Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
Posted under:
Hockey TipsOverview
A hockey player's grip on his stick is always changing. To send an accurate pass across the ice, a hockey player needs a loose grip. To deflect a slap shot coming from the point, he needs to have a much tighter grip. A wrist shot requires a different grip from a slap shot. The same holds true for a backhand shot or when taking a faceoff.
Step 1
Take your right hand and place it midway down the shaft of your stick when getting ready to fire a wrist shot. (All examples will be for right-handed shooters; just do the opposite for left-handed players.) Place your left hand about 3 inches from the top of the stick. Turn your right wrist over as you pick out a spot on goal that you want to direct your shot. Your grip should be firm but not too tight.
Step 2
Make a backhand shot to lift the puck high. Put your right hand more than halfway down the shaft. This will give you great leverage as you follow through. Keep a firm grip and use your left hand as if it were a lever, and pull up hard with your right hand. This will enable you to get a hard backhand shot up in the air.
Step 3
Take a strong, firm grip with your right hand when taking a slap shot. You don't want to choke the stick by putting too much pressure on the shaft, but you don't want the stick to wobble when you make contact with the puck. The moment of impact should feel as if you are hammering a nail into a block of wood. If you don't hold it tight enough, your follow-through will not be complete and the puck will not travel accurately.
Step 4
Put your left hand about 8 inches down the shaft and your right had about 12 inches below it when taking a faceoff. You need a sharp, quick move to win the faceoff battle against your opponent, and you need to make quick contact with the puck and draw the puck back to a winger or your defense with one smooth motion. By holding your left hand further down the stick than normal, you will have more quickness in the draw.
Step 5
Grip your stick very tightly when deflecting a shot from the point. The idea is to change the direction of a hard rubber puck that is flying toward the goal at speeds approaching 100 mph. If your grip is not firm enough, you won't be able to control the direction of the puck. A tight grip will give you the ability to send the puck in the direction you need it to go.
