Hockey skill breakdowns by Detroit Red Wings' NHL Skills Coach, Dwayne Blais. The National Skill Development Association is a resource for hockey coaches and players to make progress every practice. My channel is all about breaking hockey skills down into easy-to-learn segments that you can use to grow as a player or a coach (or even an interested hockey parent). So if you're a player, coach, or a hockey parent who wants to expand their hockey knowledge and skills, make sure to subscribe to my channel right now. As you can see, my channel publishes skills that will immediately impact your game, such as skating, shooting, and stickhandling, and takes requests from subscribers just like you. If that sounds like something that could help grow your game, then make sure to join me by subscribing!
Thank you for this! Learning to skate and play in my early 30s is funny because you have that natural fear of trusting that outside edge, but hey, that's what the pads are for
I've never played hockey, but I find myself watching his videos. They're educational, meticulously detailed, and easy to understand what he's saying. 👍
What are your thoughts on using a shorter stick thats comes up to the same height as it would if you where on skates when practicing on land. Does that change in height going from skates to feet but using the same stick mess up your mechanics?
Good question, you could have an off-ice stick for shooting and puck handling or you could practice in roller blades to mimic being on skates or set up a shooting platform to stand on when shooting off of the ice. At the end of the day the 2-3 inches won't make that big of a difference when shooting with the same stick on and off the ice. If it's not affordable to have multiple sticks its fine to use the same height stick, as long as your working on the same techniques that will transfer when on the ice. Good luck.
No player do that anymore. I grew up with that being part of the teaching from coaches when working on shooting. If you watch the best shooters in the NHL no one really rolls their blade over and points at their target, You still want to follow through with your bottom hand and blade put the need to roll your wrists over and point just waists time and is unnecessary.
Good question, I've personally done both. Its personal preference. Shin pad over the skate tongue does add a little more protection from shots off the top of a players foot. Some players like tongues over shin pads as it lends to add a little more ankle flexion allowing players to get lower when skating/turning.
train 2.0 goes against this philisophy of pushing down and related it more to pushing a 9.5 foot stick through a 9 foot window so the flex is not from pushing down at all which makes sense. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KgjHhod6NGQ.html
That is a good video, definitely goes into the weeds on Bedard's shot. They do mention "pushing" in the video (pushing through the pane of glass...). There needs to be some pushing with the bottom hand in order to generate flex on the shaft of the stick as the blade makes contact with the ice. When teaching snap shots in general, especially to players learning the shot, the easiest way for them to understand is to have them think of pushing through the shot with their bottom hand to generate flex on the stick and power on the shot.
very confusing information around youtube on this subject. theres another video called "The Crossover Balance Secret!" by Kellian Hockey who describes that the secret to balance on the outside edge involves putting all your weight in your heel, but this youtube video suggests its the ball of your foot that you should lean into.
There is a lot of different information. Out there. When skating you ideally want to limit your body weight from being on the heel of your skate. There’s the odd turn or quick move where body weight may be on the heel of the skate but it is rare. If you think of an athletic stance, you’d want your weight on the ball of your foot, same idea with skating. Players blades are rocketed which puts them on their heel or toe at times but they need to try and back to the ball of their foot for balance and power.
@@nsdahockey This is the first interview I watched on your channel! Needless to say, I'll be tuning in from here on out. 👍 I'm also going to go back and see who else you've interviewed. Awesome 👌
Bedard doesn’t push down on the stick to get flex, he has a fairly long stick, that when pulled in really tight to his body has to flex a lot, that paired with the puck is how he flexes his stick
If you watch Bednard’s snap shot in slow motion he pulls the puck in towards his body, he then pushes on the shaft of his stick with his bottom hand and he release towards the net. The only way to use the flex on a hockey stick is to push with your bottom hand. Using the blade on the ice as a bottom contact point, the top hand of the stick as a top contact point and the bottom hand on the stick pushes forcing the stick to flex adding more power/speed to the shot.
@nsdahockey never said you shouldn’t use your bottom hand, I said you shouldn’t push down on the stick to get flex and power, there’s a different between pushing down and pushing through with the bottom hand
@nsdahockey bedards bottom hand follows through rotationally with his hips and torso, I like to think about the body and hands as one motion, even though it may not look like it, they are moving together
@@Reese_md I believe we’re saying the same thing, you need to push with your bottom hand, no necessarily down towards the ice but a player will down and through the shot, the pushing motion is what keeps the blade on the ice allowing flex from the shaft which increases power in the shot.
Haha! I’m glad the drill and having the kids in it helped. Sometimes it hard to visualize drills when seeing them on a sheet of paper or talking through them. Thanks for watching.
