12 Defensive Tips

Defense and goaltending typically wins championships. It’s interesting how year after year the Stanley Cup–winning team typically has the fewest goals against. Great defensemen are great at getting the puck and starting the offense going the other way. Here’s how to keep it going.

1. Move your feet. Great forwards are great at battling and managing the puck. I tell the defensemen that I train that if you are not moving your feet, then you are doing something wrong. This is not to say you should have happy feet, but when you get the puck you need to move your feet. When you are shooting the puck, you need to move laterally. Lastly and most importantly, you have to move your feet to get great gap control.


2. Communicate. If you are not communicating on the ice with your D partner and goalie, then you are doing something wrong. I am talking about being a second set of eyes for your partner and navigating for them vocally—loud and clear right on the ice.


3. Master shooting the puck 13–15 inches off the ice. Both forwards and defensemen should work on shooting 13–15 inches off the ice, which is the hardest slot for goalies to see and the hardest shot to block. Most goalies will butterfly and the puck will go over the pads. It’s easiest for goalies to block shots on the ice or top shelf. I used to practice this shot myself for hours a day. Stack a couple of pads in your goal to force yourself to aim in that very difficult area for goalies to block—again, 13–15 inches off the ice.


4. Control the gap. Gap control starts after the breakout pass; defensemen should race up as fast as they can to support the forwards. Don’t ever think your job is done after your breakout pass. Skate up for the back pass and be ready to jump into the play—but be ready to get right back. If a turnover happens, you have created great gap control for your 1-on-1. Remember, if you are not moving, you are doing something drastically wrong. The game is geared towards offensive defensemen. The days of the stay-at-home defensemen are gone.


5. Use a longer stick. With your skates on, you typically want the stick at your chin—but defensemen should try an inch or two longer for a better reach. Stick on puck sounds basic, but defensemen need to do it at all times. They need to strengthen their arms to hold the stick firmly with one hand. Their stick should be disturbing their opponent at all times. I used to carry those grippers in my car and I would practice my grip all the time. Reach and arm strength is everything.


6. Skate faster backwards than forwards. Bobby Orr. He was the one. He was the first player who could skate faster backwards than forwards. When I coach—whether it’s a Squirt team, prep school or my highest level select team—we start off practice with three laps around at full steam. Forwards go forward. Defense goes backward. We may have to wait for them, and we do, but that does not make them feel good day after day of watching the forwards wait. As a defensemen, you can never turn your back to your opponent. I ask kids, “Would you cross the highway with your eyes closed?” You need to face the traffic or opponent at all times. Always stay square, looking at them in the face, with your long stick disturbing their flow if they are carrying the puck.


7. Study your teammates. To this day, I can remember guys’ jersey numbers and which hand they shot with. The defensemen especially need to know their team as the game is fast and you need to know which side your winger/center is going to catch a pass. It will become part of your subconscious memory. You will know who you are passing to by looking at his or her number. As a defenseman, you need to know what kind of blade your D partner so you can pass to the correct side. (There is a song on the radio right now that makes me laugh every time I hear it: “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5. It makes me think of Jaromir Jagr not Mick Jagger. When I played for the Penguins, I had the luxury of breaking out the puck and passing it up to Jagr. He told me, “Jeff, don’t worry about getting me a good pass. You worry about getting the puck to me. Shoot it at my head, my chest—as long as you get me the puck. I can slap it out of the air, I can grab it. Just get the puck to me every time.”


8. Take TREMENDOUS pleasure in your breakout pass. A good breakout pass used to feel as good to me as scoring a goal. Defensemen start the play and a bad start can turn into a disaster in your end. A bad breakout pass will get you benched in the pros and sometimes even in college. “Remember, you have more time than you think, but not as much as you would like.” Take that extra second to sit the puck down and give a nice pass. If you throw a grenade to a teammate, then it will eventually blow up and end up in your net.


9. Don’t get beat. Even in practice, you should feel a little on edge—worried about getting beat and not doing your best on each and every drill. This is for the guys and gals who are taking the game seriously. I was always scared one of my teammates would beat me. You should all feel that way. If you want to raise your bar to the next level, this is really great advice. The players who are somewhat nervous in practice are focused and giving it their all, and guess what? They will produce in the game. I am not talking about only goals. Good breakouts from the D. Forwards winning battles. Every time I had a 1-on-1 battle I treated it like life or death.


