- What's up guys, Coach Jeremy here.
Welcome to another Saturday skill session,
this time, actually posted on a Saturday.
In this episode, we're working on improving our shots.
We've worked on skating, worked on stickhandling.
Gotta work on that shot.
In previous videos, I've taught
the building blocks of a good shot.
So, I don't like to teach just the wrist shot
and just the snapshot and just the slapshot
because there's so many components
that go into taking a good shot.
So I like to teach the building blocks
and then you guys can use it in any situation
you find yourself on the ice and score more goals.
What I'd like to do is give you guys
a drill that's gonna help you isolate
a certain part of your shot.
So you can get power from weight transfer, from your legs,
from the torque of your body, from your upper body,
from your arms.
Lots of different ways you can generate power in your shot.
This drill has two main benefits that I'm going to explain
throughout the video, but obviously I want
to get to the drill right away, just like you guys.
So we're gonna do that
and we're gonna be shooting on the SportScreen.
The video is sponsored by The SportScreen.
I just did a review of it on my channel,
so if you want to check it out, I have it.
I just posted it a few days ago.
But once again, let's get to those drills
and I'll talk more about The SportScreen
at the very end of the video; let's go.
What we're gonna do in this drill is to isolate
the upper body to see how much power
we're getting from the arms and the upper body.
We're gonna do this by basically
removing the legs from the shot.
Now if I just tell you to not use your legs,
you're still naturally gonna do a little bit
of weight transfer and still push off
a little bit from the legs.
So how do we remove the legs from a shooting drill?
Well it's pretty simple; you just don't use them.
That's right, I want you to be kneeling
when you take your shots.
Now you're probably gonna think I'm a bit crazy
but try it out, because it's a really good way
to see how much power you're getting from this snap motion
by putting that top hand out and getting the top hand
ahead of the blade.
That's the best way to create really good power,
using the leverage of the hockey stick.
You gotta get that top hand out,
you gotta reach back on it,
and then drive with that bottom hand.
Obviously you're a lot closer to the ice,
so it's gonna create a weird angle on your stick blade,
but you can figure it out and still get
some pretty good shots.
So that's the main benefit,
seeing how much power you can get from your arms,
but there's a second benefit.
I'm gonna take some shots, and then we'll talk
about that second benefit.
(upbeat quirky music)
(child screaming)
Turn up, go!
(upbeat quirky music)
When you do this drill obviously you're gonna notice
that your power is not as good as it used to be,
and that's because you're not using your full body,
all the muscles and activating everything
with that good timing.
You're only using your upper body,
so you're gonna have decreased power, decreased accuracy,
but it shouldn't be really decreased.
If you notice that you have barely any power and accuracy,
well, chances are you're not activating your wrists
and your arms the right way.
What this drill does is it forces a really quick snap.
You need that quick snap to get the puck off the ice
or the ground, and if you're not getting decent shots
in this drill, that means that you're probably relying
too much on weight transfer and pulling the puck way back.
You can't pull that puck way back in this drill
because you just don't have the real estate.
You have to have it pretty much lined up
in front of your body, and then snap it really quickly.
So that's the main benefit, targeting and paying attention
to how you're getting power on your shot.
(upbeat quirky music)
The second benefit to this drill is getting the body
used to getting a decent shot off
when you're not in that perfect situation.
So obviously when we're training,
we're just in a good shooting stance,
and we're shooting more comfortable.
But this drill forces you to be uncomfortable.
When you go into this uncomfortable position
you're forcing your body to adapt and to figure things out,
and by doing that and being able to get a good shot off,
whether you're in a good, comfortable position
or in an uncomfortable position,
that's gonna give you better consistency on the ice
and improve your shot.
That's one way to isolate the upper body
but there are more ways.
If you find it really difficult to get those shots off
when you're on both knees, it's because you're pretty low
to the ground.
You can get yourself a little big higher
by just kneeling on one knee.
That also gives you a little bit more space
to get a shot in.
So if you can't do it on two, try it on one.
Once you get comfortable doing that,
then go down to two knees and see if you can
get the shot off there.
Another way to isolate the upper body
is to sit on something, so you can use a chair,
anything that gets you about the same position or height
that you normally would be when you're shooting is good.
I only had a crate of pucks handy.
It's a little bit too low for me,
but for kids that might be a really good height
to really focus on just using the upper body.
(upbeat quirky music)
If you're a younger player or you're a parent
and your kids are gonna try this drill,
you'll notice that the younger or the weaker
the player is, the harder it's gonna be,
and that's because it already takes them a lot of strength
and momentum and energy to build the puck up
onto the blade and get that shot off.
If they do this drill with a black puck
it's gonna be really difficult,
so I recommend trying these blue, lighter pucks
or even the orange, street hockey pucks,
just for this type of drill.
That way they have a chance to at least get the puck
off the ice or the shooting pad,
and they won't be discouraged
and not wanna keep on trying this type of drill.
Hope those tips will help you guys improve your shot.
Don't forget, I'm doing new training videos
every single Saturday to help you improve your game.
Big thanks to the sponsor of this video, The SportScreen.
The sponsors help me to continue to do what I do
and make hockey videos for you guys.
For shooting indoors or in the proximity
of anything of value, I always recommend
a tarp or a screen for two reasons.
One is that they give you this massive area
so if you miss high or wide, you're gonna hit the screen
and it's gonna protect anything behind it.
Second reason is because with a net,
if you hit a crossbar or a post, you get those deflections,
and those pucks can fly anywhere,
especially if you have players that have a good shot.
For the younger players, not that big of a deal,
except for their accuracy isn't that great,
but for the older players especially on a net,
those pucks can fly off.
If you wanna check 'em out, I'll put the link
in the video description.
Thanks a lot for watching the video.
Hit the subscribe button, and we'll see you next video.