Hockey Basics

Children are much more prone to dehydration than adults because their bodies don’t cool down as efficiently. Taking a few simple precautions will protect your child and allow them to enjoy the fun safely.

It takes more than a full day to hydrate, so since we have clinics on Saturdays – make sure they’re getting enough fluids on Friday. That means lots of fruits, vegetables and healthy protein, and of course, six to eight glasses of water.

On clinic day, start out with a healthy breakfast. Some ideas are cereal and fruit or oatmeal and fruit. Just remember, don’t give your child too much fiber. While fiber does have water in it, it breaks down slowly and can cause bloating. Also make sure to have a low-fat protein such as eggs or turkey sausage. A glass of milk will be fine, but water or juice is much better for clinic days. They are easier on the stomach. Too much juice can cause bloating and cramping, so if your child wants more than one glass of juice-dilute it with water.

Additionally, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking the equivalent of a standard bottle of water (16.9 oz.) about 2 hours before vigorous exercise.

Did you know there are two types of fluid loss?
One type of fluid loss is “sensible” fluid loss. That is losing fluids through sweat and urine. A second type of fluid loss is “insensible” fluid loss, which is losing fluids through breathing. The water gets broken down into CO2, and you breathe it out, so during exercise your lungs blow out a lot of fluid you don’t see. Parents will say their kids aren’t sweating a lot and they haven’t had to use the bathroom, so they aren’t losing any fluids. Not true. They are actually losing a tremendous amount of fluids.

It is recommended that kids stop for a hydration break every 15 – 20 minutes. We have instituted mandatory water breaks and the kids I think are doing a good job of keeping on top of the water situation. But please remind them to drink water even if they do not feel thirsty.

After we have clinic, we offer the kids a sports drink (Gatorade). Studies have shown that after 60 – 90 minutes of activity the body has probably used up its readily available sources of energy and many benefit from a fluid that contains carbohydrates.

At anytime during a clinic, if a parent is concerned that their child is becoming dehydrated, they should contact a volunteer, staff, or coach and as that their child be moved to the shade and get some fluids.

Generally, when selecting a stick, you want your dominant hand on top of your stick. If you’ve seen anyone take a slap shot, you’d see that most of the power from the fastest hockey shot is delivered by the hand lower on the stick. So, you’d think that your dominant hand is stronger and should be the one to deliver the shot.

However, your dominant hand is much more likely to be more capable of handling the fine movement needed to anchor and stabilize your stick.

Broom Test

Sure, we know not many kids know how to sweep using a broom, but let’s pretend they still do. Grab a broom (not a push broom) and start sweeping without thinking about it. The hand on top of the broom is most likely your dominant hand and the one that should be at the top of your stick. If you look at the image below, Doan’s dominant hand is his left and Yandle’s is his right.

Shoot Right Or Left

Once you know your dominant hand and have grabbed a stick to mess around with, don’t be afraid to switch if the stick continues to feel weird. It’s not an exact science.

How Long A Stick?

Stock sticks off the rack are classified as youth (ages 4-8), junior (ages 7-12), intermediate (ages 10-15) and senior (ages 14 and up). Other than length, the flex of each class of stick will differ so it’s good to stick with your age range.

It’s good to have someone help you with determining the correct length for your stick. Stand straight without your skates, have them hold the stick vertically in front of you against your chest with the toe (the bottom tip of the stick blade) between your feet. The butt end of the stick should come to the tip of your nose. If you’re wearing skates, measure to your bottom lip.

As you progress in skill, you’ll want a longer than normal stick if you end up being a defenseman, maybe a shorter one if you’re a crazy good stickhandler.

Curve, Flex

There’s plenty more parts of the stick puzzle we won’t go into here. As you get better and understand what you want your stick to do, you can look at using different curves to make a BIG difference in your shooting. The amount of flex built into the stick will have a big effect on the power you can deliver. Sticks can be bought with more or less “grip” built into the texture of the shaft and even WHERE the stick will flex can be customized.

For now, just grab a stick that’s pretty close and have some fun.