10. Fake a shot first. Almost every single time I took a shot, I would do a fake shot first. This is a beauty at younger levels, but it works during prep school, college and—believe it or not—the pros.


11. Defensemen have no time for crossovers. I was an old dog that had to be taught this new trick when I was playing. Now, I try to teach kids this early on now so they cannot fall into this trap. The game is too fast today. Defensemen need to hone pivoting not crossing over. This allows you to always stay square with your opponent. Watch Nicklas Lidström; he never crosses over, hence he very rarely gets beat.


12. Stay inside the dots. This is obvious but never forget it—stay inside the dots and force the forwards wide to the boards. Protect your house—your goal, your center ice. Those forwards ARE NOT WELCOME IN YOUR HOUSE. Get them out!

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Jeff Serowik, a former NHL player and founder/president of Pro Ambitions Hockey, for this story.

Education Reduces Stress for Parents and Athletes

Some parents unintentionally become a potent source of stress when they over-identify with their child’s sport performance. How might this happen? All parents identify with their children to some extent and want them to do well. Unfortunately, in some cases, the degree of identification becomes excessive, and the child becomes an extension of the parent’s ego. When this happens, parents begin to define their own self-worth in terms of their son or daughter’s successes or failures. The father who is a “frustrated jock” may seek to experience through his child the success he never knew as an athlete. The parent who was a star may be resentful and rejecting if the child does not attain a similar level of achievement. Some parents thus become “winners” or “losers” through their children, and the pressure placed on the children can be extreme. The child must succeed, or the parent’s self-image is threatened. When parental love and approval depend on how well the child performs, sports are bound to be stressful.



What can parents do to help combat performance anxiety? Parents are in an ideal position to help their young athletes develop healthy attitudes about achievement and an ability to tolerate setbacks when they occur. Research published in the Journal of Youth Development indicates that by educating parents, they can effectively reduce athletes’ competitive anxiety. Sport psychologists Frank Smoll and Ronald Smith are co-authors of the study.

“Over the last 20 years, there’s been a trend to teach coaches how to create a healthy psychological environment for young athletes. There’s also an important need to educate parents, so they can support and supplement what trained coaches are trying to do. Parents and coaches working together are a powerful combination.”

The University of Washington researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of coach and parent education in their study of 151 boys and girls playing in two different basketball leagues. The average age of the athletes was 11.6 years. Coaches in one league participated in a Mastery Approach to Coaching workshop developed by Smoll and Smith.

The workshop content emphasizes skill development, achieving personal and team success, giving maximum effort, and having fun. Parents participated in a companion Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports workshop that taught them how to apply mastery principles and how to reduce performance anxiety in their children. Coaches and parents in the second league (a control group) were not offered the workshops.

Preseason questionnaires showed little difference in the levels of performance anxiety among the boys and girls in the two leagues. However, by the end of the season, athletes playing for trained coaches and whose parents attended the workshop reported that their levels of stress, worry, and concentration disruption on the court had decreased. Players in the other league reported that their anxiety had increased over the course of the season.

“This combined approach helps both coaches and parents to create a mastery-oriented climate,” said Smoll. “We never ignore the importance of winning, because it’s an important objective in all sports. But we place winning in a healthy perspective. As a result, young athletes exposed to the mastery climate had less worries about their performance, and they were better able to concentrate while playing.”

“Fear of failure is an athlete’s worst enemy, and the sport situation can easily create this type of anxiety,” said Smith. “The encouraging thing is that educational programs for coaches and parents can give them the tools for decreasing pressure and increasing enjoyment. And an added bonus is that athletes who are not afraid of failure typically perform better. When coaches and parents are taught stress-reduction principles, they can be a winning combination for kids.”

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D., and Ronald E. Smith, Ph.D., for this article. Drs. Smoll and Smith are sport psychologists at the University of Washington and co-directors of the Youth Enrichment in Sports program. To see previews of their Mastery Approach to Coaching and Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports DVDs, visit www.y-e-sports.com.

Offsides from Mites to Midgets

It’s easy to go your whole life without really understanding what “offsides” means. After all, nobody can even decide if it’s one word, two words or hyphenated. (We’re modern, we like one word.) And it’s particularly hard to understand in youth hockey because there are three levels of offsides: none for Mites, immediate for Squirts and PeeWees, and tag-up for Bantams and Midgets. So what’s up with offsides?



