So stoked, totally understand the cross under now after doing the base infinity curves with Corkscrew, thinking of it as the cross under vs the cross over is practically different. Feels awesome.
Thanks for putting the quality content! Definitely huge variability in leg turnover speed and angles. McKinnon is the most choppy of all, bobbing up and down so definitely looks like the most effortful, vs both Crosby and CMD are very fluid and xrosses look completely effortless for them.
love it. Barzal has a shorter shin bone than mcdavid so it looks like he has more knee over toe. But in reality they have the equal amount with great inner spring and hips low to the ice.
They use their outside edge more during acceleration. They get an explosive push from their outside edge on the cross under which provides them a bit of a hop while they are making the cross over, so they gallop a bit when really accelerating (most noticeable with McKinnon). When Barzal is is not accelerating you can see a very equal use of both his inside and outside edge, but when he puts on the gas his stride becomes a bit more choppy with more focus on a strong outside edge push during the cross under combined with a quick cross over. He will also use his outside edge to punch during cross overs if he needs to change directions quickly. The lesson is that the outside edge is extremely useful in hockey....but to truly be above the rest, your outside edge needs to be as strong or stronger than you inside edge.
@@TheDownhillSkater so, I was playing in my old man beer league last night and I noticed that on my strong side crossovers, I had a bit of a hop while accelerating. On my weak side...no hop. This was because on my weak side I can't push hard on my outside edge. On my strong side I'm confident on my outside edge and able to get longer pushes than I can on my inside edge. When I practice my outside edge I have used static edge drills....which are helpful, but now to improve more I have to use more dynamic drills that will push my crossunders. This video really helped me identify what I was missing!
Maybe they're going too fast for me to really notice but it looks to me like most of them aren't getting full leg extension on their crossovers(and I'm sure this is on purpose if that's the case) it looks like especially with McDavid that his knees are always bent slightly even when hes following through his knees never lock. Maybe I dont know what I'm talking about but that stood out to me
Great observation Hank, and you're right! They don’t reach full extension on a lot of their reps. I would say’s it’s a couple reasons, 1. They aren’t aggressively pushing but more rockering, falling and bouncing 2. The cadence/frequency of how fast they move their feet often doesn’t allow them to reach full extension on every crossunder stride. 3. They may also be controlling their speed by how much/ how little they extend. It also depends on the style/ player. For example, Mcdavid has a very high cadence and doesn’t always reach full extension. But Mackinnon on the other hand has a slower cadence and gets full extension almost every rep.
Thanks good demo of MacKinnon and McDavid Short chopping crossover in both direction These players don’t skate in a straight line. No wonder there so hard to defend
Barzal seems to generate the most force with each cross while McDavid seems to perform a large number of smaller crosses & generate less force per push. But I'd suspect McDavid's preference for smaller steps most likely stems from his playing style, as Connor clearly likes to maintain a large # of potential options. But my favorite by far is MacKinnon. While most people would say Nate isn't as elegant as Barzal/McDavid, when MacKinnon is skating at full speed he looks LETHAL. It's just absurd to see a human being cover THAT much ice with a SMALL number of strides.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve never thought about what it must feel like to face those 3 guys in game, I could definitely image there’s an intimidation factor when Mack’s coming full tilt down the ice.
I've been trying to consolidate these 3 ideas about where to press your weight in the boot, with how to do fast/half crossovers. 1. Press into the heel to get maximum grip on crossovers and turning. 2. Press into the ball of the foot plus less y-angle to slide or stop. 3. Flick the toe at the end of a forward push to get a small extra bit of power. I always thought that if you put more weight into the front half of the blade that you would slip out (b/c of 2)... so when I first tried doing half-crossovers on the heels, they work but you can't spring off of your feet b/c you're landing on your heels... however you do get a lot of grip... so they are slower. The only time I've heard of using your toes is on half-crossovers and toe-flicks (iTrain hockey)... but you can't really land strictly on your toes like he does in some of his stepover drills, when doing half-crossovers (even though he says you're on your toes). I finally tried out half-crossovers by landing and pushing off the front half of the blade (and not the toes)... and I guess b/c the y-angle wasn't as upright, I was able to actually land on the edges of front half of the blade, keep lots of grip, not slide at all, and push without slipping. I could also spring off like I was running; it was a bit of an epiphany.
A love to hear your thought progress and approach here! The elasticity and spring is exactly what you want! What I would add to your test is toe flicking vs not toe flicking (while moving your feet fast) 1. Do a set or two with exaggerating the toe flick 2. Do a set or two without the toe flick 3. Do a couple sets without thinking of the toe flick - What you're likely to find is that the toe flick will actually slow you down and you'll probably lose that spring because you're having to contract your calf. Also try striking at the heel on the outside edge (under your body), it will require you to lift your toes up and again move your feet fast. See how both feel in terms of speed, efficient and overall comfort.
Keep the frequency high! Lots of quick fast steps are faster than long strides (which may feel strong). Acceleration and balance is better with high cadence and each step is an opportunity to change direction. Ask martial arts. Stop analysing the edges and other miniature details. Those will come with the high cadence. Thinking about the center of gravity may help. Learn from slalom and sprinters. You don't learn anything from your own business said Steve Jobs 😉
Thanks for watching! Drop a comment on what stands out to you.
So stoked, totally understand the cross under now after doing the base infinity curves with Corkscrew, thinking of it as the cross under vs the cross over is practically different. Feels awesome.
Thanks for putting the quality content!
Definitely huge variability in leg turnover speed and angles. McKinnon is the most choppy of all, bobbing up and down so definitely looks like the most effortful, vs both Crosby and CMD are very fluid and xrosses look completely effortless for them.
