Looking for feedback on my shooting videos
 

I made a couple videos today at the local shooting range. Any of you guys care to let me know what you're seeing right and wrong?

I feel like my wrist shot is pretty decent, accuracy kind of comes and goes and I need to improve my release time. The slap shot is pretty decent as well, almost never use it because it takes me so long to get it off in a game. My snapper is terrible, I really have no clue what to do about it.

I thought the videos looked good, you're slapshots look great but if you want to use them in games more, practicing winding up only half-way so you can get them off quicker.

What is that place though? I'd like to try and find something like that here, it looks like the perfect place to shoot.

Your slapshot looks really good in the bottom video especially from the side on view. Nice that you shot vid from the side and back.

The wristshots look like you are using too much arm instead of the really good leg drive like you do with your slapshots. Your slapshot mechanics look damned good to be honest.

Your wristshot ... I looked at that a few times and you seem off balance somehow and it is stealing your power. You look like you are throwing it with your arms and using mostly wrists instead of using the same good leg drive in your slapshots.

You can especially see it about 20 seconds into the bottom video where you almost fall forward off balance.

You have good arm mechanics for sure though so it isn't a huge adjustment you have to make.

Your snapshot looks a little off balance but not horrible or anything, I see a wicked curl over of the blade at the end of your shot like you are powering it with your wrists and arms instead of leg drive like your wristshot.

Just work on the balance and leg drive shooting slowly at half power and get down low when shooting. You get down low in your slapshot and have good leg drive and need to adapt it to your other shots. Your slapshot looks just about perfect honestly, work on that other stuff.

I need to work on my backhand more, probably my weakest shot. I use my arms too much in my backhander and it causes a loss of power. I have worked on a backhander for a couple of years now, I guess it is decent but not very spectacular.

Good for passing but not for shooting. I can make good rinkwide hard backhand passes but when it comes to shooting on goal to get it up high it goes high but is weak.

My correct way wristshot needs work too so don't get upset about any criticisms. My wrong leg one is very good though. Everyone here needs to work on their shooting and if they say they don't they are lieing. Everyone has a weaker thing to work on.

Nice vids! I have a shooting range in my backyard off a plank of particle board and a 4 ft by 6 ft goal cage. If it ever gets warm and stops raining I can start making vids. Thanks for posting yours.

It's a sweet little shooting range out by a local rink. They have a big paved area and a fence cage, like you'd see behind the plate at a baseball field. And the shooting boards. Really great idea, wish more places had them. And you can't beat taking a few hundred shots on a beautiful day.

HF, I see what you mean with the wrist shots. I'm not sure how to fix that though, maybe getting lower? I also wish that blade was a 6 lie, getting on top of the stick a bit more might help.

I do over-rely on my forearms/wrists/arms as that's where most of my strength lies (15 years of drumming). Gotta figure out a way to transfer more energy though.

I also spent some time going through the videos frame by frame last night, and I didn't see flexing the stick more than an inch or so at all with any shots. Now this stick is even a bit whippier than my game sticks (because it's shorter), so that worries me.

thats the first thing I noticed, you dont load the stick very much. maybe work on driving that lower hand through the stick. start kinda slow just using the flex of the stick to launch the shot.

start with the puck on the blade, load the shaft by pressing hard with the lower hand, hold the position and let it release. I'm on duty today, I will look tomorrow when I get home maybe I have some video I can post to show what I mean.

HF is on to something also, not much leg action with the wrist and snap shot.

As a side note, where do you get those things on the ground? I always wanted to work on my shots but never got a chance to since I don't have anything to simulate ice.

I would like to know this as well ... I use a particle board which gets in bad shape after a while from moisture or just warping in humidity and not lying flat anymore. I have to flip mine over when it starts curling upward and stuff lol.

all the shots look good but the snap shot try shortening your release a bit. the way you shot it was like the old way people used to shoot snap shots, not its a much quicker release and less of a back swing, its hard to do though if you arent on the ice moving

Maybe I'll try moving a bit before shooting those snappers. I do take most of my shots as snappers (or wristers without the windup I guess) in games.

Those boards have been there for years, not sure where they came from. I know hockey shops sell them for $40 or so, I've heard you can get sheets of it from hardware stores (it's called HDPE), or when rinks throw out their boards.

I made something similar for myself.

