Better Puck Control  Begins With Your Training APPROACH Copyright © 2006-07 All Rights Reserved Planet Hockey, Inc. By Shawn Killian, Director-Planet Hockey, Inc. Photos by Getty Image
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Close your eyes and begin stickhandling.  Gently sweep and cradle the puck side to side, with soft hands.   Welcome to hockey, you are now operating by FEEL, a skill vital for on ice confidence and control.   

Players can not and should not always look at the puck for several obvious reasons.  As a developing player, work on decreasing the time that your eyes focus downward on the puck, which will increase the time that your eyes and head can be up and scanning the ice.  Through focused training you can develop a FEEL of the puck on your stick blade.  Gradually, your hands and fingers will be able to sense puck placement on your blade, thus giving you the confidence to keep your head up.

Think of your stick as an extension of your arms and work toward having the same coordination and FEEL with the stick blade as you have with our fingers.  How many hands does a hockey player have?  Well, good hockey players have three hands, and their stick blade is their third hand.  Think of your third hand as the hand that can do anything with a puck!

You should hear very little when you control the puck.  Treat the puck as if it was an egg, cradling it with flowing wrist and forearm movement.  Control the puck, don't let it control you and NEVER over handle the puck.

Sounds simple doesn't it?  So why is mastering creative puck control skills so challenging?  What can be done to maximize puck handling performance on the ice?

First of all, mastering any skill in hockey requires focused training and repetition of correct technique. Successful hockey players are "smart" hockey players and "smart" players train OUT of their "Comfort Zone".  This means continually pushing yourself to execute with creativity, experiment, and to expand your limits, all with an emphasis on precise technique.   Technique must always be first and foremost!

In many cases, our "Comfort Zone" is a zone we become accustomed to, where body momentum determines the outcome rather than you telling your body what to do.  It is simply moving in a way that "just happens" on the ice.  This destructive approach stems from a lack of on ice confidence, which often results from poor specialized skills instruction.   Remember, learn the skills and then attack and challenge them relentlessly.  This is training OUT of your "Comfort Zone".   

Doing what comes natural, or what feels good on the ice is almost always wrong.  Hockey is a challenging game riddled with precise movements.  We all are born to move on land in a simple upright posture.  However, on the ice, we must "TRAIN" to create thrust, control our body movements, and to be aware of what's going on around us, often while controlling the puck.  If when we get into higher levels of hockey, say Bantams, we need to think about every movement we make, the game becomes very difficult.  Think of a concert pianist.  Do they think about every key they strike as their fingers whisk across the keyboard?  No, their technical practice over time has paid off and everything flows together.  They are operating on feel.

Understand your boundaries, then continually aim to expand them by training OUT of your "Comfort Zone".  This is when the game becomes even MORE fun!

Next question.  How are your skating skills?  Do not be quick to answer "fine", as most stickhandling difficulties stem from skating weaknesses.  We can all name our favorite puck handlers.  I personally get a chill watching players like Alexander Ovechkin, Maxim Afinogenov, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk control not only the puck, but the entire flow of the game through magical stickhandling.  What do the best puck handlers on the planet have in common other than having a "v" or three in their names and speaking English as a second language?  They can all skate like the wind.  They define grace and beauty, poetry and control.  They all have confidence when they lace up the skates, and they LOVE to score goals!

As a spectator, when watching a player "control the puck", or "dangle", do not watch the puck.  Rather, focus on their body control.  Take note of how their hands and feet, arms and legs, vision and awareness all work TOGETHER. 

Developing correct skating technique will improve your confidence, which in turn will allow you to develop your stickhandling skills much more quickly. 

Many of us learn stickhandling skills at the same time we learn our skating skills, which is the same time we learn to shoot and pass, and learn the rules of the game, and learn how to prepare for a big game, and learn how to work with our teammates.  You can see what happens, we become "ok" at most things, instead of "great" at everything.  The Europeans and Russians in general, learn their skills sequentially, by stressing fundamentals.  They have great hockey instructors who understand the game and teach it in a logical, progressive order, one skill at a time.

            PLANET HOCKEY HINTZ

Check the length of your stick(s) - chances are, it is too long!

In your sneakers, stand up straight & hold your stick vertically in front of you with the toe (front) of blade touching the floor.  With your head up, looking forward, mark and cut your stick at "bottom lip" level.  This length will allow your top hand to work freely in front of you as you stickhandle, instead of being in a restrictive position above your belt.

Check your stick handle (Knob) - chances are, it is too big!

Be creative & fancy while using your stick, not while decorating it.  Use just enough tape to cover the blade and to create a small, comfortable knob.

Use one thin layer of tape from the top of your stick down about 8 inches.  This thin cover will prevent your leather glove from slipping down the shaft of your stick. 

Now, build a small "ridge" for a handle.  Split (tear) the tape width-wise.  Leave one strand loose & reattach the other strand to the roll.  With your thumb on the strand attached to the roll, wrap the loose strand 6 times around the outside of the stick (you should hear the tape tearing evenly), then rip it, creating a thin 1/2 inch ridge.  Continue building your knob by wrapping the 2nd thin strand (still left on the roll) over the small ridge you just created.  Keep the tape tight until the tape returns to full width (6 more wraps).  This thinner "ridge shape" (rather than a "ball shape") is the knob of choice at PLANET HOCKEY and of many college and professional players. 

Very Important:  your new knob or "ridge" should rest in the MIDDLE of your palm, NOT above your hand.  You should not see any part of your stick peaking out from under your glove.  This handle and grip combination allows for an improved feel for the puck.  Remember, most of the time, the top hand (the one attached to our new handle) grips the stick comfortably for control, range of motion and flexibility.  It is our bottom hand (the POWER hand) that grips the stick firmly.

Stickhandling Training Drill 

Try this.......stickhandle a golf ball off the ice, using a stick without tape on the blade, on a hard, smooth surface.  Control the ball through various obstacle courses you create using pucks as markers and obstacles.  This will help develop "quick/soft" hands.  Be creative, and train OUT of your "Comfort Zone"!  GOOD LUCK

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This article was written by Shawn Killian, Director of Planet Hockey Skills Training.  Planet Hockey teaches Skills Training Camps throughout the United States and Europe, including the Planet Hockey Ranch (resident hockey/outdoor adventure camp) in Colorado, TEAM Planet Hockey European Hockey Tours, and also produces instructional training DVDs & VIDEOS.  For more information call 1-800-320-7545, Email info@planethockey.com, or visit:  www.planethockey.com.