Adult Dynamic Skills Class #5

Ten minutes extra ice-time!

Ten minutes extra ice-time!

Ten minutes extra ice-time!

Ice-time is certainly one aspect of hockey that I find amusing, unique, and obviously cherished. Here we all are looking forward to each time out on the ice and we’re really talking about playing a sport for 50 minutes! A 50-minute block time can be the sole focus of one’s week. How crazy is that?

So when the Zamboni wasn’t waiting at the gate when the PeeWees Dynamic Skills class ended, I didn’t hesitate, I was out there. And I stayed out there!  For ten minutes! For ten whole minutes until the Zamboni showed up. Of course, the course would still be run in its entirety, just that it would be running ten minutes late. But who cares? Ten minutes extra on the ice is ten minutes more ice time.

That’s 20% more ice-time if you are so inclined to break it down to that level.

About last night: the best part was a drill where coaches acted as defenders and we had to give them a little fake and deke. Wow! A real person acting as a defender rather than a small 12-inch pylon!  And with my Sean Skinner’s ‘Stick Handling Beyond Belief’ 5-DVD set getting steady play at home, I was ready to unleash my growing arsenal of rapid-fire series of dekes. Of course, practice isn’t the same as watching the screen, so I quickly lost my puck on the first rep, but the second time through I managed to keep control. The third time through the move was a bit better and the extension was a little further out. Now if I only had my own rink and could find someone to stand in as a dummy defender, I’d be well on my way to learning all of Skinner’s moves!

One great tip from last night: As we we’re doing a lot of pylon work last night the coach said a key thing to remember is to get your hands off your hips. This will give your hands and arms better flexibility and also will provide for greater extension.

Some improvement

Last night was my first game since I have been watching my “Stick Handing Beyond Belief” DVD set and so I was looking forward to trying out all my fakes and dekes!

Of course, I didn’t even come close to pulling off my Jagr drag back, but I did notice one improvement and that was a better awareness of the space needed to set up a move and to separate from a defender. On a few moves last night I thought I did well in not getting to close to the defender before making a fake and also in taking it wide around a player once the fake was made.

As well, I just felt a lot more comfortable with the puck on my stick. The DVD set also has a significant chapter devoted to dry land training. So I actually have been doing a lot of stickhandling in my basement with an assortment of balls (a golf ball, a wooden Swedish stick handling ball, and a ball that weighs the same as a puck). The stick I use for this is cut down to compensate for not having skates on, while I also have sawed the blade down to half its normal length. 

 

Back at it!

It’s been about six weeks since I played pickup, but tonite started a run of 17 Thursday nights of pickup at the Carleton University Ice House and it was great to be back playing! 

I just have never known anything like the enjoyment I get from playing. Walking into the arena with my bag slung over my shoulders (remember, I use one of those back pack bags) and my sticks in the other arm, it is something that I have always seen other guys do, but never really thought I could get to do. I simply relish every little experience of playing hockey.

So big thanks to my wife for giving me the time and turning a blind eye to the equipment purchases. And big thanks to my neighbour Frank who first told me about the City of Ottawa adult beginners course and who has graciously brought me into the fold of his teammates he plays pick up with. It’s these guys I have played with at the SensPlex over the winter and who I am playing with now at Carleton.

 

Things I have learned #2

The only jerseys you need are a black one and a white one.

Yes, it’s nice to wear the jersey of your favourite team and it’s always cool to wear a nice brightly coloured practice jersey, but the bottom line is when it comes to playing organized pickup, bring a black jersey and a white one. I know, it’s boring and predictable, but for the sake of harmony that is the way to go.

 

Adult Dynamic Skills Class #4

A good night! After being beaten down for the first three nights, I finally was able not to feel like a complete tool.

Three things I will take from this class are:

1. I need to get more skating in to strengthen my left leg up to get up to par with my right leg. The difference between the legs in terms of holding an edge isn’t that great, but when it comes to pushing off with my left leg, there just isn’t enough power or grip on the ice. I know, I know, it’s ‘mileage.’