Offsides Uncut

Let’s start with a quick definition. According to USA Hockey, “Off-sides occurs when players of an attacking team precede the puck into the attacking zone.” What that means is if you have the puck, you need to be the first to cross the blue line on the way to the net. No passing to players on the other side of the blue line. No parking players in front of the net and passing to them. Let’s see how offsides breaks down for the various levels of youth hockey.

8U: No Offsides

Since the 8 & Under Mites play cross-ice and half-ice games, they have no physical blue lines to work with. But that’s not really why they don’t have the rule. Joe Doyle, USA Hockey ADM Regional Manager, emphasizes “using early ice time more wisely” by focusing Mites on basic skills that will make them better players at ages 12, 14 and 16. “Let’s not worry too much about the ‘game’ for an 8- or 10-year-old looking exactly as it does for 20- or 24-year-old college and pro players,” he says. “If we focus on teaching young players individual skills, when their bodies are most receptive to learning them, and progress to ‘team concepts’ a little later in their development, we will give kids a better long term chance to play the game at higher levels. And the many skating, shooting, and playmaking skills kids learn from playing cross- or half-ice games will help the kids be better players long term.”

Parents should not worry that players are learning offsides “too late” as Squirts, says Doyle. “Offsides is a simple hockey concept that kids quickly learn when they transition from cross-ice or half-ice to full-ice games. The increased cognitive ability of a 9- or 10-year-old makes it much easier for coaches to teach offsides at that age in just a practice or two. And really, how difficult is to teach or coach offsides? Certainly not near as difficult to learn as the all-important skills of skating, shooting.”

Squirts & PeeWees: Immediate Offsides

Immediate offsides is what you’re accustomed to seeing in youth hockey—an attacking player is in the attack zone before the puck crosses the blue line, the whistle blows (you hope) and play stops immediately. (If you zone out as soon as we start to bring up “attack” and “zone,” think of it this way: Your little darling cannot pass from the middle or far end of the ice to a player conveniently waiting in front of your net to score. No, that is not an assist and a goal—it’s offsides.) A faceoff then occurs on the closest faceoff circle in the neutral zone. Watch an NHL or college game and you quickly realize that this is not how they do it.

In fact, according to The Fire: The Florida Mite Report explains, “For young hockey parents learning the rules, games on TV might not be a good example. Take offsides. Why can NHL players ‘tag up’ while the puck is over the line while in youth hockey it’s an automatic whistle? At least the blue line doesn’t move like the last defender in soccer!”

The Fire’s article goes on to explain the rationale for immediate offsides for Squirts and PeeWees: “The answer is that USA Hockey is trying to teach the concept of puck possession. Pros can throw the puck in if they want, but if you took that option away they would string together a few passes for a center ice regroup. Of course, this [all the offsides calls] can make younger player’s games difficult to watch.”

Tag-Up Offsides: Bantams & Midgets—New for 2011–2012

With all the excitement about the new body-checking rules, USA Hockey’s second major rule change for the 2011–2012 season generated little interest. But you can find one quick sentence in USA Hockey’s 2011–2013 Official Rules of Ice Hockey booklet: “Tag-up off-sides will be used at Bantam age level and above.”

What this means is that attacking players can be on the other side of the blue line when the puck crosses the line—they just can’t do anything. The players need to get out of their attack zone, ignoring the puck and other players, until a skate touches the blue line (tagging it, essentially). Then, they can dive back into the play. If any attacking players touch the puck before all offsides players tag-up, offsides is called and a faceoff occurs.

For more details on the offsides rule, see Rule 630 starting on page 75 of the USA Hockey 2011–2013 Official Rules of Ice Hockey booklet.

Editor's Note: Thank you to The Fire and Joe Doyle from USA Hockey for their assistance with this story.

The 24-Hour Rule

Do you want to improve the parent/coach communication on your hockey team? At the beginning of the season implement a "24-Hour Rule." This rule states that parents wait 24 hours after a game before talking to the coach, player or official.



