As a beginner ice hockey player, learning and mastering how to skate faster is the best way to boost your game enjoyment. Whether you’re in an odd-man rush or rushing past the defense on a breakaway, sliding fast will let you live up to ice hockey’s slogan: the fastest game on ice.
Ice hockey is a great sport to improve your health and fitness through a combination of strenuous physical exercises and fast sprinting. If you’re planning to become a hockey player but not entirely confident about what it takes and how to begin, read our guide below and learn some practical tips.
Practical Tips on Ice Hockey
Here are some tips for you to consider.
- Learn how to skate first
If you wish to play ice hockey, you must know how to skate, turn, and stop. The perfect way to learn this is by getting much ice time and find someone to teach you.
Do a basic Google search and look for adult skating lessons or adult hockey lessons. These lessons will help you implant good habits right from the beginning and make your journey to become a hockey player much quicker and easier.
- Practice how to handle the stick
After you have learned and developed a good balance on the ice, you can now practice how to handle the stick. You need to know the proper way of holding and handling the stick, or you won’t even be able to hick the pick.
When it comes to picking the ideal ice hockey to use, make sure you consider your height. You can work on your stickhandling capabilities and your basic skills by playing street hockey. Street skating mimics some of the movements needed to skate on ice and will be proper training for you.
- Work on your stickhandling and shooting
This is a continuation of the second tip. Remember that the three essential skills you need to learn ice hockey are shooting, skating, and puck control. Skating needs to be performed on the ice but shooting and stickhandling can be practiced at home. All you need is a shooting pad and something to shoot at.
- Find nearest arenas in your area
Ask if there are any open ice sessions in your area where the public can play hockey or skate. Public skating usually is about $2 to $10, and puck and stick range from $5 to $15. Your first few sessions will be pretty intimidating, but it is a long journey to success. You’ll improve more and more every time you step your feet into the ice.
- Join a hockey team
After you become comfortable with stickhandling, skating, and shooting, you’re now ready to join a hockey team. The ideal way to join is to ask the people you’ve been playing ice hockey with. You can ask those guys if they need an extra guy on their team or know a team that you can participate in.
For more hockey tips checking out East Hock. That’s it for now! Are you ready to play ice hockey? Please share your thoughts with us by leaving your comments below! Happy skating!