Author Topic: Another hockey beginner  (Read 17910 times)

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #77 on: October 23, 2017, 02:58:12 pm »
Thanks transmissionoftheflame, excellent reply.  O0 I have no problem finding locations to practice, there's two small industrial estates and adjoining car parks nearby which are unused at weekends, and I am on the edge of the countryside, so lots of quiet country lanes too.  :)

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #78 on: October 26, 2017, 08:36:58 am »
I went to Guildford rink yesterday morning, 10:30 am till noon. Cripes it was busy. Loads of little kids and lots of adults too. It was far too busy to practice anything other than the basics in an ACW direction. I almost collided with two ice dancers, twice! One (he) was a teacher, the other a pupil. He's very good, and I'm impressed that he can teach ice dance on a busy rink. And safely too. 

If anyone is in this area, and wants to practice during the day, then I recommend you go to Basingstoke rink. Yes it's falling down (literally), it is very scruffy, and there will be no marshals on the ice, but during the day the ice is often empty, so you can go CW and practice tricky moves to your hearts content.  :D

I was off work last week, and spent every afternoon at Basingstoke rink. Clear ice makes a huge difference.  :D
« Last Edit: October 26, 2017, 10:34:56 am by Leif »

Lowsider

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #79 on: October 27, 2017, 01:57:00 am »
Half term  ;) I havent been at all this week, too many children to fall over.

Carrie

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #80 on: October 27, 2017, 05:04:12 pm »
Best not go to Guildford rink if public sessions start earlier than 12 noon.  If earlier than this, it's school holidays and gets very very busy.  During term time, the 12 noon session after the ice resurface at 1.30 pm, its usually almost empty!  On Wednesdays no public session after 1.30 pm because the Guildford Flames have a practice then. 


I went on Monday this week and could practise for the first half-hour, then Penguins kept getting in the way.  Had my lesson behind the barrier and after that the ice was like a ploughed field, so called it a day!

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #81 on: October 30, 2017, 08:15:42 am »
Thanks Carrie, good advice.  :)

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #82 on: October 30, 2017, 08:25:52 am »
Pretty sure you've not asked before.  I use Seba FR1s which are inline skates primarily designed for what they call "freeride" which is like street skating combined with aggressive skating, though they can of course be used for general fitness and slalom and freestyle (which is hard to define but is a bit like a combination of figure skating and jam/skate dance skating).  They offer a good level of support combined and control combined with shock absorption, but are not as stiff as skates designed for slalom or freestyle on smoother surfaces where you are prepared to sacrifice a bit of comfort for ultimate control.  I have swapped out the frame they came with for a rockered frame.  I use 80mm wheels which are the largest that my 243mm frame can take.  They give more speed and comfort than smaller wheels.  The frame's rocker is like having 76-80-80-76 wheels, so 2mm clearance front and back.  That's called a banana rocker and suits me well for the kind of skating I want to do which is turns and steps.  A rockered setup is less stable at speed so probably not ideal for street skating.  I would advise rockered for hockey as almost essential as you need to do a lot of tight turns and a banana rocker is closest to the shape of a hockey blade.  Some people skate 80-80-80-76 - more stable at the back.
If hockey is your thing and you want to be as close to the ice experience as possible then get hockey inlines - they are almost identical to an ice hockey boot but with a frame mounted instead of a blade.  The frames and wheels tend to be smaller than normal inlines, which gets you lower to the ground and makes you more stable and enables tighter turns - but if you street skate on them on rough or bumpy surfaces you'll suffer.  I don't know about hockey inline rocker sizes but I am sure they are rockered.  I expect you could even find the inline equivalent of your make, size and model in inlines and order online, though best to try on of course.  I wouldn't recommend cheap recreational inline skates as they will not offer sufficient support.  Hope you find something useful and somewhere to go and skate.  It's not easy - car parks and outdoor sports courts...
Google for street hockey.  Certainly seen it played by the Albert Memorial in London.

Thanks. I bought some Bauer x300r hockey inlines. I even got a wrist shot tutorial when I bought them!  :D I tried them on Saturday, and I was able to skate forwards, turn by leaning to one side with with both feet in a line, and do forwards crossovers, albeit with considerable unsteadiness. I tried and failed backwards skating. And I tried T and plough stops, without great success. I was surprised that I totally failed with backwards skating, and that forwards stopping is so hard. Ah well, at least I have pads, though I need to get some wrist guards. It turns out that all my friends at the rink also have inlines, I think they prefer ice skating though.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #83 on: November 01, 2017, 06:11:39 pm »
Not sure why you'd find backwards especially harder on wheels - possibly the combination of something you're less comfortable with on ice with an unfamiliar medium (skates with wheels on a non-ice surface).


I am less surprised you found stopping hard.  A plough stop I am not sure I would even attempt.  At low speeds you can press on our outside edges in the plough position, at high speeds I think your wheels will grip too much and you'll go over the front.  A t stop should be easier but does require the ability to skate stably on one foot and to have your free leg perpendicular to the skating foot - you may find that awkward.  Also the wheels are just so much grippier than blades on ice, especially on rougher surfaces.  A bit of moisture or loose material makes it easier to slide, but also is dangerous because your edges will slip when pushing hard on them.
I think stopping on wheels is way harder.  I can do pretty much any stop on my ice figure blades, but on wheels I cannot do a parallel or hockey stop - just a t stop or powerslide.


