Perfecting The Skating Stride Off The Ice

Grab a coffee and find your favourite spot on the couch. Today we’re going to talk about perfecting the skating stride off the ice, the emotion we feel as our kids get close to the end of their minor hockey career, the decisions that need to be made around that time, and I even have something for the goalies.

Also I wanted to remind you to not forget to click on the blue underlined text links as this will bring you to a more in-depth article on the subjects I touch on.

Now relax and dive in!

Off The Ice

There Is More To The Skating Stride Then You Think

Hockeytraining

If you’re looking for ways to increase skating speed and you’ve tackled improving strength, power, and explosiveness through off ice training, that’s definitely a great start.

However, one area I think that often gets overlooked is the actual skating stride itself. The mechanics of what makes up a good powerful, fast stride involves more than just putting one skate in front of the other and hoping for the best.

Here’s a couple main points of the most proficient skating stride:

Full leg extension.
A powerful toe flick.

There is so much lost power and speed when the above mentioned techniques are not performed.

Also one thing not mentioned in the linked article that I believe is very important is allowing the extended leg in the stride to come completely back to your body, as to help produce another full powerful stride. Many kids keep their legs fairly wide when they skate. By doing this they only get a partial range of pushing into the ice surface not allowing them to produce a maximum amount of speed.

Lastly don’t forget to transfer the off ice skills learned from the linked video to your on ice practice. That’s when you will really reap the rewards.

The Heart of Hockey

Every Good Thing Must Come To An End, But This Will Be Tough To Swallow!

Globe and Mail

This article originally from the Globe and Mail, is a few years old, but being a hockey dad it conveys a feeling that will always be around as long as our kids keep
playing hockey and we as parents keep driving them to the rink, which basically means forever.

This will probably be one of the most dreaded days I will ever have, thankfully I’ve got a few years yet before I even have to think about it.

It definitely makes you really appreciate the times you can spend with your kids at the rink, tournaments, practices, everything involved with hockey for both parents. It won’t last forever. Enjoy it while it lasts.

On The Ice – One For The Goalies

Dynamic Core Training For Goalies

Goalietrainingpro

Even though I’ve ofter said that goalie off ice training is more similar to training for skaters than it is different. Here is one of the cases where it is quite a bit different.

When it comes to core work, skaters focus on anti flexion, extension and rotation, and anti lateral flexion. Skaters however, also add more dynamic movements for the core like med ball throws for shot improvement as well.

Goalies can add med ball work in their training also, but more dynamic goalie specific core training would definitely be generated through the linked core exercises performed on the ice with the pads on.

If you’re looking for dynamic core work for goalies give these a try and see what you think.

Next Level Hockey

Get Help With Hockey Decisions As Your Child Gets Older – Hockey Agents vs Family Advisors

timturkhockey

To be honest I never realized this was even a thing until my oldest boy reached his 2nd year of Bantam AA hockey this year. I had heard some of the parents of older kids talking about where their child will play for their U18 year, but never thought much about it until now.

Not only do you need to start thinking about where your kids will play U18 hockey, but also conversations about major junior hockey and NCAA options start coming up.

There is definitely a lot to think about and this article explains the difference between Family Advisors and Player Agents as people that can help with these decisions.

I forgot to mention another big decision that no parent really wants to think about is when should your child leave home to play hockey. It’s a decision I’m in the middle of right now and it’s brutal, but I’ll save that discussion for another newsletter.

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Snap Shots

If you’re looking to mix up your workout this all dumbbell workout is pretty awesome!
What’s better than stretching? Stretching at length is > then basic
stretching.
Deception and footwork at it’s finest!

Words of Wisdom

“Don’t worry about losing – think about winning.”

Mike Krzyzewski

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