Advice: Stickhandling and keeping you head up

[NICKtheGREEK]

Aside from traditional puck handling and using a stick handling ball, does anybody have any other drills i can do to improve my stick handling? Can somebody also give me any tips of keeping my head up while i control the puck, stickhandle and shoot? Thanks Everybody!

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Aside from traditional puck handling and using a stick handling ball, does anybody have any other drills i can do to improve my stick handling? Can somebody also give me any tips of keeping my head up while i control the puck, stickhandle and shoot? Thanks Everybody!

I would start with standing still and looking at the net meanwhile trying to get a feel for the motion and sensory of your stick blade pushing up against the puck side to side motion. Try not to look at the puck and slightly start to move your body in a forward motion while still puck handling. Start slow. This is how I was taught.

 

[STC]

Its real simple. Start with stationary stick handling. Keep focused straight ahead, don't look down.

After you can do that, start doing it while moving.

There's no trick to it, just a lifetime of repetition and feel.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

Its real simple. Start with stationary stick handling. Keep focused straight ahead, don't look down.

After you can do that, start doing it while moving.

There's no trick to it, just a lifetime of repetition and feel.

lol Same words as my hockey coach used 15 years ago.

 

[mattkaminski15]

Aside from traditional puck handling and using a stick handling ball, does anybody have any other drills i can do to improve my stick handling? Can somebody also give me any tips of keeping my head up while i control the puck, stickhandle and shoot? Thanks Everybody!

Just have a friend Level you if you have your head down, easy way to learn to keep your head up.

On a serious note I used a brick wall and would draw patterns on the wall with chalk and trace them while stickhandling. I'd also watch a hockey game and stickhandle any time the puck was in play. That way my head was up and I wasn't only thinking about stickhandling.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

Aside from traditional puck handling and using a stick handling ball, does anybody have any other drills i can do to improve my stick handling? Can somebody also give me any tips of keeping my head up while i control the puck, stickhandle and shoot? Thanks Everybody!

Was thinking about this during a reply to another thread so it a good opportunity to share my thoughts.

I think first you need to define what "head up" means in practical terms.

I was always told stickhandle with you head up. But it was never broken down for me what that meant. Does it mean never seeing the ice? A rigid stare forwards?

I did a 2 hours stickhandling session with Sean Skinner last year and he broke down this "myth" quite nicely.

Essentially it does not mean staring straight ahead and he talked about how NHLers actually stickhandle and what they do.

Basically it was along the lines of you are looking ahead a a spot on the ice say 10 feet ahead and you use your peripheral vision to see players socks.

I think it helps to understand this so you know what your end goal should be. You can see the puck still.

The idea overall is that you DONT stickhandling while intently staring at the puck.

You can use many tools for this. A cheap one is ball handling goggles for basketball which are lensless glasses with a vision restrictor on the bottom so you cant see the ball/puck. This will help develop feel which is what you want for "heads up" stickhandling. these are about 5-10 bucks.

Also you can get white pucks or pucks that are white except for a small circle in the center and when used on white ice reduce the visual profile which again forces you to use feel.

 

[NICKtheGREEK]

Was thinking about this during a reply to another thread so it a good opportunity to share my thoughts.

I think first you need to define what "head up" means in practical terms.

I was always told stickhandle with you head up. But it was never broken down for me what that meant. Does it mean never seeing the ice? A rigid stare forwards?

I did a 2 hours stickhandling session with Sean Skinner last year and he broke down this "myth" quite nicely.

Essentially it does not mean staring straight ahead and he talked about how NHLers actually stickhandle and what they do.

Basically it was along the lines of you are looking ahead a a spot on the ice say 10 feet ahead and you use your peripheral vision to see players socks.

I think it helps to understand this so you know what your end goal should be. You can see the puck still.

The idea overall is that you DONT stickhandling while intently staring at the puck.

You can use many tools for this. A cheap one is ball handling goggles for basketball which are lensless glasses with a vision restrictor on the bottom so you cant see the ball/puck. This will help develop feel which is what you want for "heads up" stickhandling. these are about 5-10 bucks.

Also you can get white pucks or pucks that are white except for a small circle in the center and when used on white ice reduce the visual profile which again forces you to use feel.

