The Drill: Lunges

1. Start on one line and take a few strides going forward

2. When you are ready, put your weight on one foot and lower the other knee to the ice

3. Be sure to keep your hands in front of you and off the ice

4. Once your knee touches the ice, push off the ice with your steady leg and lift yourself up

5. Repeat on the other leg - be good at both sides!

6. For a challenge, see how many lunges you can get in a row before you get to the other side!

The Drill: Line skating with Meatball

1. Line up on a line (blue line, red line, goal line - whatever works)

2. Start with three good strides to get some momentum

3. Then glide on two feet and sink your hips as low as possible.

   • Ideally, your butt should be touching your skates

4. Your hands should be in front of you to maintain balance

   • If you have your hands behind you, you will most likely fall backwards

   • Try this so you can see for yourself

5. After gliding in the meatball for 2 seconds, get up and keep skating

   • Rising out of the meatball is also important as it will help you learn to push through your feet into the ice

   • It is also a strength building exercise

The Drill: Line skating with Flamingo

1. Line up on a line (blue line, red line, goal line - whatever works)

2. Start with three good forward strides to get some momentum - this will help with balance

3. Then glide on two feet and raise one leg up so that it's a few inches off the ice

   • Ideally, it should be lifted straight up and not backwards

   • It should only clear the ice, and it should not take away from your balance on the planted leg

4. Try to stay gliding on one foot as long as possible and in a straight line

   • If you are veering to the left or the right, then you are not balanced on both edges (i.e. a neutral edge)

   You are most likely leaning on either your inside or outside edge (probably the inside edge) - Staying balanced on both edges will allow you to skate in a straight line - The raised foot can also change the direction that you are skating. If the raised foot is pointing to the left, it will open your hip and pull your body weight to that side. Keep both toes pointing in the same direction to stay balanced

5. Glide in the flamingo for as long as possible

6. Repeat on the other leg

The Drill: Shave Ice

1. Face the boards and put your hands on the boards for balance.

2. You don't have to be holding your stick.

3. Then push out to the side with your left foot for 10 reps.

   • Your toes should still be facing the boards (perpendicular to the boards) during the entire action.

   • You will also have to be on your inside edge meaning that your ankles are slight bent inward.

   • Leaning too much to the inside will crank your ankle and not give you good balance on your skates.

4. Next, push out to the side with your right foot for 10 reps.

5. If you have some snow built up, then rotate one push with your left foot, one with your right foot. Otherwise, do 10 more reps with each foot until you have some snow.

6. Lastly, push both skates out at the same time.

   • This is snow plow action, which isn't a hockey stop. But it is a building block to doing a hockey stop.

Gliding Before Stopping

Next, it's important to glide before stopping so that you don't do a turn rather than a stop. It's also a good opportunity to practice skating (i.e. the action of moving your feet to go faster) and then gliding. The gliding sets up your balance so that you can be in a strong position to shave ice.

Push Out to the Side

Lastly, push out to the side with one foot. This is the most difficult part because beginners are not as familiar with their inside edges. Without the inside edge control and being able to grip the ice with your edges, you will most like turn rather than stop. Turning can definition slow you down and it's fine for public ice skating, but in ice hockey, we will need much more control over our skates.

If you are turning more than stopping but you can shave ice, then try this trick. As you skate forward with your toes pointing forward in a glide, turn your head 90 degrees to one side. Then turn only your shoulders. Your hips and feet should still be pointing and gliding forward. When you want to initiate the stop, then twist your hips and feet to the side you are looking at, and grab your inside edge. This should lead into the slide and shaving ice. The trick is that your are creating more torque that can help get you on your inside edge easier.

The final word with anything in skating is to keep trying! You can do it! But skating on ice is not a natural human skill - so don't be too frustrated but keep with it and making little improvements. Every little improvement will one day lead to more control and good stopping. Good luck!

The Drill: Stop on the line

1. Start on a blue line in the neutral zone.

2. Skate forward towards the center red line.

3. 5 feet before the red line, stop skating and glide.

4. Push out to the side with one foot and shave ice so that you stop moving and end up on the red line.

5. Turn around and repeat going towards the blue line, except this time, push out with the opposite foot.

The Drill: Twisting in Place

1. While standing still, stand on top of your skates so that you're on both of the edges on each foot. - This is called a Neutral Edge. You are neither on your inside edge nor your outside edge. 2. Next, keep your balance in the middle of your feet while on still standing on a neutral edge. 3. Lastly, on this neutral edge, twist your feet about 90 degrees. - Your feet should move easily, and you should keep your balance. - Keep twisting back and forth until this is easier.

Stop with two feet including the outside edge

The last piece to the hockey stop is to use both feet. It's a great achievement to stop with one foot. That will give you control and help keep you and others safe. Stopping with two feet, will give you agility and speed so you can raise your hockey game.

The hardest part is learning to balance on the outside edge on one foot. Once you can do one foot, it will be easier to stop with both feet digging into their edges.

The Drill: Outside Edge T-Stop

1. Start by skating forward and then gliding.

2. Then, stand on one foot and place your other foot in front of the gliding foot.

3. Gently, place the non-gliding front foot perpendicular to the gliding foot, and land the skate on it's outside edge. Use this foot to start shaving the ice.

   • This will be a "T" shape.

   • It should be done gently and with control and balance.

4. Stop yourself completely by only applying pressure to the outside edge of the front foot.

5. Repeat with the opposite foot.

Good luck!