Last Updated on Thursday, 20 March 2014 10:35
By Diane Ness
At the end of a long season, you may notice that most players’ skating technique begins to suffer. Minor things like a skater’s stride getting choppy or a skater not bending his/her knees are most evident. While most teams work on power play, penalty kill, breakouts and forechecks during the season, there leaves little room for skating and skill development.
As spring and summer are upon us, it is time once again to take a step back and revisit technique. Form skating and refining technique is essential. Being able to focus on a stride slowly, as well as concentrating on a deep knee bend, are crucial in continuing to progress as a skater. You will notice in the photos a few pros working on mechanics and a deep knee bend during their session. Again, these are spring and summer sessions – the perfect time to sharpen technique.
Last year I had a number of pros come back after their season (later if they made the playoffs). Some were out with concussions for most of the year so they really wanted to focus on just skating and skill work. There is no rush; training camp does not begin again until late August, so taking things slow and making sure to do them right is key.
Starting from edges, balance and turns is always a good place to start. This will usually be the focus for a couple of weeks. From there, stride and crossover technique will then become our main areas for improvement. At this point, a skater should feel very comfortable with their knee bend and good command of their edges. Eventually we will move into more difficult maneuvers such as transitions, mohawks and escapes.
Not until we have a solid foundation will we move on to full speed. As the summer progresses we can then move into quick starts and over-speed. The key is to get these skaters feeling confident in everything we do before we increase the speed.
There was a recent article on Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock whose basic fundamental approach is that “good enough” is not good enough. This could not be more true when revisiting skating technique. A skater must be able to slow a skating skill down, work on it properly and get a feel for what it feels like when done properly. When this is done, it should be repeated over and over until it becomes second nature.
If anyone was able to recently catch the Joe Mauer special on FSN you were able to see him execute what the average fan would think as the easiest thing to do in baseball – hitting off a tee. It seems pretty remedial until you listen and see what he actually is trying to accomplish. He said the same thing we stress to our skaters young and old: Practice with a purpose, always understand what you are doing and what you are trying to accomplish. This is the key to improvement. That is how you will get the most out each and every session on the ice. Good luck.
Diane Ness has been a full-time professional skating coach for over 35 years. She has coached both figure skaters and hockey players alike and is a former U.S. gold medalist in figure skating. She is the Director for the Pro Edge Power hockey camps and the Learn to Skate program at Highland Park Arena. Ness is the skating coach 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. She has trained players in the NHL, AHL, NCAA, USHL and NAHL.
