How to stop on hockey skates

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Ice Skating is one of the sports where you need to be fast. You have to be fast both at gaining acceleration and stopping when necessary. There is no option to think twice about taking action in ice hockey. The opponents will surround you at once if you wait to gain a bit of pace. 

Stopping skills is a must to prosper in hockey. If you train hard, you will gradually be better at stopping. To stop on hockey skates you have to maintain these straps: 1) Lean forward 2) Bend your Hip 3) Bend your knees and your front foot stop should be inside and back foot stop should be outside.

In this article, we will discuss how to stop on hockey skates. There are a few professional methods as well as for beginners also. We will cover all possible tips and details for your learning. 

How to bake hockey skates?

How to stop on hockey skates

Learning to stop in hockey skates is not an easy task but not impossible too. A stop may take only a few seconds to perform, but you have to put a lot of effort to achieve a proper stop. 

Many hockey players ignore mastering this skill at the beginning of their careers. They had to suffer a bit later. The output will always be better if you try to learn it at the beginning. 

Nowadays, the scene has changed. Young players love to master the stopping. They find it cooler to do as the stopping creates ice sprinkles. 

Stopping gets better when the timing is better, and you learn to change direction and accelerate with it too. Combining these three skills save time and effort, and make you more efficient.

In modern days, there are few ways to perform a hockey step. 

3 Ways to Stop on Hockey Skates

You can take any of the following steps in your training. We will try to explain each of the techniques in the most straightforward words possible. 

We will begin with the beginners. 

Beginners Hockey Stop

As a beginner, you need to be aware of the obstacles coming your way. The first and the hardest of all is the thinking of not being able to do it. Yeah, it makes the new players suffer a lot and slows their progress in learning new techniques and skills. 

The second most vulnerable obstacle would be the tendency of hurrying up. You have to set in your mind, at the very beginning of your career, that is, nothing comes easy and quicker in hockey. No matter how hard you try to achieve a thing, it would be best if you kept in your head that everything has time to accomplish.

Steps to perform a hockey stop

  • Be slow and steady: The more you hurry, the worse it gets. For a beginner aspect, it is better to learn slowly and stop using one leg. All you have to do is begin to skate slowly for a few strides. Try to feel the movement and momentum.
  • Take a few seconds to skate. Please take a few glides and do it for a few seconds. Once you are in motion, try to lift the stronger leg. Change the direction of your hip in a direction where you like to move. Take the strong leg before the other leg. Place the leg, rotated 90 degrees, in other words, place the stronger leg perpendicular to the other leg. The blade will cut the ice gradually and slow you down. You have the maintain the position of your other leg to keep your balance. 
  • Keep practicing until you get it right and smooth. Once you are stable enough with slow speed, increase the pace a little. Practice at that speed a couple of times if you feel comfortable with increasing the speed more and keeping practicing. The more speed you can manage, the more efficient you become.
  • If you have done enough of the previous steps, it is time to use both feet. Using both feet gives you more brake. To perform the hockey stop with both of your feet, follow the instruction above. Remember, we used only one leg to stop and one leg for balance. Now, stride for a few seconds, and gain momentum. Place the front leg perpendicular to the other leg. The front leg will slow you down. Use the other leg in the same direction as the front once you are comfortable enough. Now, both of your feet are sliding and crawling through the ice board. You will end up stopping faster in this mode. It will require you more practice to conquer. Do not be scared of failure. If you do, things will get more robust in your eyes than they are.

You have to keep practicing unless it gets more comfortable for you to perform. Once you think that you have done enough with the practice, it is time to pull it off in the game.

T-Stop

T-stop is famous around the globe. We will try to give you a clear understanding of this in the following steps.

  • Begin to skate slowly. 
  • Once you gain momentum, slide one of your feet at a 45-degree angle. Drag the angular leg behind.
  • You will feel the dragging skate pulling you back, put a pressing and drive it forward. 
  • You will be slowing right now but very slightly. Put your body weight on the dragging foot. Put all the pressure backward and lean back also. Hold this position and balance with your hand until you stop. 

The Snow-plow

This method of stopping on hockey skates is familiar with snowplowing. You will get less finesse but excellent stability. 

The snowplow stop will make you stop linearly. You can mod the method, once you have mastered the technique. 

  • As you glide, try to be at a pace. This method needs your patients to learn. You might get out of control at the beginning, but do not try to stop suddenly if you want to keep your ankle untwisted. 
  • When you are ready, slide both of your toes inward, and make a horizontally reflected “V.”
  • Your skate blades will be cutting the ice into a thinner layer and make you stop. 
  • Do not put too much pressure, or you end up falling or out of control.

How to stop on hockey skates in an easy way

How do you learn to stop on skates

As a beginner, you should know the following facts to acquire any new skills. 

  1. Linear Skate and Stop: You should select your training session at a time when there will be fewer people on the ground. Do not try to stop and change direction while you are starting to learn to stop. 
  2. Safety: Practice and training will be full of mistakes. Do not enter the practice ground unless you have put on enough safety gear
  3. Video: Reading articles will help you a lot to understand the fact and processes. But it is better to watch videos to excel in your training.

COMMON MISTAKES IN LEARNING TO HOCKEY STOP

 It is pretty normal to make mistakes while learning something new. So, don’t be upset if you make errors while learning Hockey stop. Just keep practicing, and it will make you perfect at the end of the day. However, it would be beneficial for beginners if they knew the common mistakes that others make in the initial phase. So, let’s explore some of the common mistakes:

  • Bending excessive weight on a particular side: Some people shift their weight too much either on the front or backside. Don’t do this. Put the weight just a bit toward the skate blade. Shifting weight too much forward can cause you to tumble when the skate is entirely on the ice. In contrast, moving too much weight on the back can cause a slip.
  • Excessive Rotation and lack of balance:   Many beginners love to rotate their skates for no reason. But beginners don’t have sufficient knowledge on keeping balance while turning. As a result, too much Rotation can flip the skate out of control. So, don’t rotate excessively during the initial journey of learning.
  • Confidence: Lack of confidence can also hinder the ability to deliver the best level of performance. A lack of confidence will make you stiff. As a result, you will find everything too difficult to stop the skate.

FINAL WORDS

Stopping on hockey skates is a common thing that you do over and over in your matches. You will get better at this important skill if you practice harder. Last word, practice and put on safety gear when you practice.

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Hi, I am Prince. I’m a semi-professional hockey player. I’m the founder and chief editor at “Hockey Ever”. I love playing hockey and helping players to improve their game and that’s why I decided to start this blog.

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