Puck Handling
Many of the images used here are of inline hockey players, these will be replaced with ice hockey ones in the next few months.
Side-to-Side Puck Handling
This is the basis of all puck handling. If you use a right-shot stick, place a puck off to the right side of your body. Get into position. Your knees should be bent with feet placed about shoulder-width apart. Sweep the puck in front of you, catch it, and ‘cup’ it with what is called the backhand side of the stick. Keep moving the puck back and forth in this manner. Stay relaxed with your knees bent, and get in the habit of lifting your eyes and looking away from the puck every once in a while.
Front to Back Puck Handling
This method of puck handling will help you set up passes and shots and will help you keep the puck away from the other team as you are carrying it down the rink. If you use a right-shot stick, place the puck off to your right side (also known as your shooting side). Place the blade of your stick behind the puck. Sweep the puck forward, catching it and cupping it when it is in front of you. Continue stickhandling front to back and back to front.
Letting go of your bottom hand
The ability to handle the stick with your top hand is one of the most important skills in hockey. This skill is useful when you want to create some distance between the puck and an attacking player. Start by holding the stick with both hands. As you sweep the puck to one side in front of you, take your lower hand off the stick, and prepare to catch and cup the puck while holding the stick with your top hand alone. Sweep the puck back to the other side in front of you, still holding the stick with your top hand alone.
Puck Handling Tips
1. Get used to holding on to your stick with both hands when you are skating down the rink. This way, you are always ready to make a pass or take a shot. Keep your eyes and head up and look around for your teammates.
2. When you want to make a fast break with the puck, you are best off pushing the puck ahead of you while controlling your stick with your top hand. With one hand free, you will be able to get more power into your skating as you are accelerating down the rink.
Passing Techiniques
The Forehand Pass
A great pass consists of three parts, they are as follow:
1. The Sweep: Know where you want to send the puck! Start with the puck on your shooting side, place near your back foot. Begin to sweep the puck towards your intended target. As you sweep, begin to shift your weight onto your front leg.
2. The Release: As you finish sweeping the puck, most of your weight should be on your front leg. Feel that you are using not just your arms but your entire upper body to make the pass.
3. The Follow-Through: Keep your eyes on your intended target. Follow through with the blade of your stick.
The Backhand Pass
If you rely on your forehand pass alone, you not only miss out on setting up many scoring opportunities for your team, but the other team can always predict where you will pass. Sweep the puck with the back side of your blade, pass it to your partner. Be sure to follow through just as you would in a good forehand pass.
Saucer Pass
The saucer pass involves passing the puck to someone else so it flies in air like a flying saucer. This makes the pass very difficult to intercept by opposing players but will land flat on the ice making it simple to control for the receiving player. The saucer pass is used nowadays widely due the difficult interception of it. Under normal conditions it needs very skilled player to intercept a saucer pass with an ice hockey stick. Usual height of a saucer pass depends surrounding opposing players. If the pass is given to front of the goal within few meters radius, it usually raises maximum of 30 centimeters abouve the ice level. In case of “a torpedo attack” assisted with a tens of meters saucer pass from own defense area, the pass can easily rise over 3 meters from ice to avoid of being captured with the opposing players’s glove (capturing a pass with a stick over own shoulder level or goal’s height at close range of goal is prohibited).
Passing Tips
1. When receiving a pass, don’t attack the puck with your blade. Instead, let the puck come to you. Cradle or cup the puck with the blade of your stick and give a little when the puck hits your blade.
2. Try to pass the puck to a point in front of the receiver. In hockey, you can’t just pass the puck to where your teammate is now, because in the second or two it takes you to make a pass, he is going to be further down the rink!
The text content of the “Saucer Pass” section of this web page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Saucer Pass”.
