Amateur Hockey Thread

meow
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Amateur Hockey Thread

Postby meow » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:55 am

How are your feet at the start? A V or a T? You might want to try switching that up.

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Postby mikey » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:59 am

I don't stop correctly in roller, I'll say that much...which makes my style kind of rough to play in roller, because I rely on stopping in front of the net and shoveling everything into it.

For one thing, bend your knees more. Skating around stiff legged like that compromises the driving force behind your skating technique. Your body mechanics, situated like they are in the gif, won't allow you to turn...use your shoulders and stick to guide you through turns, especially if you aren't going to bring that "front" foot (that is, your right in this case) over top of your left to make that turn. You have one foot going one way, one foot going the other and your torso not really going towards either of them. So you're gonna eat **** more often than not doing that straight-legged.

In warm up, sit in almost a quarter squat, but instead of putting the weight on your heels, put it on the balls of your feet and through your toes (as your wheels should naturally decline in that direction)...your shoulders point through your hands the direction you want to go...roller is full of fly-bys, so don't even worry about proper stopping techniques right now...hell, I still drag my back foot sideways most of the time because I'm a muppet at skating (like my idol, Hornqvist haha)...

Knowing that fly-bys and momentum are the way of the world, a cut back against the momentum of the guy coming at you is always the right decision...even if you use the boards to accomplish this, you'll beat the one guy you need to beat to create an odd-man rush...

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Postby dodint » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:04 pm

Thanks. Even during the first game I identified that I was not bending my knees nearly enough. I don't know why, maybe because I'm 286 pounds and I just can't hold that position like I used to. I could when I played ice but for some reason I just don't when I play inline even though I know it's the primary reason I suck so terribly.

This whole season (8 games) is meant to be a shakedown cruise, just hope to show some improvement, starting tonight.

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Postby mikey » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:19 pm

That's the right attitude.

A lot of people get all flustered because they think they have to improve all these things at once. That's wrong. When you go to the gym, you don't do squats, hammer curls, tricep dips, deadlifts, shoulder press, etc. all in the same day, right? No, you have a leg day...then you have another day to work on your arms or whatever...same principles apply here. First, get a passable skating technique...if you have to think about skating so much (basic stuff, staying upright, how to turn, etc.) you will be too distracted mentally and physically to accomplish anything else. Get comfortable on your wheels with basically mobility in all directions, everything else gets pretty easy after that...

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Postby meow » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:38 pm

I think you should goon it up instead

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Postby Lemon Berry Lobster » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:41 pm

I think you should goon it up instead

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Postby Silentom » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:45 pm

Take off your skate and try to stab someone with it.

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Postby meow » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:04 pm

That would be impressive with an inline skate.

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Postby Lemon Berry Lobster » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:04 pm

Image

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Postby mikey » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:09 pm

Take off the front wheel, sharpen the chassis...........I, uh, read in "Ice Time" once...

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Postby dodint » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:12 pm

I just keep a shoe on the bench so I can go full Milbury if needed.

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Postby meow » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:21 pm

Learn to throw a left and you'll dominate.

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Postby meow » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:56 pm

Did you abandon being a goal scoring winger and start grinding and throwing bombs yet?

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Postby MR25 » Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:04 pm

Poking around their site I did come across their flyers for each league instead of their program summary page and it starts March 18th. But knowing now, thanks to your help, that they go year round I'll just wait until May to sign up for the next one when I'll have significantly less work/school travel.

I did see that North Park Inline is signing up adult puck inline right now, too.

Just FYI/in case you were wondering, next PIA session still hasn't started yet. E league finals are tomorrow. I don't think Over 30 has had theirs yet.

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Postby dodint » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:23 pm

Did you abandon being a goal scoring winger and start grinding and throwing bombs yet?
I've committed to playing defense the rest of this season and it's an adjustment for me. However; I've been watching/reading about basic defensive tactics and positioning and my game has already improved. My shot counts are way down and the last game was my only game with no assists, but I played a much better game than any other so far so I'm pleased with that progress.

Really need to work on skating the puck out and/or identifying quality targets for outlet passing. Right now my game is basically look up, see nothing, bank it off the boards into the opposing zone for a change of possession.

I bought a new stick. My first composite ever, boy is it light. I had to add a wooden extension handle. When standing on skates it comes up about to just above the tip of my nose (it's trimmed, not the length in the pic, I kept maybe half of the extension), whereas my old one only came up to my chin. I think it will help me a bit as I've been 'whiffing' on some pucks as I swat at them. Won't hurt my poke-check game either; which is another thing I'm going to work on tonight, instead of wildly waving it at the guy I'm challenging I'm going to try and plant it in my hip and only poke when he's close in. Should have the dual effect of better poke checks and keeping me from committing to a highly unrealistic effort of divorcing him from the puck which always ends with me being left high and dry.

