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Fore Checking

Fore checking refers to skating done in the offense zone in order to recover possession of the puck after a dump or turn over. Fore checking is all about anticipating what the puck carrier will do next. Knowing your opponents skill level will help you figure out what they might do next. Strong skaters will skate the puck up where the weak ones will pass the puck.  The fore checker must always keep eye to eye contact with the puck carrier. The puck carrier will tip you off to where they plan to pass the puck by the direction in which they look so, by watching the puck carriers eyes you can anticipate where he/she is going to pass the puck. This gives you a chance to intercept it and gain possession.

 

 

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Hip Checking

Hip checking is best delivered along the boards. Hip checking is when a player goes into a slight crouch stance and uses his hips against an opposing player to separate him/her from the puck. If you end up hitting them below the knees you will be charged with a penalty of clipping. Remember to stay low and curled when you hit them so you can stay on your feet.

Here are a couple of videos on hip checking.

 

Shoulder Checking

Shoulder-checking is the most common form of body checking. The player swings his/her hips toward the opposing player trying to make them become off balanced and then using his/her shoulder with elbows tucked in to separate him/her from the puck. Remember not to use your elbows or this will cause you to get an elbowing penalty.

Body Checking.

Body checking has a variety of techniques like hip checking, shoulder checking, side checking, back checking, front checking, and fore checking. Side checking is the most common form of body checking. To accomplish this you drive your shoulder, upper arm, hip and elbow, equally into the opponent to stop them from carrying the puck down the ice. 

The purpose of body checking is simply to separate an opponent from the puck while maintaining your balance and position without committing a penalty. It also gives you the chance to gain possession of the puck and take it in for a goal.

Front checking is another form of a body checking. Front checking is accomplished by using the front of your body while facing the front of the other player and taking them into the boards. In a front check you want to use the entire body to check the opposing player to gain possession of the puck or to allow a team mate to gain possession of the puck. Remember to always have your head up. Here is a video showing examples of legal and illegal body checks.

Cross Checking

Cross checking is when you have both hands on the stick and you extend your arms to check an opposing player. Remember this is an illegal move and will earn you a penalty. They will call you on either a major or a minor penalty depending on the severity of the infraction.

Sweep Checking

Sweep checking is the most popular fore check used by forwards. This type of checking uses your stick to keep the opposing player from sending a pass or by knocking the puck away from them. This is accomplished by swinging your stick in a sweeping motion in front of the opposing player.  The ideal of the sweep check is to force the player to the outside.  Never approach the puck carrier head on because he/she could get around you and score a goal.  Always angle the puck carrier while sweeping your stick. You can accomplish the angling by using forward or backward cross overs.

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Lift Checking

Lift checking is the act of lifting the opposing teams stick to gain possession of the puck. A lift check is done for two reasons. The first reason is not to allow them to score a goal when they are positioned in front of the net. The second reason is to take the puck away and take it in for a goal yourself. Lift checking is done when you put your stick under their stick and lift up. This form of checking is another type of stick checking.

Press Checking

The press check is opposite of the lift check. The press check is when you use your stick to stop or control the movement of an opponents stick by placing your stick on top of their stick and pressing it down so that it can not move.

Poke Check.

A poke check involves using your stick to poke at the puck to knock it away from the opposing player. To accomplish a poke check place your top hand on the stick with palm down. The stick will face down and closed. Keeping your elbows tucked in toward your sides and use the other hand to keep your balance. Then poke the bottom of your stick blade at the puck using your top hand to get the puck away. With the poke check avoid sweeping your stick,the purpose of the poke check is to poke the puck not sweep it. Remember to always play the body after poking the puck away.

Stick Checking

Stick checking is the use of your stick to interfere  with an opponents stick to gain possession of the puck. There are many types of stick checking like left, poke, sweep, press and hook checking. Each type will separate the opponent from the puck and gain you the advantage. In the next few posts we will take a look at each of these types of stick checking.

Girls Checking in Hockey.

Up to 1990 girls were allowed to check in hockey after that it was disallowed. The debate has been a hot topic in last few years about weather girls should be allowed to check. There are people who believe girls should not check because they would get hurt or that it would promote violence in girl’s hockey. There is speculation that if checking is allowed back in girl’s hockey that there would be fewer girls involved in hockey due to the increase of physical demand and the worry of injury.

Others believe that putting checking back in girl’s hockey would only benefit the program. One reason is that it would teach the girls to play with their heads up instead of down. Some girls have the tendency to play looking down, not up, in which case it causes more injuries because they're concentrating on the puck and not on where they are going or what is happening around them. This leads to them getting hurt from getting pinched up on the board and not being prepared for it. In boys hockey they are all always anticipating the next hit so they tend to skate with their head up and can prepare for the hit or can see were the next open player is at on the ice. Girls are two times more likely to suffer from a concussion than their male counterpart. Another reason for allowing checking into girl’s hockey according to some is that it would bring more excitement to the game; this would then bring in more spectators to the game.

