2A tonight. Beauty pass on Bear's goal last week:
I thought it was an awesome video and at 15 he looks like he has a huge number of the physical tools already. That said, I don't think the transition you're describing is that uncommon... I am a scrub beer leaguer and I use a similar transition often when going from defense to attack in the NZ or when cycling from the blue line in the OZ. He's handling the puck at speed skating backwards on his backhand, and he opens the hips to step through onto his forehand. Pretty standard.At 4:33 in that video there’s a highlight of him with the tomahawk stride to switch direction backward to forward; it’s an insanely hard footwork sequence to pull off and I’ve only ever seen Makar do it in the NHL (lots of forwards, notably Crosby, do it, but not to change backward to forwards, rather to face the play). That level of skill is insane for a 15 year old and if that’s the base footwork he’s dealing with at 15, the sky is the limit