$11 for a 4x8 sheet of dry erase board at Home Depot.
$5 for a Silicone Lubricant (I used PB Blaster SL Lube) http://www.blastercorporation.com/Silicone_Lube.html
spray the board with a good thick coating, wait for it to dry (this took 4 days for me in my basement)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1179701/CBJ/shooting-pad1.jpg

Slick enough to practice stickhandling with regular pucks, awesome for shooting.

More info here http://hfboards.com/showpost.php?p=2...8&postcount=20

try here

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/ite...ickid=redirect

You can buy something like this.

http://www.betterhockey.com/store/It...px?item_id=220

There are others out there at different prices and sizes as well if you just search various online retailers for shooting boards/mats.

I would recommend never shooting while not on skates it will seriously mess up the mechanics of our shot when you translate it onto ice. Practice makes perfect so don't pick up any bad habits and throw off your muscle memory. Plus your weight transfer totally changes when you are on skates. Your form looks pretty good though on your wrister and slapper. For the snapper I think you just need to work on your hip speed and your back posture a bit. if you get more of an angle on your spine your legs and back will line up and you will have a more fluid movement and your follow through won't be so broken and ridged looking.

Good luck

I dont know I agree with that, things are not totally different. I do try to use a different stick that is sized the same on foot as my ice sticks are on skates.

Weight transfer is basically the same, though balance is a bit different.

Not everyone can practice on skates. Putting pucks on net, either on foot or skates will help with form and strength and you'll get better regardless.

your upper body/arms look huge, maybe because of that you rely on them too much and don't use as much leg/core strength.

when i was a kid i was like that, so my shooting form wasn't great. when i started ice hockey a few years ago i realized i'm nowhere near as strong as most of the guys in my league, and i had to relearn everything.

Ok, here's what I see...take it for what it worth.

First during the wrist shot, the upper hand on the stick need to come to full extension, away from your body, before you pull the top hand back. Bringing this top hand to full extension will allow you to have greater leverage over the puck during release.

Second the snap shot. What makes the snap shot so deadly for goalies is that this shot does not communicate to the goalie your intensions. This means little to NO body language.

Third, the slap shot. Make sure that the blade is closed all the way until you make contact with the surface. How do you make sure of this? Very easy! Bring the stick back to the loaded postion. Now before you start the swing, look at the stick to see if the blade is pointing up in the air. If it is...it's open. Like this picture:
http://www.passthepuck.net/forumimages/f9bda6e0.png

To close the blade, the blade MUST be parallel to the playing surface. Just rotate your wrist so that the blade is parallel to the playing surface like this:
http://www.passthepuck.net/forumimages/f9df8d80.png

Now, the whole purpose of making sure that the blade is closed is to allow the blade to have contact on the playing surface just off to the side of the puck like this:
http://www.passthepuck.net/forumimages/f99db360.png

Most player hit the puck behind. However, if you keep the blade closed all the way to surface contact, the blade is going to adjust to the surface of the ice during the follow through. What going to happen during the follow through is that this angle of contact is going to increase the puck speed by about 5 time faster.

The key is the closed blade at the surface contact and once you are about to make surface contact, hold on tight to the stick so that the blade doesn't turn out. This will add that extra force to the shot.

Lastly, make sure that you don't pick that back leg up to high. If you can leave the foot down during the follow through, you are going to get more force out of the shot. When you pick up that back leg, half the energy of the shot, goes to the back leg. However, if you try and keep that back leg down with the skate blade touching the ice, the full weight of energy transfer will go with the shot.

Good luck, hope this helps!

Head coach

It looked like he had the blade closed until just before contact on the ground while shooting his slapshots like you are supposed to. Jarick's slapshots look super duper good to me and I know how to shoot them.

I also noticed Jarick that you use a short stick which isn't a crime but it takes away from wristshots, snapshots and slapshots depending on the flex you use.

I used to use a shorter stick than I use now but that was because you couldn't find sticks for guys a few inches over 6 ft tall off the shelf. Once in a while you could find them but often when sold out they never restocked until the next year.

How long is your stick while in skates when standing it up to your chin from your feet? Most people try to have it to the chin somewhere. Again no set rule, play makers like a shorter stick and shooters like a long one. Often you will see a shooter lose the puck in his feet and not be able to grab it too easily. You'll see a guy fighting tio grab the puck and all that is touching the ice is the toe of the blade haha.

