To improve skating performance we need to use drills based on the characteristics of fast players.

We have known the characteristics of fast skaters for 45 years. To improve skating performance we need to use drills based on objective information which has been proven to be the characteristics of fast players. We know the following about fast hockey players:

• They have wide strides.
• After they push-off, their skate recovers quickly to get under the shoulder to start the next push-off.
• Their arms follow Newton’s third law of physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, meaning the arms must move side-to-side, equal and opposite to leg movement.

Examples of these skating characteristics are the way Mathew Barzal and Connor McDavid skate. We need to do drills to get our players to skate like these fast elite players.

Stride width

Many skating and hockey coaches think that a wide stride is a characteristic of inefficient skating, which is incorrect. Watching Barzal and McDavid, it is obvious that two of the fastest players in the NHL have wide strides. The reason fast players have a wide stride is because after they push off, they need to get the recovery skate on the ice quickly to start the next push off.

They are fast also because they have a deep knee bend (approximately 90-100 degrees of flexion) and get a strong push off.

We want to do drills that will enhance stride width. The drills I use for stride width are having players skate over top of a line of pylons/cones. This forces them to skate with a wide stride (and quick recovery). I have used “cone skating” with youth, adolescent, and older elite players. We start the drill progression by getting players to skate straight over a long line of cones.

The drill progresses so that the players skate more like they do in a game where they stride and glide.

The drill progresses again to focus on “game-performance” skating so that the players skate over cones adding turns, backward skating, and puck handling.

The coaching cues to give to the players are:

1. Don’t touch the cones with your skates
2. Push to the side
3. Quick recovery to get on inside edge

Quick recovery after push off

To observe a player who executes a quick recovery we can watch Barzal from 7:16 to 7:30 in the following video:

Watch Barzal’s skates and observe the following:

1. Wide stride
2. His skates stay close to the ice after push off
3. His skates land under his shoulders and he turns his ankle in (pronation) to get on the inside edge to start the next push off
4. He pushes off, then quickly gets his skates back on the ice to start the next push off

A common occurrence of some hockey players is to have a narrow stride where the recovery skate returns under the mid-line of the body or the recovery skate “whips” around toward the other skate. Or, players are taught this recovery technique by skating coaches who think that a recovery under the mid-line of the body will provide a longer push-off and more speed. Even hockey organizations such as Hockey Canada teach coaches to teach this technique.

This long recovery has been shown to be a slower technique for hockey skating and not how fast players’ skate. It is slower because:

• A long recovery under the body extends the time to get on the inside edge to start the next push off.
• The skate cannot initiate a push when it is under the mid-line of the body.
• The skates can only push-off when they are under the shoulder and on the inside edge.

The Hockey Institute conducted a study comparing fast to slow University of Alberta female players. Two of the findings were the slow players had a long recovery as described above, and the fast players had a quick recovery.

The drills I use to train players to quickly get on the inside edge are “Inside Edge Skating” with a focus on landing on the inside edge:

1. Straight line skating over cones landing on the inside edge:

2. Inside edge skating with a pivot to skate backward:

3. Bungee cord over-speed skating. Watch the quickness of the skates of players being “pulled.” The coaching cues to give to the players are: 1) turn your ankles in, 2) fast feet, and 3) quick recovery.

Arm movement

The movement of the arms is one of the most misunderstood characteristics of skating, but it should not be.

An understanding of the third law of physics: ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’ will help understand arm movement. Since the legs are pushing to the side, the arms must move side-to-side.

Too many coaches and hockey organizations teach players to skate with their arms moving forward and backward, which is contrary to how elite players move their arms. Not only is it contrary to the way elite players skate, it is “against the law” (of physics), and we cannot “break the law” so we must teach players to skate with arms moving side-to-side.

It is easy to see how elite players move their arms by watching YouTube videos or looking at pictures of players.

One of the best ways to see and understand how elite players move their arms is to watch the NHL All-Star Fastest Skater Competition. This video from the 2020 Fastest Skater Competition shows eight players, all of whom are moving their arms side-to-side.

In my experience, many players from U13 and below have difficulty moving their arms smoothly side-to-side with the legs. Some older players can have slight decrements with their arm movement in that one arm may move side-to-side while the other arm will move forward-backward. However, most older players have well developed “muscle memory” so that their arms are moving efficiently and contributing to good biomechanical skating.

Proper arm movement is important for the following reasons:

• It helps with balance.
• It helps maintain momentum during high intensity skating.
• It’s essential for acceleration and speed.
• It contributes to smooth coordinated movements which enhances speed.

The drills I use to enhance arm movement with young players are called “arm skating”:

I have the players do it in three progressions with their skates flat on the ice so they focus on their arms:

1. Two hands on the stick, blade off the ice, then on the ice.
2. One hand on the stick, blade on the ice.
3. One hand on the stick, pushing a puck.

The coaching cues to give to the players are: 1) pump your arms fast and 2) bring your gloves in front of your logo.