"Shooting in Stride" is a great goal scoring skill to learn. NHLer Joe Sakic has perfected it. Guaranteed, learning to "shoot in stride" will increase the number of goals you score each year. "Shooting in Stride" is a scoring skill that can be developed at a young age and which can be perfected as a player develops more strength, power and quickness in releasing the shot. As a young 10 year old hockey player growing up in Saskatchewan, one of the famous quotes that I heard on Saturday nights "Hockey Night in Canada" was spoken by the great Alex Delvecchio, Captain of the Stanley Cup winning Detroit Red Wings and career 456 NHL goal scorer. I clearly remember Mr. Delvecchio say "it is not how hard you shoot the puck, but where and how quick you shoot the puck". I liked what Mr. Delvecchio said because I was a small player and did not shoot the puck very hard (at the time I heard this I actually had trouble raising the puck let alone shooting it hard). Yet the "NHL Scoring Tip" stuck with me and gave me hope and determination that "quickness and deception" in shooting could make up for the lack of power in my shooting at the time. Understanding "why" this skill works is the first step. "Shooting in Stride" is effective because: the shot catches the goalie "unprepared" to make the save/stop. the shot catches the goalie "off balance" to make the save/stop. Normally there are a few ways to score on the goalie: power, deception or surprise. "Shooting in Stride" is more deception and surprise than it is power. Following are key points in developing the "shooting in stride" goal scoring skill: Choice of the lie of your hockey stick. Choice of the tape color for you hockey stick. Keeping the puck in a shooting "sweet spot". ("teeing up the shot" is avoided) Having a quick release that surprises or tricks the goalie. ("telegraphing the shot" is avoided) Shooting/releasing the shot while the legs are moving, with no break in the skating stride. Shooting "back against the flow" and catching the goalie off balanced HOCKEY STICK LIE: Mark Howe made a major contribution to my becoming a dangerous NHL Goal Scorer. A "high" lie, such as a 6 or 7 lie, greatly assists in the ability to "shoot in stride" effectively. In my rookie camp with the Houston Aeros in 1976, Mark noticed that the puck was sliding off the heal of my stick. He suggested that I test one of his sticks. It was a much "higher lie" than what I was using. Not only did it improve my puck command, it really allowed me to release the shot quickly. Thanks Mark! A "high lie" stick has the puck closer to your skates and in your "shooting power zone". Thus, instead of having to pull the puck a long way into the "shooting power zone", which takes time and which "telegraphs" to the goalie that the shot is coming, I was able to release the shot without "telegraphing" my shot and signalling the goalie that the shot was coming. HOCKEY STICK BLADE TAPE: In my career I tested out black, white and also no tape at all. I found the most effective was to use black hockey tape on the blade. There are different opinions on this, yet I found that the black tape hid the puck from the goalie's sight better. Black tape worked better for surprising the goalie with the shot and for disguising the release of the shot. KEEPING THE PUCK IN A "SHOOTING SWEET SPOT" In my goal scoring camps, this is a detail that we work very hard to accomplish. I believe that players stickhandle the puck too much (called "dusting the puck") and that this interferes with their skating and also releasing the puck in stride. Also, if you stickhandle the puck just before you shoot, you have basically "telegraphed" to the goalie that you are going to shoot and he gets set/ready for the shot. The player loses the element of surprise. I work with the players to keep the puck in the "shooting sweet spot", mostly on their stronger forehand side. This allows the player to shoot the puck in stride at any moment and off either leg. (instead of "teeing" the puck up and signalling the shot to the goalie) QUICK RELEASE: The quick release, instead of taking a long time to pull and shoot the puck, is a must for shooting in stride. Even if a player uses a low lie hockey stick, he can still develop the skill of shooting the puck from where it is instead of "telegraphing" the shot by pulling the puck and then shooting. LEGS CONTINUE MOVING: So important. For years I practiced being able to shoot off either leg and while I was skating. The idea was to have no interruption in my skating stride as I shot. Not only does this make for more deception and surprise, it also allows for the player to skate to many rebounds before the DMan or goalie get to them. NOTE: The key to this is to not stop stickhandling the puck, but to keep the puck in the "shooting sweet spot" so that you can release the shot with the legs moving. Wayne Gretzky really did not stickhandle the puck that much, he mostly "guided" it and kept it in the "shooting sweet spot". He really only stickhandled when he needed to get past a DMan or goalie with a fake or deke. SHOOTING "BACK AGAINST THE FLOW: This skill was one of the main reason's that I scored more than 300 goals in professional hockey. It works better for left-handed shooters against left handed catching goalies, such as Patrick Roy and for right-handed shooters against right handed catching goalies, such as Grant Fuhr. For me, being left-handed, it is the ability to skate/move/flow to my right, pull the puck slightly to my right and into the "shooting sweet spot" and then fire the puck quickly back (to the left) in the direction of the goalie's low blocker side. The key was to be able to release the shot just at the moment that the goalie was pushing off his right leg to move himself across the crease. The goalie was adjusting to my cross ice attack, which I beieve is more effective than a direct attack on the goalie. By changing my angle of attack, by moving slightly to the right, I forced the goalie to move and to temporarily be off balance with the majority of his weight and balance on his right leg. When I shot back at the goalie's low blocker side, the goalie would have to transfer his weight to his left foot and then back again to the right leg so that he could attempt a "kick leg save" on my shot. Many times my shot, if slightly inside the goal post and had beaten the goalie before he was able to transfer his balance/weight and attempt the "kick leg save". The skill is called "shooting back against the flow" and was one of the main reasons that I played in the NHL. With this awareness and knowledge, good coaching/mentoring and lots of practice, you can become a great "shooting in stride" goal scorer, perhaps someday as good as Joe Sakic, one of the best ever.