ODR is seriously one of the most important tool for improvement! One thing I've noticed and heard over and over again from the best players are the amount of time they spent playing pond hockey and practicing in their garage. After reading the Talent Code and Hidden Potential, both books you guys recommended, that deliberate practice and even more important deliberate play really becomes a corner stone of development. Thanks again for the book recommendations!
I read something that theorized that so called “wide trackers” - usually taller skaters (I believe the leg:torso length ratio matters)- generate a lot of power, because they sort of corkscrew their hips while in stride. McDavid is a good example, but you guys have seen plenty I’m sure. And some people say if the wide tracker took a longer stride, they’d go faster, but, like you guys, I don’t think it’s a choice. I think that this is actually the way that a certain body type must skate in order to generate the most power.
As an edge and power instructor with a figure skating background I just wanna say that there are many of us figure skating power instructors that teach in hockey skates and teach the mechanics of a hockey stride not a figure skating stride (many of us LTS USA instructors are trained in all three skating disciplines including speed which also translates so much to hockey) - I actually don’t know any figure skating instructors personally that teach a figure skating stride to a hockey player, if so yeah, that would be weird, but please don’t pit the two against each other, I grew-up in an era where the two sports made fun of each other it’s refreshing to see the blend now + at the elite levels many of the hockey players are now doing figure skating footwork we all (figure skaters) learned at a very young age - mastery of the blade is the goal…to be able to not think about turns and transitions etc. and I think that cross pollination at a young age is super important. Gretzky figure skated, Jeff Skinner figure skated, to be honest I was surprised not to discover that background in Cale Makar’s skating but a lot of his transitions are based in figure skating footwork. When all is said and done both skaters started in the same skates in the 1800s - Even Bobby Orr’s blades were more similar to a figure skate when he was in his prime… (side tangent…) - I also think training outside (on the ODR) helps, I spend over 200hrs annually outside and it’s been an insane power booster for me, the friction of a treadmill might be similar?
ODR is seriously one of the most important tool for improvement! One thing I've noticed and heard over and over again from the best players are the amount of time they spent playing pond hockey and practicing in their garage. After reading the Talent Code and Hidden Potential, both books you guys recommended, that deliberate practice and even more important deliberate play really becomes a corner stone of development. Thanks again for the book recommendations!
Happy you enjoyed the recommendations!
I read something that theorized that so called “wide trackers” - usually taller skaters (I believe the leg:torso length ratio matters)- generate a lot of power, because they sort of corkscrew their hips while in stride. McDavid is a good example, but you guys have seen plenty I’m sure. And some people say if the wide tracker took a longer stride, they’d go faster, but, like you guys, I don’t think it’s a choice. I think that this is actually the way that a certain body type must skate in order to generate the most power.
As an edge and power instructor with a figure skating background I just wanna say that there are many of us figure skating power instructors that teach in hockey skates and teach the mechanics of a hockey stride not a figure skating stride (many of us LTS USA instructors are trained in all three skating disciplines including speed which also translates so much to hockey) - I actually don’t know any figure skating instructors personally that teach a figure skating stride to a hockey player, if so yeah, that would be weird, but please don’t pit the two against each other, I grew-up in an era where the two sports made fun of each other it’s refreshing to see the blend now + at the elite levels many of the hockey players are now doing figure skating footwork we all (figure skaters) learned at a very young age - mastery of the blade is the goal…to be able to not think about turns and transitions etc. and I think that cross pollination at a young age is super important. Gretzky figure skated, Jeff Skinner figure skated, to be honest I was surprised not to discover that background in Cale Makar’s skating but a lot of his transitions are based in figure skating footwork. When all is said and done both skaters started in the same skates in the 1800s - Even Bobby Orr’s blades were more similar to a figure skate when he was in his prime… (side tangent…) - I also think training outside (on the ODR) helps, I spend over 200hrs annually outside and it’s been an insane power booster for me, the friction of a treadmill might be similar?
Gilbert Perreault kind of skated bow legged… so much stability and he had a big impact in the transition from old school hockey and the modern player