Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 October 2015 15:54
By Andy Ness
Most of us have heard coaches encourage skaters to push themselves to get out of their comfort zone when executing skating drills. When this happens, there is a very good chance the skater can get over on their edge too far, which may cause them fall during some skating drills.
I do agree that falling while skating is OK in some situations, but in other situations the skater should really be encouraged to stay on their feet. It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Most of us are now aware of the concept of overspeed. It is basically getting your feet moving quickly and as fast as possible. Because of this, skaters may tend to get too far over on their edges when they corner and most likely wipe out. Notice that in the photo, Alex Goligoski of the Dallas Stars takes a corner with too much speed and takes a spill.
The idea is to get moving out of your comfort zone and try to create a new comfort zone. I always tell my skaters to attack corners with speed, try not to slow up, stop or kick back on your heels. If a skater does this, he/she will have a tremendous amount of speed and may get too far over on their edge and fall. As the skater trains, he/she will become much stronger and more comfortable taking full-speed corners and the result will be a faster skater.
Young skaters should be encouraged to stay on their feet when balance is concerned. This basically means we do not want our skaters to fall because of poor balance, rather they should be encouraged to stay on their skates.
We have all seen skaters that have poor balance and seem unsteady on their feet. An example would be when you watch a Mite game and see a couple of youngsters come sliding right at the puck. The coach or ref on the ice should encourage the kids to stay on their feet and use their stops or power turns. If this isn’t taken care of, you will see more and more skaters just sliding at the puck or sliding at the skater carrying the puck. Part of this is to try to encourage the skaters to be stronger on their skates, as well as trying to stay on their feet.
The key is for the coaches to understand the difference between a skater pushing themselves as opposed to a skater just being weak on their skates. Balance and edge strength go hand in hand. If a skater has these attributes, they will most definitely be stronger on their skates and much harder to knock over. Good luck.
Andy Ness is the head skating and skill coach for the Minnesota Wild. He has also been an assistant skating instructor for the New Jersey Devils, the University of Minnesota men’s and women’s hockey teams and the U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team.
