THE SCIENCE OF STOPS AND STARTS

EXPLOSIVE STARTS. The importance of a great start cannot be overestimated. First of all, there are very few starts in the game of hockey that begin from a standing still position. Only on a faceoff is a player truly starting from a dead stop. All other starts should be considered “rolling starts”. However, for this discussion we will treat both starts the same. Whether a player is at a dead stop or slowly gliding (rolling), the same principles apply. In all honesty, here is where we get frustrated with other clinics and certain skills coaches. The old school way of starting was to take a few short choppy strides to get your momentum going. The state of the art way of starting is to have your very first stride as long as any of your longest strides. In other words, you should attempt to take as much ice as you can right from the start.

Have you ever seen an Olympic sprinter come out of the blocks and take short choppy strides. Absolutely not! The trick to getting up to top speed quickly is to use the proper technique with modern coaching principles. These principles allow a player to reach top speed in only a few strides. Today’s players must also be proficient with V-starts, crossover starts, etc. A defenseman will also have a need for different types of starts than a forward.

EXPLOSIVE STOPS. Most people have never heard of the term “explosive stops”. We usually just hear “stopping”. At Pro Performance Hockey we think there is a big difference in the two. Over the years we have done an extensive examination of stopping in hockey. Yes, we may be a little fanatical! However, we feel that high level stopping can and should turn into an advantage for a player that has been taught properly. Upon our examination of average players stopping we have noticed certain patterns. When a player stops they will shave the ice with their skate edges. Most players tend drag out their stop over a long distance (typically between 8-12 feet). Also, that dragged out distance always seems to have a curved pattern to it. That curve tells us that the player is not driving their edges into the ice hard enough.

The high level stop “explosive stop“ should be rather violent, short and straight. If we realize the reason for most stops is to change direction than a dragged out stop will take us too long to get back into the play. A short explosive stop will get us back sooner. Again, the idea behind perfecting all these skills is to save the player time and space.

THE 60/40 RULE. During sharp turns and stops we believe the best players will have 60% of their weight on the outside edge of their inside skate and 40% of their weight on the inside edge of their outside skate. In other words, if a player is turning sharply to their left, the outside edge of their left skate should have 60% of that players body weight on it and the inside edge of their right skate should have 40% of that players body weight on it. The same holds true for stops facing left. This is impossible to do if a player hasn’t been properly trained on their outside edges.

There is a science to this game and if you don’t know the science you won’t reach your potential. You better find a coach that knows the science.

Thank you,

PRO PERFORMANCE HOCKEY STAFF