Pile o' Pucks

You don't need a bunch of pucks to practice shooting with.  One single puck is enough.  But, after every shot you have to retrieve the puck.  So while you don't NEED a bunch of pucks, it sure is nice to have more.



Just for fun, here's a shot looking into my milk crate full of pucks.  There's about 50 in there, along with a FlyPuck, two Green Biscuits and two Snipes.

If you're in a sporting goods store, pick up a puck or two.  If you're at your local rink, stop in the shop and get a few (helps to support them too).  You can get pucks by the dozen on Amazon.  I pick up a dozen once in a while when they're on sale for about fifteen bucks.

You don't have to break the bank, and you don't need to get a bunch all at once.

BUT, if you can get a bunch all at once (Santa?  Are you listening?)...

Regular ol' hockey pucks cost about a dollar in Canada.  In the US, you can expect to pay a dollar and a half or more, depending on how many you buy all at once. 

And then there are these amazing deals from PatriotPuck.  First off, shipping is free.  Always.  A box of 25 pucks costs $24.99.  Best price around, but it gets better.  Buy a box of 50 and you pay $38.99, and a box of 100 is 77.95.  That's pretty amazing.

So, do you need 100 pucks?  Nope.  Do I recommend getting more than just a few?  Absolutely.  You see my crate o' pucks above.  I'm putting in an order for another 50, and my granddaughter might find a box of 25 under the Christmas tree.

My (American) Thanksgiving Gift to You

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Personally, I'm thankful that at my age, I'm still healthy enough to be learning something new and fun like hockey.

My gift to you:  On YouTube, there's a channel called The Hockey Guy.  He's a serious hockey fan, and covers the entire league rather than focusing on just a team or two.  Smart, insightful and funny, he also manages to put out two or three excellent videos every day.

Check him out.

Stickhandling Videos

Here are some videos I found on YouTube showing different techniques and drills for stickhandling.  I re-watch these occasionally as a refresher, and to remind myself to focus, because I will get better if I put in the work.

I'll be adding to this set over time, so check back and scroll down to see what's new.

Wrap Around One and Wrap Around Ice

The Hockey Wrap Around is a training aid that lets you use your expensive ice hockey stick outside without chewing up the bottom of the blade.  Here's a video about it (enjoy some pretty good stickhandling too).



I have the model shown above, and it really works well.  It does add some weight (between two and three ounces) to the blade of the stick, which isn't a bad thing.  When you take it off before heading out onto the ice, your stick feels lighter and your hands feel faster.  It's like training with a weighted stick.

I really like mine, and it has done an excellent job of protecting my stick.  I may not have a huge financial investment in my hockey stick (see buying my first hockey stick here), but the cost of the Wrap Around is still well worth it to me.  There are videos on YouTube about making a sort of DIY version using aluminum soda cans, but for me, the hassle outweighs the cost savings.  This isn't something that's going to wear out in a week.

I suppose giving the bottom of your stick an extra layer or three of tape would work too, at least for a little while.  So while I think this is a good thing to have and an excellent value, there are certainly ways to do more or less the same thing for less money.

The people who created the Wrap Around have continually improved it (as seen in the above video), and their latest version is called the Wrap Around Ice.  Instead of metal, it's made of a durable plastic.  It weighs about half as much as the metal versions.



I haven't tried the Wrap Around Ice yet, because my original metal one still has plenty of life left in it, and I'm not one to rush right out to get the latest toys.

As usual, I'll put a link here to Amazon.  The price at the time I posted this is $31.00, with free shipping if you have Prime.  You can find it cheaper online at other websites, but you might have to add shipping to the cost.

If you like to practice or play outside, especially with the same stick you use on the ice, then I think the Wrap Around is a solid investment.

One last thing, if you're eyeing those stickhandling aids that were shown in the video, I'll be posting DIY versions of most of them in the near future.

Do you have the Wrap Around?  What do you think of it?  I'm especially interested to hear your experiences with the Wrap Around Ice.  Leave a comment, and thanks for reading.

Taping Your Hockey Stick

If you go to YouTube and do a search, you'll find tons of videos showing how people tape their hockey sticks.  There is no right way, there is no wrong way, there's just the way that you prefer.

I saw a video of a pro player who gets teased by his teammates because he doesn't really tape his stick at all.  He likes the textured grip that comes standard on his stick, so he just takes about an eight inch piece of tape and randomly wraps it around the handle.  Mostly so he can tell his teammates that he taped his stick.

Here are two videos that I like showing one way to do it.  Maybe as I become more experienced I will change how I do it, but as a beginner, this works for now.



As for the color of the tape, that's another personal preference thing.  Some say that using white tape lets the goalie pick up the puck off your stick easier when you shoot, but goalies say that they're too focused on tracking the puck to notice the color of the tape.

I use white tape, because that's what I bought when I got my stick.  My granddaughter uses pink, except for a single strip of white that we put near the heel of her blade as a reminder to keep the puck there while stickhandling.

No need to overthink this.

Why "DIY Hockey"?

I started learning hockey as an absolute beginner.  Everyone does, but at 57 years old, being an "absolute beginner" seems a bit more daunting.  Maybe it's because I know just how far I have to progress just to get from hopeless to just plain lousy.

This blog is here to track my progress and collect stuff I've found all over the internet into one useful  place.  Except for personal experiences and opinions, everything here is from other, better, more experienced hockey people.   For beginners of any age, maybe you'll find some answers here, or at least get pointed to other places to get answers.

The "DIY" part is about making progress on your own.  I'm not worried about the skating part, for that you need ice time.  But I can practice stick handling at home, I can work on skills and do drills to improve my balance and agility.  I can focus on certain things to get stronger in ways that will help my game improve, without needing to be on skates.  You can too.

As far as practicing at home, I don't consider that work, although I am working at my game.  This stuff is fun, and the better you are at it, the more fun it is.

Finally, if you've looked online at the training aids that are out there, well, they're expensive.  I'm sure they're worth it, but I'm also sure that more than a few can be improvised at home for a lot less money.  So the "DIY" will also mean putting together my own training aids that will work as well as the ones online.