I believe that girls should be allowed to check in hockey. If you don't think that there isn't hitting and shoving going on in girls hockey, then you are sorely wrong. Girls seem to know when the referees are not looking and get a cheap shot on each other. When they are going for a puck on the boards, the arms are moving and bodies are trying to separate the other player from the puck and it gets to be quite physical. There is hip checks going on and pinching against the board going on all the time. The reason I think checking should be allowed in girls hockey is because they will teach them to skate with their heads up and less injuries will occur because they are anticipating the next hit, they will see where they are going, who’s open, and who's coming after them. There would also be less hitting that is done on the sly, behind the officials back, and this will help in girls having fewer injuries also. The bottom line is that I think it would make for better players and would reduce the amount of injuries in girl’s hockey. Isn't that as parents of girls in hockey one of our major concerns? If not allowed to check girls at least should be taught how to check and to receive one properly. This is important in kid’s sports and my kid’s sports.

Goalie Fingers Up Glove Position

Fingers up position for a goalie helps cut the trajectory of the puck when it is coming at you. The other benefit is that when a puck comes at his shoulder he can move more freely to snatch the puck out of the air. There are other benefits to the fingers up position which will be demonstrated in this video.

Goalie Positioning

Goal tending is the art of stopping the puck from going into the net at all cost. In this blog we will be looking at the different techniques of goal tending.

The butterfly technique became popular in the 1980 and is widely used today. The goalie stands with feet a little wider then his/her shoulders and the knees are held close together to form a inverted V shape. The goalie stays square to the shooter  and drops to his/her knees as soon as the puck is fired at them. His/her leg at this point should be out on each side and the five hole closed with arms tucked in tight to their sides. The advantage of this position is that when the goalie drops there legs are extended out and this covers the majority of the net. The biggest advantage is that you can go down fast and back up quickly in this type of form. Shots to the upper areas are the weakest part of the butterfly technique.


The stand up technique is when the goalie is in a slight crouch position in the net and he stays up instead of going down. In the stand up technique the goalie depends on his/her skating ability and talent to slide from one side of the net to the other side in a matter of seconds. The goalie must challenge the shooter by cutting off the angle and making the goal look as small as possible.  The goalie uses his size to cut off the angle of the shooter and creating a bad shoot. A stand up goalie must be a good skater and can skate out of the crease to make plays on the puck. He/she must be very athletic and move very quickly to make saves. The outside corners can cause him/her problems along with low shots because the bottom portion of the net is largely uncovered.


The hybrid technique uses a combination of the butterfly and the stand up techniques to stop the puck. The goaltender usually starts in the stand up position and then drops down when the puck goes from one side of the net to the other side. This technique is largely dependent on instinctive moves. He/she reacts according to what he/she thinks the shooter is going to do to get the puck in the net.

The flopper style is for goaltenders committed to stopping the puck at all costs. He/she must be a top rated athlete with tremendous quickness. He/she may use their body or they may flop around on the ice to get their glove, skate or anything else in front of the puck to stop it from going in the net. All this commotion frustrates the shooter so that he/she misses the goal.

These are just a few goalie techniques. The goalie should always decide what technique feels best to their way of saving the puck.

Goalie Leg Extensions

This video will show you how important it is to use a leg extention instead of a leg kick to stop the puck. The leg extention directs the puck to the corners and the leg kick puts it back in front of the  net, so it is very important to alway extend the leg instead of the kick.

Goalie Tips and Tricks 1.

In hockey the job of the goalie is to keep the puck out of the net at all cost and to never take their eyes off of the puck so they can achieve this goal. The goalie position is a very demanding position due to the fact that their equipment is different and that it weighs more than their teammates. Goalies need to fast on their feet to be able to get up and down in a matter of seconds. They also have to contend with  pucks that are coming at them  at speeds up to 100 mph or more. Remember your goalie should always be considered the last line of defense in hockey.

The basic goaltender stance in ice hockey is with knees bent and weight distributed on the balls of their feet like in a squat. They must stay low and keep their body square with the shooter. This gives them the appearance of filling out the net. The butterfly is a goal tending technique in which the goaltender goes down with his/her knees together and the pads are stretched out in both directions with the player upright and square to the shooter. The stick should be on the ice between the pads.

 

Here is a demonstration of the goalie stance.

Ice Hockey Defense Strategy - Part Three

Here is a video about how the defense can use behind the net for protection and to give a better break out pass.

Ice Hockey Defense Strategy - Part Two

Here is the second part of ice hockey defense strategy hope these tips help you play abetter game.

Get to know your defense partner and how he/she plays. This will help you become a strong defense team because you know their strong points, weak points, and they know yours. Defense is a very important part of winning or losing a game. When my son played defense his partner and him know exactly where the other one was at all times, this made them a very effective part of the team. When one was up, the other was back, then when the other one moved back, then he was up. They played like a well-oiled team and it was fun to watch.

As a defense player you must get to know your goalie and his/her weaknesses. This way you will be able to help them on their weak side and keep the puck out of the net .Remeber always talk to your goalie throughout the game, they see things that you can't see and are able to give you hints on who needs to be shut down quicker and who is the strongest players on the opposing team. Make sure not to screen the goalie, the goalie must keep his/her eyes on the puck at all times. When in a face off on your end make sure to ask the goalie if he/she can see the puck because most of the time they can't.

Defense players remember it is your job to keep the puck in the opposite side and to always defend your goalie. Defense is one of the keys to winning or losing the game and is a very important position. So please parent, spectators, coaches and team mates, remember to tell them thank you for doing such a great job.