Get Full Power From Your Wrist Shot!

Are You Getting All of the...

Power out of Your Wrist Shot?

Written by Jeremy Rupke from howtohockey.com

The wrist shot is the most commonly used shot in hockey, but you would be surprised how many players, young and old, are not harnessing all of their power and putting it into their wrist shot.

I know this for a fact because the topic came up in the dressing room at beer leagues. One of the guys asked me why my wrist shot was so much faster then his, and I was half his size. I gave him a few pointers, and many of the other guys were listening and added in their tips. A few days later I had a few players coming up to me and telling me how much of a difference they noticed by following my advice(and practicing of course). These guys are 30 years or older and all it took was a few pointers to help them get more power from their wrist shot.

I have added those pointers below to help you reach your full potential! Some are basic, the other tips are a bit more advanced, but I thought I would include everything.

• Pull the puck back
  
  
  
  • When taking a wrist shot, think of it like a sling shot. The further you can comfortably pull the puck back, the more time the puck spends on the blade of your stick, and the more time you have to transfer energy, and put power into your shot.
    
    
• Start with the puck near the heel
  
  
  
  • When you set the puck up on the blade of your stick it should be near the heel of your stick. The location varies depending on the shot, but no further than the middle of the blade. The puck will roll off of the blade of your stick, so starting with the puck close to the heel allows it to stay on the blade of your stick longer, and add more power to the shot.
    
    
• Flex the stick
  
  
  
  • A lot of the power actually comes from the shaft of your stick. When you lean into the shot, your are storing energy in the shaft of your stick (potential energy) When the shot is released, so is the energy, and a lot of that energy will be transferred into the shot, making your shot a lot more powerful.
    
    
• Weight Transfer
  
  
  
  • This goes hand in hand with flexing the stick. The more you lean into your shot, the more you are transferring weight, and the more power you will get from your shot. If you watch NHL players you will notice a lot of them lift their back leg when they shoot, this is because they are moving all of their weight into the direction of the shot.
    
    
• Use Your Legs
  
  
  
  • Your legs have the most powerful muscles in your body, if you do not use your legs when you shoot, you are missing out on a lot of energy that you could be putting into your shot! It may sound strange (a lot of players think that your wrist shot is all arms) but try it out, use your legs to push into the shot, you may be surprised. Also don't forget to rotate your shoulder and hips when you are shooting, this helps you put even more power into your shot.
    
    
• Follow Through
  
  
  
  • This is something most people learn as a youngster but I thought it was worth repeating. Don't stop pushing, push right through and continue into your follow through. In order to get full power from your wrist shot, you have to continue increasing the speed of your stick, this keeps the puck on the blade of your stick longer. Remember to point your stick where you want the puck to go.

One more tip for aiming

• I thought I would tack this on for extra measure. Many players look down, fire and hit the goalie right in the chest. I see it too many times...solution? Look where you are shooting, you will be surprised how often the puck will go where you are looking and you will score more goals!

Wrist Shot Video - I put this video together to help some of the younger players. Hope this helps!




The last tip is to workout, but I will explain workouts to help your wrist shot power in another article. If you want more articles, videos and tips you can visit my hockey tips website. If you are looking for some more wrist shot tips you can read my article How to take a wrist shot, and if you really want to increase your shot speed; feel free to subscribe to my posts via email as I will be posting some more articles soon with workouts and results of my research (I have been working with a radar gun)
Thanks for reading!

How to Aim Your Wristshot

Written by Jeremy Rupke from howtohockey.com

Are you having trouble picking those top corners? Do you want to score more goals, and have a more accurate and consistent wrist shot? Read the tips below to learn how to improve your wrist shot aim.

First it is important to know how to take a wrist shot I assume that you have a decent shot already and now you want to fine tune it and score more goals. In order to improve the aim of your wrist shot there are five things you can do

• Look where you shoot
• It is important to look where you are shooting. This seems obvious, but a lot of players look at their stick to make sure the puck is still there, then shoot the puck into the goalies chest.
• Looking not only helps your accuracy, but also helps you spot a good place to shoot. Look at the net and find an open spot to shoot and then shoot (but not until you follow all the other tips)
• Pull the puck back
• If you just flick the puck, it is only on the blade of your stick for a fraction of a second, this does not give you much time to aim the puck. Pull the puck back and continue to pull it, and then push it in the direction you want it to go.
• Pulling the puck back also helps you improve the power of your wrist shot
• Follow through
• The follow through is important for aiming high or low, and left to right.
• Follow through high to shoot, and follow through low to shoot low
• To aim the puck left or right simple point the toe of the blade where you want the puck to go. This is helpful as it also trains you to roll and flick your wrists during the shot

Jeremy has played hockey since he could walk and loves to teach. Jeremy has his own hockey tips website that is dedicated to making you a better hockey player! If you are looking for more ways to improve wrist shot accuracy and some great tips for hockey visit his blog. Don't forget to subscribe to the articles so you never miss another hockey tip!

Shooting Tips: Wrist Shot

One of the keys to a powerful, accurate wrist shot is to keep the blade of your stick in a straight path towards the target during the entire shot. The angle of your stick blade should also remain as flat to the target as possible.

It's a lot harder to control the direction of your shot when the puck is traveling in an arc-shaped path around your body. Changing the angle of your stick blade during your shot adds yet another factor that you have to compensate for. You golfers know exactly what I'm talking about.

Here's a great shooting tip I was given at my hockey skills class a few weeks ago.

When you bring the puck back behind you, move your front arm across your body, so both your stick and your front hand are behind you. With your stick now lined up with your stick blade, it allows you to tilt the blade of your stick over the puck and keep your stick blade perpendicular to the target.

Keep your stick in line with your blade throughout the shot as you transfer your weight to your front foot. Roll your wrists over to shoot and point your stick where you want the puck to go on the follow through. Shoot low for the rebound!!





Notice how her top hand is back across her body, and her stick stays in line with the stick blade throughout the shot.

If you keep your leading arm in front of you (like I was doing) you're forced to change the angle of your blade when you try to tilt your stick to cup the puck. With your arm out in front, you have to move it out of the way in order to keep the puck in a straight line towards then net as you follow through. Either that, or you push the puck in an arc-shaped path; first away from you, then towards at the end of your shot. No wonder I can't shoot straight!

Try This.

Line up 10 feet from the boards along the blue line and aim for the blue line paint up the boards. Keep the puck straight along the blue line for the entire shot. It may feel awkward when you first try to shoot this way, but the improvement in power and accuracy is almost immediate. I had to force myself to shoot this way in the pre-game warm ups for a few weeks before it came naturally. I still revert to my old method when I panic, which unfortunately, is a lot.

Try it, I hope it helps!


Here's a few more Shooting Tips

CBC Shooting TIPs
USA Hockey Shooting Tips
Whockey Shooting Tips
Dunedin Shooting Tips

Hockey Tips: Backhand Shot