It will give you the parents the perspective they need. Youth sports can be an emotional experience. For parents, it is important to separate their kid's sports development from game emotions. For this reason, many leagues and coaches have adopted the 24-Hour Rule which simply states that coaches will not discuss a game or situation until at least 24 hours after the fact. This important rule does two things: First, it moves the discussion away from the presence of the team. Second, it allows all parties to have time to put things in perspective.

Editor's Note: Thank you to Grow the Game for this tip.

Ladder Drills = Quicker Feet

Hockey is a unique sport that requires quick hands, quick feet and excellent hand-eye coordination—all at the same time. Dryland training for hockey needs to incorporate all these elements to be effective. An agility ladder is an excellent tool to help accomplish this task. Using an agility ladder is especially effective in developing footwork quickness, transitional movement and change of direction. These are all critical components to becoming a better hockey player.



Activities and drills for the agility ladder are limited by only your creativity. Most athletes, and certainly most trainers, are familiar with basic agility ladder use. This versatile tool should not be limited to basic use, however. Incorporating advanced hand-eye activity and upper body exercises helps make the ladder even more effective. Passing exercises, doing upper body movement while in the ladder and using the ladder as part of an obstacle course are examples of ways to make it a more effective—and fun—exercise.



I highly recommend getting an agility ladder and using it diligently. You will be amazed at how versatile it can be as an exercise, too. You will also be amazed at the results as your feet get quicker and you become a better hockey player!

Editor's Note: Along with working with HockeyOT.com, Mike Beckman is a physical therapist and founder of Valley Rehabilitation Services. He has been in practice since 1986. He has worked with athletes at all levels and sports in both rehab and performance training.

Mite Hockey = Fun!

If your child is playing hockey for the first time this season, you are probably interested in helping him or her have the best possible experience. Youth sports are a wonderful way for kids to get regular exercise and develop physical skills. Team sports also teach children how to get along with their teammates, how to take instructions from the coach and how to cope when things don’t go so well.



Why do kids play sports? Surveys conducted in the United States and Canada indicate that young athletes most often list their sport goals in the following order of importance:

• To have fun.


• To improve skills and learn new ones.


• To be with friends or make new ones.


• For thrills and excitement.


• To win.


• To become physically fit.

The findings clearly indicate that the primary goal of professional athletes and many adults—winning—is far less important to children. What really matters to kids is having fun! So, the key to gaining lifelong benefits from sports is to focus on participation and fun—not simply performance.

What about winning? Winning is fun when it happens, and it’s great when your child has good coordination and athletic talent. But it’s also wise to be realistic about the abilities and attention span of a typical hockey Mite. For example, it takes a certain amount of motor control and understanding for a youngster to skate and handle the stick. But realistically, while some kids will focus on what’s happening on the ice, you’ll see others “horsing around” or telling jokes. And that’s OK! It’s to be expected!

What’s important is the joy of the activity. By 9 or 10 years of age, a child usually gets more interested in playing hockey the right way. However, at any age, it’s not the parent’s job to push the child or live vicariously through him or her. The parent’s major role is to support the child and enjoy the moment.

How can you help to promote fun? Get excited about almost everything that happens. Find something to value and encourage in your child. Consistently reinforce indications of skill improvement, effort and good teamwork. Say, for example:

• “I love how you skate fast.”


• “Way to go! You showed a lot of effort and improvement.”


• “It’s great to hear you encouraging your teammates!”

At the same time, look for opportunities to reinforce good sportsmanship, and keep things in perspective. For example, if your child complains about losing a game, you might say, “I know it’s fun to win. But everybody eventually is going to lose. How do you think that team felt last week when your team won? (Although this should not happen to Mites in USA Hockey as nobody is technically keeping score…) The important thing is to play, have fun, and do your best. Did you have fun?” Hopefully, your child will say “yes,” and you’ll see evidence that he or she enjoys playing hockey.

What if your child isn’t having fun? It’s possible that your child isn’t developmentally ready to play hockey and follow the coach’s instructions. If that’s the case, you might consider an activity that’s a little easier or more suited to your child’s temperament and capabilities (such as soccer, gymnastics or swimming). There’s no need to rush a disinterested or poorly coordinated child into any sport. And let’s face it: Not every kid wants to grow up to be Sidney Crosby. The bottom line is to do what is best for your child—not what is most pleasing to you.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D., for this article. Dr. Smoll is a sport psychologist at the University of Washington and co-director of Youth Enrichment in Sports. To see previews of his Mastery Approach to Coaching and Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports DVDs, visit www.y-e-sports.com.