You could try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUk0o1gjgO4


There are some skaters out there who are stupidly good at slides on wheels, but they practice a lot and have to buy a lot of new wheels...

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #84 on: November 01, 2017, 09:30:31 pm »
Honestly I could not even skate backwards 1 metre on inlines, and yet on ice I am quite agile. One issue is the flat 'blade' formed by four wheels. I'm used to a curved blade, and as you say, sliding sideways. I'm very much a slider on ice skates. I love hockey stops, one and two foot, forwards and backwards. Where I have problems is knowing where to put the weight. On ice I know when to have weight towards the toe, such as for a hockey stop, and when to have it towards the heel, such as for tight turns. Related to this is knowing how to turn a skate e.g. lift the heel and pivot about the toe. These YouTube tutorials ignore that issue. As you might have guessed, I'm quite analytic, and not so intuitive, which has its pros and cons.

As an aside, I've noticed that the boots are softer and wrap around my foot, unlike an ice hockey boot which is rather rigid. It makes me wonder why the difference.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #85 on: November 01, 2017, 10:00:13 pm »
From what I could see your inline should have some kind of rocker but it is possibly not as pronounced as the one your ice skate blade has.  If you rest the boot on the wheels with no weight on it I think maybe the front wheel is a little bit off the ground, the back wheel perhaps not.  You could experiment with smaller front and back wheels (76mm) which will make turning easier and feel more like your hockey blades.


Stopping is basically the same technique but just much harder as the wheels grip rather than slide.  You need them to do that as otherwise you'd not be able to use edges.  To make them slide you need moisture or dust or sand or to conk them over LOADS so the boot is at a 45 degree or more angle.
This might help more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr-Z9io05JM
He is not really doing a parallel stop - it is more of a backwards powerslide where the sliding is on one skate only.
This one he actually does a parallel stop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhaO3e1mn9I

Leif

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #86 on: November 21, 2017, 11:43:37 pm »
Things went a bit awry recently. I had my skates sharpened, but my gauge said the edges were off by 4 thousands of an inch. Well they seemed fine on the ice, but I wanted to know if the edge error made a difference, and I was curious to see how they'd compare to a sharpen from a ProSharp automatic sharpening machine near a local rink. I'm thinking of buying an automatic machine, and I want to make sure they do a good job. So I had them redone on the machine. The edges were perfect according to the gauge. That evening, I went onto the ice for a hockey session and I could barely skate. I could not even do hockey stops, my feet were juddering horribly. I felt incredibly uncomfortable on the ice, and just wanted the session to end. Several of us thought the edges were much deeper than 5/8" which is my normal RoH. So the next day I decided to buy some new blades (the old ones were nearing the end of their life) from the shop I trust, and have them sharpen them. I went for Step Steel, which are supposed to be better than stock blades. They are taller than normal blades, and harder, so they hold an edge for longer. I was able to skate normally again, though they felt odd at first, no doubt due to the slightly different height and profile. But after a few sessions I'm getting used to them. They do seem better, I'm able to hold deeper edges on crossovers and tight turns. This evening for the first time I felt comfortable doing CW backwards crossovers. Are they better? I think they are, and well worth the slight extra cost over stock steel. If they hold a sharpen for longer, then they are a winner. I was finding that my edges were going after maybe 15 hours on the ice, or less than three weeks skating.

On a separate issue, I did a Thursday Stick n Puck recently, and I don't think I touched the puck once in the scrimmage. What's the point? It's supposed to be for novices, but lots of good players were present, and they were only passing to their mates. Even when I was in a good position to receive a pass, I was ignored. I think they see it as a good way to get practice at an early time slot, unlike most hockey sessions which are late in the evening. The coach uses the scrimmage as an opportunity for him to practice shooting at the opposite end of the rink to the action. There is a lad who is a poor skater, and no better at hockey than me, but others including the coach pass to him all the time, so he gets lots of practice. Without doubt he is improving because of the practice he gets. And this has happened in many previous sessions. It might be they think someone my age is not worth bothering with. Or maybe they only pass to mates. I go to some sessions on Saturday too, and sometimes on Monday, and they are much better, with more team spirit. They make a point of passing, and they are very tolerant of my inability, and helpful.  The coaches make a point of encouraging everyone. A friend says Thursday is full of show ponies, and I think he is right. Interestingly one of the show ponies got into a fracas on Thursday, and I think he was punched after threatening someone. He is quite short and about 16 years old. Many months back he threatened a friend of mine, a very friendly and placid chap, who is well over six foot tall, and 53 years old! This show pony is potentially an excellent hockey player, but he never passes  the puck, so ends up losing it to the opposition.

I think that is enough rambling. In case anyone thinks I sound miserable, naah! Monday morning was brilliant, a really really good hockey session. And Saturday is usually excellent. :D As they say, if you throw enough muck at a wall, you end up with a muck covered wall.

beginner skater

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Re: Another hockey beginner
« Reply #87 on: November 22, 2017, 04:05:26 pm »
The height of your blades shouldnt be a problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEPTtsiWAuQ&sns=fb
 ;D



 

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