Thats a pretty good method, Ive been told by coaches and teammates to keep my peripheral vision on the puck, and obviously it hasn't been working, the socks thing sounds like it would work much better. Thanks

 

[sanityplease]

I did a 2 hours stickhandling session with Sean Skinner last year and he broke down this "myth" quite nicely.

Essentially it does not mean staring straight ahead and he talked about how NHLers actually stickhandle and what they do.

Basically it was along the lines of you are looking ahead a a spot on the ice say 10 feet ahead and you use your peripheral vision to see players socks.

I think it helps to understand this so you know what your end goal should be. You can see the puck still.

The idea overall is that you DONT stickhandling while intently staring at the puck.

Huge fan of Skinner's methods, brought my puckhandling skills to a really high level. I think a bit of clarification should also be made separating 'stickhandling' from 'puck carrying'. I'd classify stickhandling as moving the puck while being in physical reach of an opposing player & puck carrying as moving the puck while being out of reach of an opposing player.

There is a difference, if you're in traffic in the slot, keeping the puck & opposing players socks in your field of vision makes sense. It doesn't make sense to be moving up the wing unchallenged with the puck, & having to watch the puck on your stick (even peripherally). A high level player will have his/her head up & literally looking around the ice for passing options, only looking down to execute a quick toe drag, or settle the puck before a shot for example. You're not going to see the long stretch pass option if you're focusing your vision 10' in front of you.

I'd liken it to riding your bike. Most of the time you're looking around, but once in a while you look down to get over the curb or avoid an obstacle. Head on a swivel.

 

[NICKtheGREEK]

Huge fan of Skinner's methods, brought my puckhandling skills to a really high level. I think a bit of clarification should also be made separating 'stickhandling' from 'puck carrying'. I'd classify stickhandling as moving the puck while being in physical reach of an opposing player & puck carrying as moving the puck while being out of reach of an opposing player.

There is a difference, if you're in traffic in the slot, keeping the puck & opposing players socks in your field of vision makes sense. It doesn't make sense to be moving up the wing unchallenged with the puck, & having to watch the puck on your stick (even peripherally). A high level player will have his/her head up & literally looking around the ice for passing options, only looking down to execute a quick toe drag, or settle the puck before a shot for example. You're not going to see the long stretch pass option if you're focusing your vision 10' in front of you.

I'd liken it to riding your bike. Most of the time you're looking around, but once in a while you look down to get over the curb or avoid an obstacle. Head on a swivel.

Good advice, Thanks!

 

[raptor5191]

Man I would do anything for a session with Skinner. You are a lucky man!

 

[I am toxic]

Further to what Lonny Bohonos and sanityplease wrote, another detail is working on the "open-ice carry".

Really needs a lot of space to work on, unless someone has ideas on how it can be practiced in a confined space like a garage.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

Remember what split vision is? It's by far the best way to use when carrying the puck ahead. You have to go by feel if it's totally far out at your side, so work on that too.

 

[winnipegger]

It depends on what level you're playing at; if you're playing in a contact league you want your head up more than usual because you don't want to get creamed. But if you're just playing rec hockey you can have your head down dangling a lot more, just need to see passing lanes and potential plays.

As for how, it just takes handling the puck without looking at it for a lot of hours no way around that

 

[STC]

There's no correct answer for how high up your head has to be. The simple answer is that you need to be able to see the entire ice and the other 11 players in order to be an effective hockey player.

One thing I notice a lot when I play is most players are only aware of what is in front of them. Simply turning their head side to side a little bit will give them a view of the entire ice surface and all the action that is happening away from the puck.

When you can do that and still maintain possession of the puck you're doing it right.

 

[Marotte Marauder]

Remember what split vision is? It's by far the best way to use when carrying the puck ahead. You have to go by feel if it's totally far out at your side, so work on that too.

Learn to feel the puck on your stick, no need to look at it. Requires quite a few hours, but it's the only way that I know of.

Good luck!

 

[RoyalGremlin]

Just stickhandle everyday. EVERYDAY.

 

[Goonzilla]

It's hands down the weakest part of my game and it is about repetition, just like most things, but I'm not sure it's just that.

For me it's the multi tasking in a game situation that I really struggle to translate from practicing into playing.

I look and feel okay when there aren't nine other skaters on the ice, but throw them into the equation and the need to be situationally aware and I find it hard to skate, stick handle and be aware all at the same time.

