This week, one of our skills session zones has been focusing on backward skating… and it’s amazing how many forwards are struggling with it.
But AP I’m a forward, bro! I wanna go north! I wanna cruise down the wing! I wanna be Connor McDavi… stop right there. Time-out. What happens when your D pinches and you’re the high guy? What happens when your team wants to play (god forbid) a defensive scheme; a 1-2-2 forecheck? Maybe a 2-3 offensive zone strategy and you’re the ‘3’?
The point of this little schpeel is that everyone – regardless of position – should focus on backward skating development. Backward skating is so much more than just speed in a straight line, too – it’s transitioning. It’s being able to pivot and catch. It’s being able to go from a stationary position to matching an attackers speed in a hurry. It’s being able to change speeds depending on what’s going on in front of you. It’s being able to use and interchange C-cuts and crossovers.
From personal experience – I wish I had have practiced what I preach. I was a forward, and never took backward skating seriously. Why did I need to? I was skating forwards 99% of the time in U11, 13, 15 and 18. But then I got to junior hockey, playing for the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the now CCHL. We were playing in Cornwall, Ontario vs the Cornwall Colts back in October, 2002 at the old SI Miller Arena (click here for photograph of this house of horrors for any road team). We were playing a 1-3 penalty kill forecheck, and I was one of the 3 guys who had to skate backwards. A speedy forward by the name of Andrew Schembri (who – according to hockeydb – is still playing hockey in Germany) decided to attack me. Schembri picked up the puck in his own zone (PP breakout went through him) and took me on 1v1. I crossed over, he broke my ankles, walked in and buried. As I sat on the bench for a large portion of the second half of that game, I would have been better off if I had have focused more on backward skating when I was younger.
The example above might not apply to every player – but no matter the level you’re lacing up the boots at, there’s an application to skating backwards. What’s wrong with being more versatile in a tryout this fall? How easy does a player stand out (for the wrong reasons) in tryouts if he/she is skating backwards but looks completely uncomfortable doing it?
How do I become a better backward skater?
*** Work on your balance. If you transition from forward to backward and you hinge too much at the hip, your weight will be in your toes, and you won’t be able to cross over with any power. All comes back to balance.
*** Own your edges. Backward crossovers are an outside-leg, inside edge c-cut followed by an outside-edge of the underneath foot ‘flip’. Here’s a video. I look…thicker.. on camera. It’s all the jackets underneath. Yes.
*** Hit the gym. Become more explosive. Develop your core (stabilizer) muscles. It’s hard to develop balance with an under-developed core and lower half. Click here for a gym solution
A stroll down memory lane – right about where the “SN” writing is where Schembri put my jock strap up in the rafters. This photo doesn’t do the rink justice – it’s a matchbox. A good scoring chance was just outside the blue line.
Until Next Time,
AP