Headcoach for prez.

Your slap shot was ok, but the wrister needed some help. You looked a little off balance, flat footed I would say, and seemed to have trouble coordinating your arms with your lower body.

Check this video of Mike Camalleri, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNDqs7dyhZc Look at it from 1:00-1:05 to see him in slow mo. His weight transfer begins, then his top arm whips into his body and the bottom arm pushes out immediately after. He also has good footwork, notice how his back foot really doesn't get off the ice. Keeping it down more can increase your balance, especially on skates. Remember, the arms should be where the least of the power comes from.

Cool, lots of good info here, thanks!

The stick shouldn't be too short...it's about at my chin in street shoes, and that's my dryland shooting stick. My normal sticks are about at my nose in street shoes. I'll try doing some shooting with one of those too next time around.

I did watch the Cammaleri video, and the Kovalev one, and I've got the Brett Hull shooting DVD. I'm going to grab them all and do a frame-by-frame slow-mo analysis to see what they're doing compared to what I'm doing.

I definitely have a tendency to keep the top hand in too close, and I do know I need to transfer my weight better through the bottom hand. Lots of good stuff to work on this summer!

Yes, I do over-rely on the wrists/forearms because I've got the overdeveloped upper body from years of drumming, warehouse work, lifting, etc.

For those of you who practice on dryland, how do you handle the follow through? On ice, you transfer weight from the back skate to the front and put that energy into the shot, but you also will end up moving forward. On dryland, you have the friction of the ground preventing you from moving forward. So do you walk through the shot instead of being stationary?

That is a good question, it is something I never notice and never have trouble with. Balance is your problem and you are probably having balance issues because if you weren't having trouble with balance being on land or ice would not make a difference with regards to falling forward after the shot.

I am assuming that you can shoot from a stand still on ice, it is the same thing on land. This stuff is enough to drive you nuts eh??

ok, let's look at the actual positioning of your body during the shot. You shoot left, generally when you shoot, (on your "ON" side) would mean that you must enter the attacking zone and use the natural angle of your body on the shot with respect to the goalie.

Example: If you are coming into the attacking zone on your "On" wing, you want to let that shot go so that the puck moves across your body to achieve that maximum force behind the shot. Look at this picturre below to see the actual area to let this shot go:
http://www.passthepuck.net/10dce8ed0.png

Now, if you enter the zone on your "Off" wing (which is better), you have to use what is known as a "Shooting Alley"
http://www.passthepuck.net/147de9f00.png
This alley is going to allow you several things.

1.) Once you turn into the alley, you place the puck on the outside of your body away from the defensemen allowing for puck protection.

2.) You place your body into position to get the shot off across your body with full leverage and proper weight transfer.

3.) You can use the defensemen as a screen during the shot.

4.) The release point is now in the slot, rather then at a bad angle shot.

If you try to do this on your "On" wing, you place the puck in danger to be intercepted. You, force your body to go to your back hand and to a more weaker shot with little accuracy.

During the video, you can see that your balance foot is facing the net. But, this is going to reduce the force within that shot. Try standing more towards a 10:00 oclock position with respects to the net and then shoot across your body to take advantage of the full leverage during the weight transfer.

Here's a good example of a shot taken within the shooting alley. Notice the players position with respects to the release on the ice. You will see that he's in the slot.
http://www.passthepuck.net/10dbae220.jpg

Notice the direction of the balance leg. Yes, it looks like the photo was taken before you were born. However, some of the techniques still stand. But notice that the balance leg is heading down the shooting alley. This allows you to get that shot off across your body.

Hope this helps.
Head coach

Interesting...so I should be facing the net more when practicing wrist shots?

FWIW, I'm a defenseman, usually play on the left side, but spend time at both points. Score most of my goals on the rush or pinching in.

When I go to stick n pucks I pretty much try all the shots Id be getting in the game. Im a defenseman like you so pretty much shots on the rush or a slapper/quick wrister from a pass comin to me at the point. Id suggest doing what you have been doing and just adding in the off foot shot too if you already dont.

That's good advice. However one thing to add, you HAVE to practice shooting off your strong foot, lefty for LH shooters, because a lot of the time on the rush, you won't have time for a full weight transfer and to shoot off the wrong foot. And by the way, anytime I practice shots off-ice, it's with my feet facing the net, it helps a lot.