Recap: Ice Time with a Bronze Medalist

I'm still grinning from my session the other night with former Olympian, Kelly (Stephens) Tysland: Bronze medalist on the 2006 USA Women's Ice Hockey team. The Seattle Women's Hockey Club is made up of women skaters of every ability from seasoned players who've been skating for more than 10 years, to first-year novices. So, you can imagine the challenge of putting together a clinic that would be for everyone's benefit. But, Kelly managed to do that. For one special hour, we focused on the basic elements of hockey including skating (using the inside, and dreaded outside edges), passing, and shooting. It's been a while since I've done a lot of these basic drills - not since my beginner days and morning skate sessions with Andre Lacroix (former NHL and WHA player) who developed one of the most successful in-house adult hockey leagues in the Bay Area at Oakland Ice with more than 800 players, 55 teams, and 8 sub-divisions. In the end, it was one of the most fulfilling sessions I've had in a while. Anyway, here are some tips that Kelly covered in practice for the puck-mongers out there. During warm-ups, I'll be loosening up my skates and embracing my outer edges after so many years of neglect (LOL).

Skating:
1. Know your edges: try loosening or taking the lace out of your skates top one or two eyelets for 5 min on ice to feel your blade versus your boots-
2. Keep your knees bent, chest up, and your head is the first thing that needs to turn to move your body
3. Turning keep that inside shoulder up, and lower your bottom hand to keep puck closer to your body
4. When turning on your forehand, don't crisscross your hands, instead just drop your top hand to your hip.

Passing:
1. Cushion the puck when receiving a pass
2. Keep your stick on the ice to give the passer a target
3. Bring the puck behind your body before you pass, so you use your body not just your arms
4. Roll your wrists over to follow through for every pass

Shooting:
1. Aim at SMALL targets
2. Shoot to score, not to just shoot
3. Lower your bottom hand and grip tightly for the shot
4. Rotate stick slightly to close the blade of your stick so it isn’t open when you shoot.
5. Bring the puck behind and across your body when you shoot, to use your body not just your arms
6. Try to glance at the net once before you shoot

Positions:
1. Communicate!!!! Let teammates know what your doing
2. Wingers don't get caught in the corners in the D-zone, and get on the hashmarks along the boards on breakouts
3. Centers you are the 3rd defense in the D-zone
4. Defense, always keep one D in front of the net
5. Offensively, you have forwards and defense, no wingers, centers etc.
Forward 1- Attack (go get that puck!!)
Forward 2- Support (a few feet from Forward 1 who's going after the puck)
Forward 3- High (at top of circles)