Dangle Diagnostics
Stick Handling Tips
- Cradle the puck with only your top hand. Minimize the slapping sound when moving from forehand to backhand.
- Cradling your stick from side to side is what will create the appropriate space between your stick and the ice allowing the puck to slide underneath.
- Always practice stickhandling in many different positions around your body, not just directly in front of yourself. Practice dekes by moving the puck in all positions from your forehand to your backhand side of your body and back again.
- Keep your head up. Stickhandling with your head up is an essential skill as well as for your own safety.
- Practice on and off ice.
- Strengthen your wrists. Strong wrists, hands, and forearms can be developed with weight training and through the repetition of stick handling drills.
- Keep your hands away from your body. This allows your hands to move freely and increases your reach and range of motion.
- Develop quickness. One way to do this is to add a small weight to the end of your stick or to your wrist. When you take the weight away, you will see the difference it has made in developing the fast twitch muscle groups.
- When stickhandling, particularly off ice, always try to have a slight knee bend. This will develop your leg muscles and put you in the proper position when on the ice.
- Your top hand is your strength hand. Do not squeeze the stick with your bottom hand.
- Learn to feather your stick. This means lightly gripping your bottom hand when stick is flush on the ice, and releasing the grip as you cross your body, then lightly gripping again as your stick is back on the ice on the opposite side. An example is the way one feathers their bike brakes when going down a hill.
- When first gripping your hockey stick, the butt end of your stick should be comfortably placed in the palm of your hand with your pinky finger hanging over the edge of your stick. Your bottom hand should be (with gloves on) one hand width away from your top hand +/- an inch or two.