coach house league players, I have them place a piece of tape on the "Slap Shot" spot. This way, they don't have to look, they can just move their hand down to the tape.

Puck Placement
Second. Have you ever seen a compound bow? It's the bow with a couple of pulley's and extra string going everywhere.


This bow is designed in such a way, that an arrow could almost pass through a tree.

When you pull back on the string, it take a lot of force to pull it back. However, once you get the string pulled back....say, three quarters of the way back, it becomes really easy to pull. You could almost pull it with one finger at this point.

Well, once you let the arrow go, the arrow travels at the normal speed. Then, when it hits the point of all those pulley's, the force, increases the speed of the arrow and it goes faster then a normal arrow will fly.

The concept hold true for a hockey stick. Well, without the pulley's. Most coaches teach their players to make contact with the ice 1" to 1.5" inches behind the puck.

This will cause the stick to bend at the shaft. When the player follows through with the shot, that bending in the shaft, which will speed the puck up...get it! Good.

Now, let go beyond the normal ice contact behind the puck and lets talk about stick placement.

When a player does a normal "Slap Shot" and they start to address the puck, they pull back their stick with the blade facing up.


I see this every time a player shoots. This is known as an "Open" stick. Next time, check out how many players do this.

I teach my players to keep the stick blade "Closed." To do this, make sure that the blade of the stick is parallel to the ice.


Once the player start to make contact with the ice, the blade of stick will be slightly forward and to the side of the puck. This is where you want to make contact with the ice.


Make sure that you maintain pressure on the shaft during contact with the ice and follow through. The will cause the shaft to bend and the blade will add an extra whip to the shot.

I promise you that your shot will be faster and harder...try it!

Weight distribution
Now, make sure that when you make contact with the puck, that you are almost looking on top of the puck. This will help when you make contact with the ice, thus allowing your the stick to bend.
And finally....

Angle of approach on the shot
If you shoot left, approach the attacking zone on your "Off" wing and turn towards the high slot. This will give you the chance to place the goalie at 2:00 or 45 degree on the appoach. Then let the shot go!

If you enter on you "On" wing, move to the top of the face off circle and let it go. The goalie will be at 2:00 or 45 degrees on the approach.

The "Off" wing is better because it places you in the slot! Which means more open spaces in net. The "On" wing, the goalie has the angle on you and a lower scoring percentage.

Remember this...where ever you point the tip of your blade on the follow through, is where the puck will go! If you follow through high...the puck goes high. If you follow through low, the puck goes low and on the ice.

[BigSwede]

As long as you have an enforcer on the team...

[Head coach]

One could write a whole book on stick handling along. There's a lot of information one could give on this subject. However, we will just talk about the basics and move on up from here.

First, go ahead and grab your stick and ball or puck. For this example, it will be ok to look down at the blade of your stick.

When you move the ball or puck from side to side, you want to "cup" the ball with the blade of your stick by rolling your wrist. Clockwise when you have the puck to the left and counter-clockwise when the puck is to the right.

Now, once you have the hang of this, look up and don't watch the puck. Use your peripheral vision to look at the puck or ball.

Do this for awhile until you have the hang of this. Then I want you to move around while keeping your head up. You might need to look down every once in a while...this is ok.

Then, I want you to place things (tires) in the way and move around them. Remember to keep your head up as much as you can.

A good stationary drill for stick handling is called a "Narrow" stick handling. This is where you move the puck side to side by only about one or two feet at the most. Where as "Wide" stick handling, you want to move the puck from side to side as far as you can.

Try using a combination of both of them. This will help confuse you apponent when it comes down to getting around him.

Hope this helps!

[Head coach]

This is my favorite Shot! You can score more goals with this shot than any other shot! Why, you ask?

It is harder to detect, which makes it hard for the goalie to read.

You see, a big part of playing goal is the ability to learn how to read and react to the play.

Too many hockey players give away too much information when they shoot. This gives the goalie ample amount of time to set up for the shot.

For example....
Pulling the stick back is the signature for the slap shots.
Shifting your weight to the shaft of the stick is for wrist shots.
Shifting your weight on the trailing skate is a backhand shot.

The Snap shot is the most dangerous because it don't communicate to the goalie what you are doing.

It's just a matter of snapping your wrist and it's done.

So, how do you make sure that you get a goal with this one?

Have your shot and stance loaded! What?

When you come up to the goalie, don't be stickhandling. If you do that, it just means that you are not ready to shoot. Goalie knows that if you are in too close and you are stick handling, 95% chance that you will deke.

So approach the goalie with your stick on the side ready to shoot. This will freeze him in one spot.

This will give you two options. Snap shoot or deke.

Here's a good rule to follow....
"In the slot...take the shot!"

[Head coach]

This is a great shot as well! Why? Because it's every hard as a goalie to determine if the puck going high or low.

Lets look at how to do a backhand shot. If you are shooting left, from a standing position, you want the puck on the outside of the right skate.

To do this, you want to keep your right knees bent and have the body weight on the right leg. This leg will be just a little bit forward to help with the driving force behind the shot.

Once you start the shooting motion across the front of your body, the weight will shift from the right leg to the left leg.

The shift kind of looks like a swimmer standing on the ice as he kicks his feet.

The weight shifts from the right, which is a little forward of the left skate. When the player start to shoot, the right skate moves back and the left leg moves forward so that the player can maintain his or her balance during the driving force of the shot.

If the stick goes high during the shot, the puck goes high. If the stick goes low in the follow through, the shot will be low.

However, sometimes this doesn't hold true. I have seen players flick their wrist on a backhand shot and they puck hits the top shelf of the net.

This is a sad day for the goalie!