Keep Up the Training!

Strength and conditioning is critical to the success of hockey players at all levels. Athletes will spend time in the off-season increasing speed, power, strength, endurance and agility as well as rehabbing injuries. Considerable amounts of time and resources are spent in these endeavors.



Unfortunately, many players end up wasting these efforts during the season. After all the hard off-season work to get into peak shape, all they end up doing during the season is going to practice, doing some sprints and agility training, mixing in some plyometric exercises and playing games. With this routine, research shows that performance will begin to deteriorate after about four weeks. What good is all of the off-season work if you are going to let any gains decline by mid-season? It is important to make time for in-season strength and conditioning to at least maintain any gains from the off-season. Not only does this improve game performance, it also helps decrease the risk of injury.

Naturally, time is a factor when considering an in-season program. Research does suggest that a two-day per week off-ice training regimen can maintain performance. HockeyOT training—a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web—is an ideal way to develop in-season programs because it creates time-efficient workouts that target specific player needs. Regardless of what system the player or team uses, strength and conditioning should be a priority in-season.

Some key points for in-season training:

• Strength train at least two days per week for no longer than an hour per session


• Decrease volume of exercises in sets and reps vs. intensity


• Continue to target your weaknesses

In summary, in-season training is still a critical part of overall success in hockey. It can help decrease risk of injury, prevent performance deterioration and maintain strength and power gained in the off-season.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Mike Beckman for this story. Along with working with HockeyOT.com, Mike Beckman is a physical therapist and founder of Valley Rehabilitation Services. He has been in practice since 1986. He has worked with athletes at all levels and sports in both rehab and performance training.

 

Communicating Effectively with Young Athletes

Coaches give a great deal of time and energy to providing a worthwhile life experience for young athletes. To optimize coaching effectiveness, coaches must be aware of the importance of skillful communication in achieving their objectives.



Everything we do communicates something to others. Because of this, coaches should develop the habit of asking themselves (and, at times, their athletes) how their actions are being interpreted. This enables coaches to evaluate whether they are communicating what they intend to.

Coaches must constantly ask themselves what has been communicated to athletes and whether the communication was effective.

Effective communication is a two-way street.

• By keeping the lines of interaction open, coaches can be more aware of opportunities to have a positive impact on athletes.


• Fostering two-way communication does not mean that athletes are free to be disrespectful toward their coach.


• Rather, it invites athletes to express their views (both positive and negative) with the assurance that they will be heard by the coach.


• Furthermore, by presenting a model of an attentive listener, coaches can hope to improve the listening skills of their athletes.

Effective communication also requires that coaches view a team as a group of individuals and respond to these individuals accordingly. For example, a youngster who has low self-confidence may be crushed (or positively affected) by something that has no impact whatever on an athlete with high self-esteem. By improving sensitivity to the needs of athletes, coaches can be more successful. The ability to “read” athletes and respond to their individual needs is characteristic of high-quality coaches at all levels of sport.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Frank L. Smoll, Ph.D., and Ronald E. Smith, Ph.D., for this article. Drs. Smoll and Smith are sport psychologists at the University of Washington and co-directors of Youth Enrichment in Sports. To see previews of their Mastery Approach to Coaching and Mastery Approach to Parenting in Sports DVDs, visit www.y-e-sports.com.

Strength Train Safely

I train a lot of athletes in a team setting and have done fitness training with kids as young as 8 years old. Most of the kids I work with really enjoy a fun strength-training session with their teammates. Occasionally, I will have a player sit out of a training session because a parent told the child that he or she is too young to participate in the workout. Sometimes, the parent is basing this decision on misconceptions about strength training. Both the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association state that children can safely engage in strength training with the proper instruction and supervision.



According to the Mayo Clinic, children can start strength training as young as age 8—as long as the child is mature enough to follow directions and practice proper technique and form. An article authored by Chan et al. in Team Physician, estimates that 15 percent to 50 percent of all injuries sustained by youth while playing sports could be prevented if more emphasis was placed on developing fundamental fitness abilities prior to sports participation.

Strength training is defined as a specialized method of physical conditioning that involves the progressive use of a wide range of resistance loads designed to improve muscular fitness. Using this definition of strength training, probably the most appropriate resistance load for the younger athlete to start with is his or her own body weight. Examples of effective body weight exercises include the prisoner squat, front plank, and push-ups.