Image
Just FYI/in case you were wondering, next PIA session still hasn't started yet. E league finals are tomorrow. I don't think Over 30 has had theirs yet.
Thanks. I know I'm playing at least one more season of inline, not sure if I'm going to switch to ice in the next few months or not. I appreciate the update.

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Postby Jim » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:30 pm

fluuuuuuxxx

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Postby mikey » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:47 pm

Did you abandon being a goal scoring winger and start grinding and throwing bombs yet?
I've committed to playing defense the rest of this season and it's an adjustment for me. However; I've been watching/reading about basic defensive tactics and positioning and my game has already improved. My shot counts are way down and the last game was my only game with no assists, but I played a much better game than any other so far so I'm pleased with that progress.

Really need to work on skating the puck out and/or identifying quality targets for outlet passing. Right now my game is basically look up, see nothing, bank it off the boards into the opposing zone for a change of possession.

I bought a new stick. My first composite ever, boy is it light. I had to add a wooden extension handle. When standing on skates it comes up about to just above the tip of my nose (it's trimmed, not the length in the pic, I kept maybe half of the extension), whereas my old one only came up to my chin. I think it will help me a bit as I've been 'whiffing' on some pucks as I swat at them. Won't hurt my poke-check game either; which is another thing I'm going to work on tonight, instead of wildly waving it at the guy I'm challenging I'm going to try and plant it in my hip and only poke when he's close in. Should have the dual effect of better poke checks and keeping me from committing to a highly unrealistic effort of divorcing him from the puck which always ends with me being left high and dry.
See, I gave up playing defense regularly because of my skating. I firmly believe your best players and best skaters play defense. That said, you cover a lot of ground from a reach perspective and I thought you mentioned feeling better skating backwards, perhaps I made that up.

In roller, defense is a little different than ice...but for my younger defensemen, I really enforce maintaining the dot line (the invisible line drawn the length of the rink from in zone faceoff dot to attack zone faceoff dot), your stick and skates dictate where the attacking player(s) can go...players get caught up in this notion that because you're on defense, you're in a position to react. Bologna. You are always in control of what happens and you're always calling the shots.

You have terrific reach, use it to your advantage. When you're skating backwards in the NZ, your stick doesn't cross the midpoint of your body and it doesn't cross the dot line...you want to direct attackers into the gutter of the rink. Also, while your skating back - and this is one of my favorite tips - tuck that elbow back...don't give away how much area you control. By laying your stick way out there with your elbow locked or near locked, you widen the triangle (the area formed by your two skates and the blade of your stick) and you dictate exactly what your reach is. You want to draw them into that zone with a tucked elbow, load on the back leg, extend the poke check and then that's a clean steal and a rush transition chance (which is what roller is all about)...

For you, just watch Olli Maatta play. He plays with a stick way too long for him and he's not a great skater. But he's super smart and a great risk mitigator...on average, nothing bad happens when he's on the rink.

Roller hockey is all about possession, don't throw pucks away. An untalented defenseman who actually has been improving his escapability is Brian Dumoulin, another player with good reach who is a nothing-special skater. It's relatively easy to shake most forecheckers by just going against their expected momentum...like Tecmo Super Bowl, the longer you're going in one direction, the faster they get...the direction change breaks the game, particularly at the level you're playing at. Go against the flow of the play. Get a communication system down with your partner and goalie. If you want to skate the puck out, tell one forward to go long and stay long...it's much easier to skate the puck 3v3 for three lines than it is to skate it 4v4. If the plan is to pass the puck out of the zone, then have a forward or two start long and then come back to the puck, then come up a different lane with speed (see the first breakout [I think?] in the Pens breakout video I made...that will work in roller most of the time.

Stick length - a function of style/posture. You're a straight-legged skater, the longer stick - in short - will help you a lot. But really work on getting a better knee bend...it will help you more than the world's most perfect stick...

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Postby dodint » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:14 pm

Yes. That's exactly what I meant by 'planting [the butt of the stick] in my hip', you just explained it in a more more coherent way as if you do this for a living or something. ;)

The video tutorials for inline hockey are pretty thin but I've found some good ones.

I am more comfortable skating backwards, probably because the change of direction and stopping are more reliable. It's also much easier to get lower for some reason. I'm trying not to get too discouraged as I'm slinging over three-hundred pounds around out there when you count the gear. I'm the biggest guy out there by a pretty good margin; need to get the a point where I can exploit that, as you say.

A ton of it is confidence. When I come up with the puck in the d-zone and need to move the play up, I basically get tunnel vision and I'm handling a grenade. The confidence will come with repetition.

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Postby mikey » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:31 pm

That's right. Breakout ice videos will match just fine with breakout roller hockey videos. Roller teams tend to play man a lot more often. The 2014-15 Rangers played man defense a ton, so if you're looking for tips on that...I don't teach man defense, even in roller...so I'm not going to influence anyone to play that style...I'll play hybrid zone, but that's about as far as I'll go...

