Monthly Archives: July 2014
Hockey Drill – Pass and shoot
Hockey Drill Series – Volume 1: Drill #1
Give a pass, take a pass and shoot:
This one is pretty basic as hockey drills go but it’s one that almost anyone with a synthetic ice surface can work on. You don’t necessarily even need a second person, which I’ll explain in a minute.
So what you are working on in this drill is a combination of your passing and receiving a pass skills, plus shooting. There are several objectives with this hockey drill. The first is to work on the accuracy and timing of giving a pass. You want to get the puck right on the tape of the other player in the drill and ideally they are providing a pass to you with the same objective in mind. If you find that your passes are not very accurate then you can work on that by slowing it down a notch and making sure that you follow through on your pass by pointing at the intended target – which is the other stick.
Before you worry about part two of this “hockey drill”, make sure you are first really comfortable and accurate on making and receiving a pass. Once you have that mastered you can move on to the second part of the drill which is receiving a pass and then shooting the puck at a net or target.
So you make a pass and then receive a pass back, and then shoot. Again, keep it simple to start with. Start out with a wrist shot at your target. Pick various targets, upper right, upper left of the net and so on until you are consistently hitting your target. Call out your target before you shoot and try to mentally keep track of your success.
If you are young and just starting out, don’t worry about using a puck just yet, Use a tennis or hockey ball and work your way up to a puck.
If you are practising by yourself and wish to work on this hockey drill you still can! There is a product out there called Perfect Passer and you can buy it online. These triangular metal frames use a rubber band to send the puck back to you for passes and one-timers. They work quite well and are designed to be used with pucks.
Again, this is a basic hockey drill you can do with skates on using your home synthetic ice surface. Master this drill and you will be on your way to filling the net at will.
Check out part 2 of passing hockey drills.
Until next time.
SmartRink Synthetic Ice Rink Hockey Drills
Synthetic ice sheets
Synthetic ice sheet options are many
Synthetic ice sheets
Synthetic ice sheets come in all shapes, size and in a variety of different materials. Every seller of synthetic ice sheets has their particular thought around why theirs is better or faster or cheaper or what have you. To the average consumer it can be just super confusing. There are now dozens of companies selling into the market, and some are fly by night operations and some make it their full time business. How is a consumer supposed to navigate through all the synthetic ice sheet options?
Set a realistic synthetic ice sheet budget
Most people honestly just don’t have any clue what to expect when they are looking for pricing. And then when they get it they often think “it’s too expensive”. Well you aren’t buying tupperware here folks. Synthetic ice sheets can become a significant investment and good products cost some money. I wouldn’t say any company is out there making a killing on their product margins – there is just too much competition – and we all keep each other pretty honest – or simply we lose sales. For a home based skills practice surface you should expect to invest between $1,000 and $5,000 on average. Now this is going to depend of course on the size of the surface and the type of material. Comparing what synthetic ice product is best for you all depends on what you need the product for.
What is the best synthetic ice sheet material?
Everyone thinks their particular brand is the best. The mis-information that is out there in this industry should almost be a crime! The industry players don’t even understand their own material, and yet they are selling it! Your best protection as a consumer or buyer is to ask lots of questions and stick with the companies that can provide good solid answers. When it comes to synthetic ice sheet material – do your homework, because the differences are vast. Always, Always, Always, higher priced material is better material!! Ignore the industry idiots that claim they have the best skating material for less money. If that were true then they truly are dumb. That’s like saying ‘I sell Porsche’s for the same price as Chevrolet’s”. It just doesn’t happen. Ignore those companies…scratch them off your list of legitimate synthetic ice sheet suppliers.
So what synthetic ice sheet should I buy?
Do you buy a car without driving it first? Do you buy a pair of skates without trying them on? Well SmartRink continues to be THE ONLY company in the world – as far as we know – that offers a FREE TRIAL of our synthetic ice. You pay the shipping, we send product. You like, you buy. You don’t like. you send it back. Simple, simple, simple. To date we have actually taken back 3 trials. People try it and for whatever reason they didn’t keep it. Could be a case of buyer remorse, or second “sober” thoughts, or “the boss” thought it was too much money, or it took up too much space in the apartment, or my two year old couldn’t really skate on it….anyway – we take it back. So there you have it. We have sent out literally hundreds of FREE TRIALS and 3 came back. So the smart money goes to the smart consumer who reduces their risk by taking advantage of a FREE TRIAL of SmartRink synthetic ice sheets. Even if you don’t want to work with SmartRink, at least challenge the other suppliers to offer a free trial as well. Read about our synthetic ice research to help you with your decision.