Prisoner Squat


Front Plank



Push Up


Once the younger athlete feels that body weight resistance training is manageable, free weight training can be included in the training program. When using free weights, the younger athlete should focus on doing the exercises correctly with lighter weights. When done correctly, strength training can help the younger athlete improve body awareness, control and balance. One of my favorite light resistance exercises to help athletes with body awareness is the 3D dumbell sequence. Once younger athletes decides to start strength training, it is important that they follow some type of plan that will ensure that they do each exercise safely and effectively with the appropriate amount of resistance and number of sets and repetitions.

At Hockeyot.com, we create age and skill-level customized workouts for athletes as young as 11 years old. To ensure safety, the workouts feature:

• Athletes begin each strength-training session with five minutes of light aerobic activity, such as jogging or jumping rope. This warms up the body and helps reduce the risk of injury.


• Many of the exercises take into account the three-dimensional nature of human movement.


• When working with external resistance such as dumbells, the weight is kept light so that the exercise technique is not sacrificed.


• Text and video descriptions are provided so each exercise can be performed correctly and safely.


• Easy stretching is performed at the end of each workout to help promote flexibility and decrease any muscle soreness related to the training.


• Rest periods are important between each exercise session.


• At Hockeyot.com, we recommend that younger athletes only do three or four workouts per week so there is no risk of overtraining.


• If you have any concerns about your child’s health or safety, you should check with your child's doctor before you begin any strength-training program.

Remember, strength training is more than just increasing muscular strength. Teaching youth about body awareness through strength training can have a significant impact on reducing injuries during sports participation and can help form the habit of regular exercise while encouraging the child on a lifetime path to better health and fitness.


Editor’s Note: Thank you to Dr. Chad Moreau for this story. Moreau has trained hockey players from youth players all the way up to NHL players and Olympic champions. He is well educated in the biomechanics of the sport, which makes his off-ice hockey training workouts specific to the game of hockey. Watch for his tips in this space and check out HockeyOT, a comprehensive, personalized dryland training program on the web.

Find Skates that Fit Like a Glove

Boots should fit like a glove—snug but comfortable—and should hug the feet firmly. Try this six-step fitting process:

1. Be fitted for skates only at specialty hockey shops. They are knowledgeable about skates and will help you find the skates to best meet your needs.


2. When being fitted for new boots, wear the same weight of sock you will wear when skating. A sock of a different weight can change the fit. Do not wear two pairs of socks as this “disconnects” your feet from the boots.


3. Before putting your feet into skates, unlace them most of the way. Trying to jam your foot into a boot that is three-quarters laced is an exercise in frustration—your feet just won’t go in and you’ll think the boots are too small.


4. When the skates are laced up, there should be a spread of 1.5 to 2 inches between the eyelets on the same row. If the laces are closer together than this, the boots are too wide for your feet and your ankles will cave inward when skating. If you heels slip or you can lift them the skates are too long.


5. Your toes should come up to the fronts of the boots but should not be pinched or curled up on one another.


6. Boots should fit snugly at the insteps and across the balls of the feet. If you can move your feet sideways within the boots, they are too wide. If you can lift your heels when you lean forward, the boots are too long.

Other skate-fitting tips include:

• Today’s skates tend to be extremely stiff and difficult to break in. High-level players who skate hard and wear them for hours at a time prefer stiff boots because they last longer. But youngsters, small adults, females and recreational skaters will have a hard time breaking them in. These skaters should consider a brand or model this is a bit less stiff.


• Another option is to buy secondhand skates that are in good condition. It’s better to have good-quality used skates than poor-quality new skates. When choosing used skates, be sure the blades are in good condition and not sharpened down excessively. Many hockey shops carry used skates. Hockey associations often hold skate swaps, usually at the beginning of the hockey season.


• It’s fine to wear corrective orthotics in your skates—they will improve your balance and performance. But the size of the boots must accommodate the orthotics so bring them along when being fitted for new skates.


• Skate sizes usually differ from street shoe sizes and from one brand to another. Each manufacturer builds boots on a different mold, so one brand might fit well but others might not.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Laura Stamm of Laura Stamm Power Skating for this story.

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