For sure. Great observations as always!
I like how all the guys feet move so fast and when the get to a player they widen their feet so they are more sturdy and harder to fall down!
Great observation! I call that wide position a corkscrew, It's lethal for sooo many reasons.
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love it.
Barzal has a shorter shin bone than mcdavid so it looks like he has more knee over toe. But in reality they have the equal amount with great inner spring and hips low to the ice.
Thank you, Good find!
Another awesome video as always!!! Would love to see a video of full stride clips, both with two hands on stick and one hand on stick
Thank you! I gotcha. I’ve got a lot of Mcdavid forward stride clips I could put together
They use their outside edge more during acceleration. They get an explosive push from their outside edge on the cross under which provides them a bit of a hop while they are making the cross over, so they gallop a bit when really accelerating (most noticeable with McKinnon). When Barzal is is not accelerating you can see a very equal use of both his inside and outside edge, but when he puts on the gas his stride becomes a bit more choppy with more focus on a strong outside edge push during the cross under combined with a quick cross over. He will also use his outside edge to punch during cross overs if he needs to change directions quickly. The lesson is that the outside edge is extremely useful in hockey....but to truly be above the rest, your outside edge needs to be as strong or stronger than you inside edge.
Great analysis Christian! Mackinnon definitely has that outside edge gallop when accelerating.
@@TheDownhillSkater so, I was playing in my old man beer league last night and I noticed that on my strong side crossovers, I had a bit of a hop while accelerating. On my weak side...no hop. This was because on my weak side I can't push hard on my outside edge. On my strong side I'm confident on my outside edge and able to get longer pushes than I can on my inside edge. When I practice my outside edge I have used static edge drills....which are helpful, but now to improve more I have to use more dynamic drills that will push my crossunders. This video really helped me identify what I was missing!
Maybe they're going too fast for me to really notice but it looks to me like most of them aren't getting full leg extension on their crossovers(and I'm sure this is on purpose if that's the case) it looks like especially with McDavid that his knees are always bent slightly even when hes following through his knees never lock. Maybe I dont know what I'm talking about but that stood out to me
Great observation Hank, and you're right! They don’t reach full extension on a lot of their reps. I would say’s it’s a couple reasons, 1. They aren’t aggressively pushing but more rockering, falling and bouncing 2. The cadence/frequency of how fast they move their feet often doesn’t allow them to reach full extension on every crossunder stride. 3. They may also be controlling their speed by how much/ how little they extend.
It also depends on the style/ player. For example, Mcdavid has a very high cadence and doesn’t always reach full extension. But Mackinnon on the other hand has a slower cadence and gets full extension almost every rep.
Barzal is very under rated
Thanks good demo of MacKinnon and McDavid
Short chopping crossover in both direction
These players don’t skate in a straight line. No wonder there so hard to defend
Incredible!
fact is most of this is skating away from danger including into own zone. Seen plenty of turnovers because of it. Still a great tool
Barzal seems to generate the most force with each cross while McDavid seems to perform a large number of smaller crosses & generate less force per push.
But I'd suspect McDavid's preference for smaller steps most likely stems from his playing style, as Connor clearly likes to maintain a large # of potential options.
But my favorite by far is MacKinnon. While most people would say Nate isn't as elegant as Barzal/McDavid, when MacKinnon is skating at full speed he looks LETHAL. It's just absurd to see a human being cover THAT much ice with a SMALL number of strides.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve never thought about what it must feel like to face those 3 guys in game, I could definitely image there’s an intimidation factor when Mack’s coming full tilt down the ice.
I've been trying to consolidate these 3 ideas about where to press your weight in the boot, with how to do fast/half crossovers.
1. Press into the heel to get maximum grip on crossovers and turning.
2. Press into the ball of the foot plus less y-angle to slide or stop.
3. Flick the toe at the end of a forward push to get a small extra bit of power.
I always thought that if you put more weight into the front half of the blade that you would slip out (b/c of 2)... so when I first tried doing half-crossovers on the heels, they work but you can't spring off of your feet b/c you're landing on your heels... however you do get a lot of grip... so they are slower.
The only time I've heard of using your toes is on half-crossovers and toe-flicks (iTrain hockey)... but you can't really land strictly on your toes like he does in some of his stepover drills, when doing half-crossovers (even though he says you're on your toes).
I finally tried out half-crossovers by landing and pushing off the front half of the blade (and not the toes)... and I guess b/c the y-angle wasn't as upright, I was able to actually land on the edges of front half of the blade, keep lots of grip, not slide at all, and push without slipping. I could also spring off like I was running; it was a bit of an epiphany.
A love to hear your thought progress and approach here!
The elasticity and spring is exactly what you want!
What I would add to your test is toe flicking vs not toe flicking (while moving your feet fast)
1. Do a set or two with exaggerating the toe flick
2. Do a set or two without the toe flick
3. Do a couple sets without thinking of the toe flick
- What you're likely to find is that the toe flick will actually slow you down and you'll probably lose that spring because you're having to contract your calf.
Also try striking at the heel on the outside edge (under your body), it will require you to lift your toes up and again move your feet fast.
See how both feel in terms of speed, efficient and overall comfort.
Keep the frequency high! Lots of quick fast steps are faster than long strides (which may feel strong). Acceleration and balance is better with high cadence and each step is an opportunity to change direction. Ask martial arts.
Stop analysing the edges and other miniature details. Those will come with the high cadence. Thinking about the center of gravity may help. Learn from slalom and sprinters. You don't learn anything from your own business said Steve Jobs 😉
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