STICK HANDLING

TOPIC
STICK HANDLING

Today, we are going to talk about stick handling and the proper techniques for stick handling. 

First off let’s go over body positioning and mechanics.

Key Points:

• Top hand in front of body near ‘belt buckle’ with a relatively firm/normal grip on the stick

• Top hand should be slightly off of your body 

• Bottom hand on the bottom part of the stick about shoulder width apart

• The bottom hand should have a relatively loose grip

• Roll wrist with the top hand and bottom hand loosely gripping the stick. 

• The bottom hand is simply there for support. The top hand does most of the work when stick handling.

In my time coaching, I have noticed a lot of times players will keep their top arm elbow locked at 90 degrees. This is a no, no. When stick handling we want to be as smooth and as fluid as possible. Pretend you’re the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and sprinkle some oil on those elbow joints cause I want us to be smooth like Michael Jackson’s dancing.

We do not just stickhandle the puck in the front of our body. We are going to be able to move the puck from side to side in the front of our body and front to back on both the forehand side and backhand side. This is why we must have smooth elbow joints and a loose bottom hand so we can maintain those fluid movements.

Check out the smoothness and swagger of Auston Matthews starting at the 15-second mark in the video above as he stickhandles in pre-game warmups. Watch for the movements of his top hand, bottom hand, and elbows.

Now that we’ve got the proper hand placement going, let’s go over puck placement. When stick handling, we want the puck to be resting on the heel of the blade. The heel of the blade is the densest part of the blade and does not allow the blade of shaft to rattle when we stickhandle, catch passes or take one-timers. Since there is more material on the heel of the blade, the puck is able to firmly stop and not wobble keeping it nice and flat which in turn makes it easier to control. 

DRILL OF THE WEEK
PVC Stick handling

Take a PVC pipe and cut it around 6 inches in length. Place that PVC pipe through the top part of your stick. Your bottom hand will then hold the PVC pipe. Your top hand should have a normal grip on the stick while your bottom hand is holding the PVC pipe which does not allow you to get an actual grip on the stick. 

In the drill shown in the video above, my brother keeps his knees slightly bent facing forward, feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and starts stick handling in the front of his body. His top hand is in front of his body and you can see he is using the PVC pipe with his bottom hand working on the top hand, (see image below for example). He starts by stick handling that puck in the front of his body but eventually works his way around to the forehand side and backhand side. He is aiming to stickhandle the puck at a consistent speed while maintaining smoothness as he moves it around in a horseshoe to all sides of his body.

The ‘WHY’: Since stick handling is a top-hand dominant skill, we want to train that top hand wrist roll. This drill will develop confidence and learn to be mostly in control of the stick-handling movements. We also want to allow the bottom hand to get comfortable with not being fully in control and allowing the top hand to do most of the work. 

You can use a golf ball, Swedish wooden ball or Green Biscuit in which the blue version is being used by my brother in the video below.

The Green Biscuit is my personal favorite with the Swedish wooden stick handling ball being a close second. Both of these are tools my brother and I have been using since we were super young.

My brother and I love the Green Biscuit because it feels like a puck against your stick in terms of density and weight, but mainly because it slides smoothly on literally any surface. We would bring this thing with us and use it everywhere from large concrete parking lots to our basement which had rug flooring.

Green Biscuit: https://greenbiscuit.com/

Swedish Stick handling Ball: https://www.purehockey.com/product/a-r-stickhandling-ball/itm/6845-2/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAgK2qBhCHARIsAGACuzm_AKpKhfJT3iPXW9iWWes4BK8D8GmYOozFj10_WnC2yAl8yc_3hmoaAko9EALw_wcB

That’s all for today folks. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to having you check back in again soon.

— Danny

DISCLAIMER
The views, information, or opinions expressed in the Perez Hockey Development newsletter are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of my employers. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to educate and inform.