If you saw me skating off the puck or playing in defensive situations, you'd think I was a lot better than I am. I can skate, pass and shoot well enough, but throw in being on the puck and I get found out pretty quick, at least by experienced players. While it's okay at times, the consistency just isn't there in different situations. Far too many turnovers and breakdowns in the play result.

It still comes back to skating for me. I'm really happy with my out and out skating development, but it's still not instinctive enough that I can really focus my energies and attention on stick handling and situational awareness.

 

[PlayoffBeard365]

It's hands down the weakest part of my game and it is about repetition, just like most things, but I'm not sure it's just that.

For me it's the multi tasking in a game situation that I really struggle to translate from practicing into playing.

I look and feel okay when there aren't nine other skaters on the ice, but throw them into the equation and the need to be situationally aware and I find it hard to skate, stick handle and be aware all at the same time.

If you saw me skating off the puck or playing in defensive situations, you'd think I was a lot better than I am. I can skate, pass and shoot well enough, but throw in being on the puck and I get found out pretty quick, at least by experienced players. While it's okay at times, the consistency just isn't there in different situations. Far too many turnovers and breakdowns in the play result.

It still comes back to skating for me. I'm really happy with my out and out skating development, but it's still not instinctive enough that I can really focus my energies and attention on stick handling and situational awareness.

This is where my game is at also! 11 months in. I just bought a roll up shooting pad. I put it front of the tv and stickhandle while watching Bruins games. But ya it's a lot different with a handful of guys trying to get the puck away from me during pick up.

 

[TheRedShadow]

It's not just stickhandling but carrying the puck you wanna think about. They're different.

 

[I am toxic]

It's hands down the weakest part of my game and it is about repetition, just like most things, but I'm not sure it's just that.

For me it's the multi tasking in a game situation that I really struggle to translate from practicing into playing.

I look and feel okay when there aren't nine other skaters on the ice, but throw them into the equation and the need to be situationally aware and I find it hard to skate, stick handle and be aware all at the same time.

If you saw me skating off the puck or playing in defensive situations, you'd think I was a lot better than I am. I can skate, pass and shoot well enough, but throw in being on the puck and I get found out pretty quick, at least by experienced players. While it's okay at times, the consistency just isn't there in different situations. Far too many turnovers and breakdowns in the play result.

It still comes back to skating for me. I'm really happy with my out and out skating development, but it's still not instinctive enough that I can really focus my energies and attention on stick handling and situational awareness.

Agreed the skating has to be as natural as walking, in order to think the game while handling the puck. For skating, one thing to consider is getting out at public skate (no gear, no sticks, no pucks) with one of those skate training carts (ideally the really robust ones), and just practice making tight turns/direction changes, forwards/backwards (don't ram anyone!) for 10 minutes of a 30 minute session. The cart supports you, so you can begin thinking just where you are going, without worrying about falling down. Once a week, can also work on some other drills, no time wasted on dealing with gear other than skates, helmet, gloves.

As for the puck control, obviously repetition helps. But to be more targeted, consider getting a buddy in warmup to spend a couple minutes doing a puck battle drill in a confined space. Usually the center ice circle is largely unused during pre-game warmup (watch out for Mark Messier), have the two of you battle to control a puck without leaving the circle or half circle. Really try to keep your head up, and (see toilet paper roll posts above) roll your wrists to create a "roof" over the puck with the blade of your stick.

Finally, consider "focusing on infinite" when you have the puck. Regardless of where you are looking (ideally not down), when you have the puck try focusing on infinite to avoid tunnel vision.

 

[Goonzilla]

That where someone like Gretzky was so good at seeing the ice and reading the play. Even though he wasn't perhaps the fastest or most agile skater, he spent so much time on skates when he was young that the skating was perhaps just as or more natural than walking.

Likely all he ever had to concentrate on or think about was what was happening around him.

If someone starts out perhaps needing 100% of their focus on their skating, they'll be hopeless at anything else. If you skate so well naturally that you can focus 100% on your stick handling and situational awareness then you're going to be pretty damn good.

As skating gets better and more natural then that ratio should change. I think I'm probably 80% skating and 20% everything else at the moment. I aim to try and make it to 50/50 at some point.

I'm on ice about five times a week, but I see backyard rinks on YouTube and think how awesome it would be to have that sort of access to ice, especially for a youngster.