when thinking about how hockey players come from all parts of the country,
don't forget that the explosion of in-line roller hockey has already played
a major role in the development of players from non-traditional hockey
areas, as well as the hockey-rich environments.
critics will point out that in-line roller hockey doesn't help player
development when it comes to ice hockey as the skating and puck (or ball)
handling techniques are too different.
yet there are two areas where the in-line game has a major impact on player
development, and in many cases can greatly outweigh any negatives.
the biggest one is awareness. Many of the younger NHL and AHL players have
been very vocal over the last 5 years in saying that in-line roller hockey
has greatly helped their understanding and vision of the rest of the ice
surface, in understanding where their teammates are as well as the opposing
team. And if there's one thing that people say has given Gretzky such great
success, it's been his vision. Even street hockey can help you out there.
secondly is fitness and with it, skating power. During my offseasons as an
ice speedskater, I spent many summer months with quite a few high school
and college players coaching them on speed and power skating technique, all
on inlines. While many of these players never really had problems getting
ice time, it's been shown that a strong workout outdoors on inline skates
had more of an effect on overall fitness and skating power than a similar
workout on the ice. I used to take a lot of these players on 60 minute
(plus 15 warmup and 15 cooldown) skates where we'd cover 15-20 miles. The
first time out they'd all groan and complain, the second time settle down
and by the third time out it was fairly unanimous that it was more
effective than a 60 minute skating workout on the ice.
one other small bonus is that in-line skates also did well to aid in the
technique of power skating for hockey. Being able to dig an edge into the
ice makes pushing off, changing direction or speeding into the corner after
a puck much easier than doing the same with wheels on asphalt or concrete.
The disadvantage is that because of this many players don't learn how to
properly use their muscles, how to properly roll the blade from the outside
to inside -- in short, how to get the most efficiency and power out of
every push. Additionally a lot of younger players toe their ice skates out
so much they spend half their energy making twice as many strokes as more
accomplished skaters. Again, that comes from the fact on ice the toe can
dig in, even harder to do with in-lines on a paved surface.
the above may sound like relatively minor things but I can guarantee you
it's one of the biggest reasons that college and junior players are now
able to come out of places like California, Texas and Florida.
Just think, if you take a player with fully-developed awareness, fitness
and speed, he can still be a dominant force even if his stickhandling and
shooting are weak points. A lot of coaches have started to take advantage
of the kind of player that what many see as being a future force in hockey
-- the guy that can play 30 minutes a game, can stay out for 5 minutes of
penalty killing at a time, that always wins the race to the neutral puck,
that sees how the opponent sets up the power play (and reacts), and that
has killer speed on the transition.
greenie
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