Confidence is a massive part of playing any sport. Just go out there and play...don't be afraid to fail because that's the only thing that shows that you're trying...you've never been in the gym and tried to do one more rep and failed? Pssh...same deal here.

You have more time than you think and even if you're off by half a beat, using your body to shield the puck from a defender (I use my ears a ton on the rink, I can hear where people are...it's like sonar haha)...pucks are exposed to the middle of the rink when you're ready to get rid of them: is that a shot, a pass or a giveaway, that's all on the user...

A number of short pass give n' go's are surprisingly easy for players that are still learning to accomplish and gain confidence...plus, they look cool as ****...makes it look like you know what you're doing...the first give n' go that results in a goal, well, let me put it this way, I needed to buy a new cup as the one I was using exploded...

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Postby dodint » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:36 pm

I really miss formal practice. The last time I played was in high school and it was all very structured. This stuff is just run and gun wild west stuff with everyone yelling at everyone for not being where they should be.

We are trying to rent some rink time to have a practice or two but the rink is always booked up. We have a guy on the team that loves playing D and is good at it, and super eager to teach. Just no venue to do it at a practical level.

Went to North Park's outdoor rink Sunday and there was a guy with his kids tooling around. Cool. First come first served and all. Came back some hours later and he was still there; must've been his day to babysit. I hate people. Ironically when I was in NC I had ready access to an outdoor rink that was never used, would kill for that right now.

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Amateur Hockey Thread

Postby Joegap » Tue Mar 27, 2018 4:23 pm

I really miss formal practice. The last time I played was in high school and it was all very structured. This stuff is just run and gun wild west stuff with everyone yelling at everyone for not being where they should be.

We are trying to rent some rink time to have a practice or two but the rink is always booked up. We have a guy on the team that loves playing D and is good at it, and super eager to teach. Just no venue to do it at a practical level.

Went to North Park's outdoor rink Sunday and there was a guy with his kids tooling around. Cool. First come first served and all. Came back some hours later and he was still there; must've been his day to babysit. I hate people. Ironically when I was in NC I had ready access to an outdoor rink that was never used, would kill for that right now.
Good luck getting on North Park's outdoor rink. North Park Inline is always available to rent, I think its 75$/hour.

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Postby dodint » Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:15 pm

It's booked evenings and weekends for the forseeable future. They have some daytime slots open but we are men in our 30s with jobs and other such boring things to burden our souls.

Steve doesn't update the rental portion of the website so it always looks vacant, I just text him.

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Amateur Hockey Thread

Postby Joegap » Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:57 pm

It's booked evenings and weekends for the forseeable future. They have some daytime slots open but we are men in our 30s with jobs and other such boring things to burden our souls.

Steve doesn't update the rental portion of the website so it always looks vacant, I just text him.
Yeah we always had luck with renting on Sunday mornings. I know they play box lacrosse on there and stuff. One guy rents it out every Saturday night but they play with a ball. He’s always posting in the Facebook group looking for people

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Postby dodint » Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:03 pm

Me last night:

Image

Huge step in improvement. Went +3 in a 4-2 win and didn't let up goal while I was on the rink. Obviously the team is coming together very nicely as well but I really focused on my play and it paid dividends. I said it after a particularly efficient shift, "this is the first game I really feel like I'm playing hockey" instead of just trying to get in the way. Felt fantastic. Slowed my outlet game down and connected on most of my intended passes. Skated the puck a ton more than before, the 'grenade' problem was much less of an issue.

Some of it is the new stick. That length allowed me to get the right part of the blade on the puck when trying to clear out in front of our own net, before I would ding it off of the heel and the puck would leave my stick tangentially instead of where I intended.

Skating is getting better too, starting to trust myself and use more aggressive angles on my wheels to turn tighter and stop laterally. The wheels are starting to scream a few times a shift which is a departure for me.

Not a perfect night by any stretch but man did that feel good to string together some great shifts and bury much of my anxiety.

Should RHS defenseman play LD? I play that way for offensive reasons but I'm wondering if it puts me at a disadvantage when tracking someone one-on-one while defending the defensive zone when outside of the dots. Not sure if I'm overthinking it.

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Amateur Hockey Thread

Postby meow » Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:11 pm

Should RHS defenseman play LD?
I typically feel that the best puck movers, offensive defenders and the worst puck skill defenders should play their offside. Think like Hal Gill or Rob Scuderi or Matt Greene bad. That way, when they do get the puck, they can use the wall easier. Granted, they will have to expose the puck to the middle for a second before they can glass and out it. I haven't ever heard of someone liking to play one side or the other because of potential rushes. Honestly, you probably aren't going to poke check too many guys clean, so use your free hand to put a fist in their chest and let your stick gum up the works around their feet.

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