Hockey Stance

As an older guy, one of the toughest things for me to do is the "hockey stance".  I'm just not as flexible as I used to be, but I'm working on it and getting there.

So what is it and why is it important?

In the basic hockey stance your feet are shoulder width apart , or a little wider.  Your knees are bent.  Your weight should be over your feet.  Keep your upper body and head up.

Here's a great image from HockeyShot.com and HowToHockey.com.



Compare the stance of the player in black with what I described above.  This, "get into hockey stance" comes right after "check your grip" on our hockey checklist.

There's a lot of good things that come from being in this stance.  First, your center of gravity is lower and centered over your feet, which makes it harder for another player to bump you out of the way.  Secondly, with your knees bent like that, you get more power from your legs as you skate.  More power equals more speed.  This applies to all motion too, whether it's side-to-side or even backwards.  The bent knees also act as shock absorbers, so your movement is smoother and you'll have better balance.

If you watch video of Sidney Crosby, you'll notice that he stays really low as he moves and protects the puck.  It's really hard to knock him off the puck or take it from him because of that.  He generates a lot of power from his legs too, which means faster acceleration and better speed.

Younger players need to be reminded of this.  My granddaughter's coaches constantly tell the kids to get into their stance (sometimes they call it the athletic stance), but there's so much going on that many of the kids don't, and the coaches miss it.  So, if you're the parent of a youth player, or a player yourself, make it a point to drill this into your head until it becomes habit, like gripping your stick correctly.  It may feel a little weird at first, but it soon becomes second nature and it'll feel wrong not to be in the proper stance.

Personally, I'm working on flexibility and leg strength.  I do squats and wall sits.  I walk a lot.  Try climbing stairs.  Squat jumps and box step-ups work too.  These kinds of exercises aren't just for hockey players, they're a good thing for adults of any age.