Haha. We've gone through some changes over the years, we had an unreal videographer/editor before COVID, unfortunately through COVID had to do some on our own with restrictions. We've been trying to maintain great quality but at times we feel that the content is important. We will continue to try to improve the quality of our videos. Thank you for checking them out.
Last year I started playing again after about 25 years, and also helping out with my son's U9 team. The biggest challenge getting back into the game has been re-learning how to shoot with these new sticks. I need to figure it out so I can teach the kids! Tutorials like this are a huge help, especially because they all want to know how to shoot like their favourite pros. Thanks for the video!
I was coming from the same place. Make sure you get a good stick, it can be a night and day difference. With one stick I feel like I can't get any whip (it's a lower flex too), and the other I can just snap it and it flings off super easy.
@@jessedahl5746 Good call, flex is very important, the lower flex the more whip on the stick, which can be a great thing depending on what type of player and shooter you are. The less flex makes the stick whippier which can be harder to pick up hard passes, it may whip when battling for pucks, but can help a ton if used properly with a players shooting, using the shaft flex to add speed and power on the shot.
Started seeing your new videos and then went back and watched your others. Started coaching 8U and I definitely forgot some of those fundamentals. Your videos helped with that and with the progression of the skills. Keep 'em coming!
Keep going. Your videos are very helpful in areas like mine where the sport has growing interest with the minor levels, but the supply of quality coaching sometimes doesn't meet the demand of the developing players.
Thanks you for the feedback. I agree the more we can share teaching techniques the more we can help players, parents and coaches better teach skills to their players.
Love your videos, thank you for sharing them. As an aside, I was watching one of the red wings training camp videos and saw you, I had that ::insert Leo DiCaprio pointing gif:: moment haha
Been playing this game over 30 years. Great informative video. I just miss the old days when it was just 1 choice for everything. Now, hockey gear has not only become more expensive but each gear has 12 different choices and options. Really gets overwhelming sometimes. As for sticks... I'm 5'7 and prefer CCM Tacks brand stick with 65 flex.
I agree, going to a sports store can be overwhelming with all of the choices. Sometimes it is best to find a stick, skates that you like and try to stick with the same pattern, lie, brand.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, good luck with your team. I'd love to hear how they come along throughout the season, hopefully their outside edges improve!
Great video as always, even if I'm not a kid but a 37 year old guy trying to undo a few years of self-taught skating! I started working with a figure skating coach in one-on-one sessions, and it's been really great for just seeing how much a little change or phrase can make things click. Little things you think you're doing, like turning your shoulders in, which then turns your hips and your knee above your skates actually letting you turn and get on that outside edge is huge. I went from struggling with hockey stopping on my good side, with them being nonexistent on my other side, to getting a working stop in a few tries with just about 5 minutes of on-ice effort. Not sure if this is some company "secret sauce" but one thing I've always wondered about specialist NHL coaches is if you're there with the players at practice all the time, if you run a few practices with your own drills for players, or if you are kind of a coach on "retainer" where players can come to you individually when they have something they want to work on, or that their coach has pointed out is something they need to work on improving. Keep up the great videos!
Great to hear that your skills are improving, players can continue to improve no matter age of level they are playing at. As for NHL skills coaches, I am out for team practices and will run some of the team drills or my own individual drills with players. Just like what you are going through, If I see an inefficiency or bad technique in an area of a players game I will address it and create some drills or game situations in practice where we can work on it. With professional players its sometimes very small things that go a long way, could be simple reminders that helps them turn better, add more power to their shot, release the puck quicker...
@@nsdahockey That's awesome! I've always been curious how it works when you've got the power skating coaches and skills coaches, since in my mind it always seems like there's so many coaches at any given time, it might be hard to find time to work on the smaller details between the packed schedule NHL players probably have during the season. Thanks for the peek behind the curtain, and the continued great videos on RU-vid!
Great to hear that you’re working on and improving your skating. Some teams have specialty coaches that come in for a couple of days a month and work with players. A lot of teams are now hiring full time skills/skating coaches. I’m at all practices and have the opportunity to run drills with players before and after practice to hit on specific individual or team needs. Sometimes players just want to get extra reps with certain skills (shooting, wall work, passing, puck handling…). I hope that helps.
Nice lesson plan. Some of todays NHL players have no idea how to take and give a hit. I don’t understand why that is. But I have seen so many hits in the last few years on both sides that where not the correct way. It’s an art form to learn for sure. 😉👍
I totally agree, checking is a skill like any other in hockey. It needs to be taught and practiced by players from young ages. The game is fast and there will always be some awkward and poorly timed contact but if players hone their skills at younger ages they'll be better prepared as the game speeds up at higher levels.
