Shelfing It
To me, there's no prettier shot in hockey than the one that finds the upper corner. Be it on a slap shot, snap shot, or wrist shot, it's something I love to see. I especially like it when the puck hits iron on the way there. I don't know why.
I never played organized hockey, just pickup games and stuff with my buddies. I'll never forget the time I was skating around at a playground near my house when I was in my late teens or early 20s. I had the rink to myself, and it was a perfect, starry winter night - the kind that makes you want to stay on the ice forever. I was practicing shooting slap shots, aiming for the upper corner. I never really learned to shoot a slap shot properly. I had trouble raising the puck, and I wanted so badly to be able to raise it. I must have done 100 reps, flying down the right wing in my Paul Coffey jersey and firing slap shot after slap shot at the net, trying to hit the upper corner. I wanted to hit the upper corner on a slap shot more than anything. Each time, the puck skittered across the ice like a flightless bird. On about the 103rd attempt, I wound up and the planets aligned. I unleashed what felt like a cannon of a slap shot, and then hit a bump in the ice and went airborne. As I went down, though, I watched in amazement as the puck miraculously took flight and rocketed toward the upper corner. I kept my eye on the flight of the puck as I hit the ice, and heard the loud metallic PING! as the puck found the upper corner. I had done it. In my mind, I had just scored the Game 7 overtime goal to win the Stanley Cup. I lay there on the ice for several minutes just enjoying the moment. Part of me wishes that someone else had been there to share it with me, but another part of me is glad I had it all to myself. I'm sure that slap shot wouldn't have looked nearly so impressive to anyone else as it did to me. I still don't know what I did differently that time, and it was a feat I was never able to duplicate. I haven't put on a pair of hockey skates for about 15 years now. I miss it.
One of the things the Edmonton Oilers did when they were an unstoppable offensive force in the 80s was to reintroduce the upper part of the net. To that point, the prevailing wisdom was that shooting the puck low was better because the goalies had trouble moving their leg pads around quickly and there were more holes down low as a result. Of course, this theory was formulated when most goalies stayed on their skates to make a save, before the advent of the Butterfly Technique. In the 80s, goalies were starting to flop around, and the Oilers were scoring goals in bunches, in large part by shooting high. Goalies had evolved, and the Oilers evolved along with them and redefined shooting strategy.
Now, we've almost gone too far the other way. I watched a lot of the Minnesota Boys' High School Hockey Tournament last weekend, and I lost count of the number of times I saw players aim high, more often than not shooting the puck right into the goalie's chest for an easy save. It was especially troubling to see defensemen shoot that way from the point on Power Plays. Why not shoot the puck low from there so it's easier to deflect it? I guess I'm not the only one who's in love with that shot into the upper corner.
Cheers!
I never played organized hockey, just pickup games and stuff with my buddies. I'll never forget the time I was skating around at a playground near my house when I was in my late teens or early 20s. I had the rink to myself, and it was a perfect, starry winter night - the kind that makes you want to stay on the ice forever. I was practicing shooting slap shots, aiming for the upper corner. I never really learned to shoot a slap shot properly. I had trouble raising the puck, and I wanted so badly to be able to raise it. I must have done 100 reps, flying down the right wing in my Paul Coffey jersey and firing slap shot after slap shot at the net, trying to hit the upper corner. I wanted to hit the upper corner on a slap shot more than anything. Each time, the puck skittered across the ice like a flightless bird. On about the 103rd attempt, I wound up and the planets aligned. I unleashed what felt like a cannon of a slap shot, and then hit a bump in the ice and went airborne. As I went down, though, I watched in amazement as the puck miraculously took flight and rocketed toward the upper corner. I kept my eye on the flight of the puck as I hit the ice, and heard the loud metallic PING! as the puck found the upper corner. I had done it. In my mind, I had just scored the Game 7 overtime goal to win the Stanley Cup. I lay there on the ice for several minutes just enjoying the moment. Part of me wishes that someone else had been there to share it with me, but another part of me is glad I had it all to myself. I'm sure that slap shot wouldn't have looked nearly so impressive to anyone else as it did to me. I still don't know what I did differently that time, and it was a feat I was never able to duplicate. I haven't put on a pair of hockey skates for about 15 years now. I miss it.
One of the things the Edmonton Oilers did when they were an unstoppable offensive force in the 80s was to reintroduce the upper part of the net. To that point, the prevailing wisdom was that shooting the puck low was better because the goalies had trouble moving their leg pads around quickly and there were more holes down low as a result. Of course, this theory was formulated when most goalies stayed on their skates to make a save, before the advent of the Butterfly Technique. In the 80s, goalies were starting to flop around, and the Oilers were scoring goals in bunches, in large part by shooting high. Goalies had evolved, and the Oilers evolved along with them and redefined shooting strategy.
Now, we've almost gone too far the other way. I watched a lot of the Minnesota Boys' High School Hockey Tournament last weekend, and I lost count of the number of times I saw players aim high, more often than not shooting the puck right into the goalie's chest for an easy save. It was especially troubling to see defensemen shoot that way from the point on Power Plays. Why not shoot the puck low from there so it's easier to deflect it? I guess I'm not the only one who's in love with that shot into the upper corner.
Cheers!
posted by Dave at 7:32 AM
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