Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 18:31
By John Russo
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Over the years, I have seen a considerable number of videos and other aids and devices to help hockey players shoot better and score more. Many video tapes, stick weights, weighted pucks, wrist exercises and shooting schools exist. One video, “The Shooters Edge” from several years ago, provided some of the statistics and concepts that help learn where and how to shoot to optimize scoring. Great shooters still spend hundreds of hours in the garage or basement practicing against an empty net, however.
Some key concepts are as follows:
Statistics
• 71 percent of all goals are scored in the bottom 12 inches of the net. There is more room down low.
• 58 percent of successful shots are released within one second.
• 80 percent of goals are scored with little or no windup.
• 27 percent of all goals are scored in the five-hole – between the goalie’s legs.
• Only 20 percent of high goals are scored over the goaltender’s blocker – 80 percent over the catcher.
• Only 6 percent of one-timers are scored in the top 12 inches of the net.
• 47 percent of goals are scored from within 10 feet of the net.
These statistics alone tell a big story. They say: shoot low; shoot quick; shoot at the five-hole when no obvious hole exists; if shooting high, go over the catcher.
Concepts
• For goaltenders, it is easier to move their hands than their feet, thus the advantage down low. Also, low shots only have to gauge the left-right situation, not left-right and high-low. With 71 percent of goals low, who can argue?
• Release is the most important of the three aspects (velocity, accuracy, release) of shooting. Higher velocity takes time, allowing goaltenders to prepare and also for a defender to get a stick on the shot. It is important to practice at full speed and get shots off quickly with as much accuracy as possible. Accuracy will come if quick release is properly practiced.
• Learn to shoot directly off of the stick handle and off of both feet, not just the power foot.
• The snapshot is the most effective of all shots. They have more power than wrist shots, they are quick and accurate, and can be shot even without full control of the puck.
• Backhand shots are the least practiced of all shots, but are the hardest shots to read by goaltenders.
• Always shoot low from the outside; higher from the inside if goaltenders are down. For butterfly goaltenders, the low shot is often 6 to 12 inches off the ice.
• Shooting on right- and left-handed goaltenders:
a. Low blocker side is best for left-handed shooters.
b. Low catcher side is best for right-handed shooters.
c. Up over the blocker is the poorest choice by all shooters.
d. Up over the catcher is the best high option.
e. The five-hole is the best overall option especially when the goaltender is moving.
• It is important to visualize openings to shoot at from the puck’s viewpoint. The shooters’ eyes see a considerably different situation than actually exists. The eyes see holes up high that do no exist and miss low holes that do exist. It is generally best to shoot low on the side that the shooter’s stick is on (right side for right handers, etc.). This is generally where the biggest hole is from the puck’s viewpoint.
Well, that outlines a few of the key statistics and concepts. Now players have to remember to apply them – and keep practicing!
John Russo, Ph.D., is founder and director of the Upper Midwest High School Elite League. He was a captain at the University of Wisconsin, and his Coaches’ Corner columns have appeared in LPH since 1986.
