What makes one persons slapshot better than another? Well, if we take” aim” out of the equation then it comes down to two things; stick-on-puck time and recoil time. increase the two of those and you end up with greater velocity on your shot. So says the results of a study examining the “recoil” effect of the ice hockey stick shaft during a stationary slap shot.

A Villasenor, RA Turcotte, and DJ Pearsall, from the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University tested nine male adult subjects (four elite and five recreational) . Their performances were evaluated by simultaneously recording stick movement and internal bending from high-speed digital video (1,000 Hz) and puck acceleration from a triaxial accelerometer positioned inside the puck.I n addition, an electrical circuit measured blade-puck contact time.

For the record, the elite players shot the puck at about 12okm/h. The beer-leaguers, about 80 km/h.

Analyzing the data reported on several dependent variables, including final puck velocity, puck acceleration, maximum stick shaft bending (angle and distance deflection), stick shaft angular velocities, blade-puck contact time, and corresponding time events.

The results indicate the following.

Interestingly enough puck acceleration was virtually the same between the two groups. So how did the elite players manage to shoot the puck harder? Well they would have had to accelerate for longer: about 11 milliseconds longer.

Blade-puck contact time was greater for the elite players than for recreational players (38 +/- 9 ms and 27 +/- 5 ms)

How did they do this? They bent their sticks more. The greater the bend means the recoil is greater and therefore spends more time accelerating the puck. 59.8% of blade-puck contact for the elite players was spent recoiling.

“Go to the net!” your coach screams. “Go to the net!” your team mates scream. It causes traffic in front, and screens the goalie, and you get a rebound and you can pop one in, BUT you may also get a cross check in the upper back, or a butt end in the ribs, or a goalie paddle on the back of your legs, so although the goal would be fun an injury never is.

Well here is a study that should make you quit your whining and send you willingly to the front of the net.

At the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, in a study titled Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate men’s ice hockey injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System, 1988-1989 through 2003-2004. (J. Agel, T.P. Dompier, R. Dick, and S.W. Marshall) they found that the majority of injuries in college hockey take place in three main areas on the ice:

1) The majority of injuries occurred between the blue line and face-off circles (28.0%)

2) The second highest occurrence was in the corner (23.5%)

3) and in third place: the neutral zone (21.4%).

That doesn’t leave too many more areas left: in front of the net, behind the net, …on the bench? But somehow in front of the net didn’t rate in the top 3. So drive hard to front of the net because statistically it won’t hurt.

If there’s something we love here at BLH, it’s classic hockey clips. This one happened just the other night, but is destined to become a classic. Jonathan Toews (pronounced “Taves”) of the Chicago Blackhawks takes a breakout pass from a defenceman just outside his zone, then proceeds to split 3 players from the other team and stuff the puck in past goalie Jose Theodore of the Colorado Avalanche.

This is one of those clips that happens so fast if you blink you’ll have missed it. Good thing we have slow-motion replays. Click here for a link to the clip on YouTube if you’re unable to watch the embedded version.

[via James Mirtle]

Hockey is fast, it is physical, it is adrenalin charged. It provides plenty of opportunity to get under the skin of your opponent either through verbal jabs, strong shoulders on the boards or the “coincidental” hits on the ice during a non-contact game. There are also plenty of ways to retaliate if it’s your ire that the opponent is raising. The best way of course is to score a goal. If it’s the winning goal, even better.

But there are some things you just don’t do.

1) Hits of any sort to the head. Whether an elbow, a shoulder or a stick, keep it down. With the speed you’re travelling on those skates, with your body weight behind you, if you can’t take a guy off the puck with your shoulder to his body, or if you can’t pin him to the boards to free the puck for a team mate, then you need work on your balance and strength. Hitting the head of an opponent is a cheap tactic used by cowards that are looking for an easy way out of a good battle.

2) Taking out the knees. There’s a saying in rugby: “Take away his legs, he can’t run without them.” But this ain’t rugby. In hockey you don’t tackle, you hit or out-hustle your check to the puck. A knee-on-knee hit is a lazy attempt at slowing down a check. You desperately try slow the player down by throwing your knee in front of him. because you were too slow to get there and off target.

3) Hitting from behind. Simply ignorant. All youth recreational levels of hockey have stop signs on the back of the jersey as a constant reminder how dangerous this action is. Head injuries, spinal cord injuries, shoulder injuries, rib injuries, leg, ankle and foot injuries are all possible outcomes of a hit from behind. Personally I’ve seen cracked ribs, a concussion and a broken heel in my years of playing. Most recently the broken heel which has put a labourer, foremen, husband and dad out of a job for 8-weeks. I’ve also seen the brouhaha that results afterwards, and the retribution carried over seasons. The most telling sign of how distasteful this action is; team-mates shaking their head, turning away from their own player who committed the foul.

In the beer-leagues where every person on that sheet of ice has a family and a day job to go to, a hit to the head, a knee-on-knee hit and a hit from behind into the boards extend well beyond the game. It can affect a person’s whole life. In an emotionally charged game we all get carried away and perhaps do or say things that we know we shouldn’t, but no matter what the situation, the 3 now-written laws of hockey are never part of the scenario.

There’s the standard kind of shame felt as a goaltender; the feelings of inadequacy, the look of disdain in the eyes of your teammates after an 8-1 loss, the smell of your trapper hand during dinner.

And then there’s the shame felt when, during a pickup hockey shelling, you’re asked to skate the length of the ice and take up residence in the other net. Ah. The Skate of Shame.

The Skate of Shame is known to any goalie who has ever said yes to an 11:00 PM start time game of shinny on a Tuesday night because a buddy was desperate to fill the crease. You grab your kit, you get in the car, you roll to the rink, you strap on the pads, you skate to the net and then it begins. Ten minutes go by and your side is down 16 goals.

Clearly, the left winger with the shin guards taped to the outside of his jeans is not pulling his weight. In fact you’re pretty sure that they don’t make water bottles out of 355 ml aluminum cans, despite nearly every member of your team drinking from them. It’s not your night.

And then you get the call. Some genius on the other bench says the magic words “hey, goalie… switch ends.”

continue reading "The Skate of Shame"

If there’s one thing about the level at which I play hockey is that the chances of me actually improving is pretty slim. Players at my level are often out of position, too slow, making the obvious pass, and panic when they have they puck. I include myself in all of these categories. So the bad habits that I bring to the ice are the same bad habits that are being reinforced by my teammates and opponents. Not much hope of improving.

This is why I’ve taken a couple of Power Skating and Hockey Skills courses over the past couple of years. Without the benefit of these courses stressing the importance of proper skating techniques and positional play my game was doomed to be stagnant and laughable. But there are still two negative aspects to taking these types of courses.
continue reading "Play Pick-Up to Pick Up Some Skills"