Coach JeremyI know that a lot of people will want to keep their hockey skills sharp over the summer. Every spring after a month or so without playing hockey I start to get the itch to play. I love hockey, and I not only want to play, but I also want to keep my skills sharp. I recently found a great combination of training aids that help me train, and get a bit of the feeling of hockey!
I have been using the Shooting pad and Slideboard combo for a few months now and LOVE IT. Hockey Shot sent me the slideboard to review and I thought it was pretty good to work the muscles involved with skating, but just sliding back and forth was not enough for me. In an effort to get the most out of the slideboard I put it in front of my shooting pad and started sliding while stickhandling. This combo gives me the sensation of skating while stickhandling while working my leg muscles and my stickhandling muscles! Then I thought what about using the slideboard while shooting? This was also a lot of fun and is a great way to hone your weight transfer and shooting skills.
How the Slideboard / Shooting pad Combo helps
Using just the shooting pad is a good way to practice shooting and stickhandling, but in hockey you are always moving. Using a slideboard gets your body moving in a similar way that your body moves on the ice. This will help train your muscles while you are off the ice so that you can move better while on the ice.
This combo will help with the following:
- improve your stickhandling while moving
- Practice moves that require lateral movement (dekes)
- Bridge the gap between off ice practice, and on ice skills (more game like situation)
- Build your skating muscles
- Become a faster skater
- Good whole body workout while improving your stickhandling, skating and shooting muscles!
I am a huge skeptic when it comes to products so that is why I only really review and recommend products I believe in on How To Hockey. I have been using this combo for a while now and definitely think it will help players improve. I actually told Hockey shot about it and they added a page to their site where you can buy the shooting pad and slideboard together and you save $10 by buying them both at the same time! You can also use our coupon code in the right sidebar to save another $10 off your order
What if I already have a slideboard or Shooting Pad?
If you want to pick up any of the products mentioned and used in this article / video here are the links
- Powerslide Slideboard
- Roll up shooting pad
- See our Roll-up shooting pad review
- X-passer pass rebounder
- EZ goal hockey net
- Green Biscuit