2. Think differently! We have been doing this figure-8 transitioning drill. Basically it is skating up to a pylon and going around it and then striding backwards to a second pylon which is slightly horizontal and below the first pylon. More like a sideways figure-8 if you can picture this. The key with this drill though is to always face the same direction. Anyways, the first two nights we ran this drill I looked absolutely brutal, but last night the light went on!  The problem was that rather then a glide turn around the first pylon and then a quick pivot backwards, I was doing this hard parallel stop heading into it. The reason I was doing this was because everybody else seemed to be doing that! But when I actually watched what the instructor was doing—turning around the pylon—it all clicked together! Sometimes its good not to follow the herd.

3. The importance of being able to make just small little adjustments to the angle you are facing. We did this passing drill where five skaters lined up around one of the circles and we simply passed the puck to each other. On each pass though, everyone without a puck had to adjust so they faced the passer and was in the right position to receive the pass. I know, pretty basic stuff! But I think this is something I will work on next time I get to a public skate: standing stationary and doing little pushes so I can pivot quickly around off either foot and in either direction.

Skating Naked

That’s what it felt like when I took to the ice at Jim Durrell Arena during a public skate last week.

It had been so long since I was on the ice without equipment that it took me about ten minutes to get into the groove of things. But man, it felt great just to skate and work on a few things.

What I really focused on during the hour was doing a forward c-cut. The forward c-cut has been in my mind ever since I bought Sean Skinner’s excellent ‘Stick Handling Beyond Belief’ DVD set where it is demonstrated as being integral to faking and deking. What the forward c-cut allows you to do is to keep generating forward momentum without a full leg stride and thus be more able to fake and deke to either side.

And after an hour what once felt slow and awkward felt just a little bit more assured and powerful.

Once again the wise words of my neighbour Kim Pilon echoed in my mind: “It’s just mileage.”

Things I have learned #1

Learning a new sport ain’t all about the fundamental skills. There’s always the do’s and don’ts, the unwritten rules and codes, and the little tips that you can’t read about or watch on any instructional DVD.

Here’s the first:

Always take the second dressing room.

You see, as people filter into the rink, the natural tendency is to take the first dressing room. But sooner than you can say Howie Meeker, it is filled up and you can barely move to put your skates on. So keep walking and head to the second dressing room. It is ALWAYS less crowded.

Adult Dynamic Skills Class #3

Another humbling night at the SensPlex.

The course started off with a 15-minute, full length puck handling and skating drill. We had to do stuff like go down on one-knee while handling the puck, 360-degree turns at the blue and centre lines, one-legged turns on the inside and outside edges, etc., etc. Anyways, I felt like a complete tool out there! The saving grace though is that it showed me a lot of things that I will be able to work on whenever I get out to a public skate.

But to be honest, after that the hour ended up good for me. I did well in a passing drill and a small 3 v 3 game, and in the full length scrimmage that ends the practice, I forechecked aggresively and passed well. Although, the breakaway I missed at the end was not the ideal way to start.

About that breakaway: as you know I have been watching my DVD “StickHandling Beyond Belief by Sean Skinner.” So right now I have about 153 moves in mind that I want to do. Of course, I can’t do any of them! So what happens in that case is you think about doing 10 moves but end up doing nothing. Or in this case, end up losing the puck as I moved to put it on my back hand.

End Note: I saw two guys last night put their skates on before their pants. I had an urge to say something. We’re they doing it on purpose? Did they not know pants go on first? It struck me as very odd. 

Perfetto

That’s Italian for perfect. And that’s how I feel about my repaired shoulder pads that I dropped off at the old shoe repair shop ran by an old Italian guy in Hintonburg. So, rather than get a new pair, I ended up spending $23.00! 

“Thursday.”

My shoulder pads ripped a seam last night.

Usually in this case I would say screw it and go get another pair.

But instead I went to this old school shoe repair and leather shop in Hintonburg.

I walked in, the old Italian guy stopped what he was doing and started nodding his head as I approached the counter.

I handed him the shoulder pads, he looked at the problem and then give me a ticket and said, “Thursday.”