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Hockey Weekly, Hockey Skating Symposium is a Success
Hockey Skating Symposium is a success
June 1, 2005 - Hockey Weekly
Some of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of skating for hockey were on hand at the International Hockey Skating Symposium 2005, which was held at the Novi Sheraton, May 20-22.
“It was fantastic. It went really well,” said host and co-sponsor Sean Skinner.
It featured some of the top names in power skating, coaching, skills training, conditioning and exercise physiology.
Among them were speed-training guru Robbie Glantz, NHL strength coaches Peter Twist and Lorne Goldberg, exercise physiologist Jack Blatherwick, USA Hockey National Team Development Program skating coach Carrie Keil and many others.
“The speakers, they gave a ton of information,” said Skinner, who is a professional skills instructor and hockey consultant, who owns “Stick With The Edge”, which also teaches skills. “Sometimes, they don’t always share during the symposium. But they shared so much.”
And everybody paid attention, even the speakers who are considered experts in their field.
“Even they were sitting in the audience, taking notes from the other people,” he said. “Everybody was learning from each other.”
Skinner also said that there were lectures based on recent scientific findings that suggest the ways that hockey players have traditionally been taught to skate aren’t correct. New techniques and training methods were given.
Glantz, skating coach of the Los Angeles Kings for years and for dozens of other NHL pros, spoke about “quick stops and explosive starts.”
Keil, who also owns and runs the Hockey Masters skating program at the Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea, chose the “forward stride recovery phase” as her topic.
“This is the most common technique problem I see in players of all levels,” Keil said. She added this phase is the source of the “choppy stride” when done incorrectly. On the other hand, when properly executed, the forward stride recovery produces “effortless speed.”
One of the more “outrageous” presentations was by Wendy Marco, a professional hockey skating coach from outside of Washington, D.C.
Marco’s “Off the Hook” program introduced some of her motivating drills she has developed through her company, ColdRush Hockey.
This was Skinner’s second international skating symposium, the first was in 2003.
Coaches who attended came from 17 states, four Canadian provinces and Switzerland.
Skinner said coaches who couldn’t make it “missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime.”
But he added the lectures were all taped and can be purchased on-line at www.icehockeyskating.com.
Sponsors of the event included Hockey Weekly, Ontario Minor Hockey Association, CCM, Bud-weiser and Powering Athletics.
The symposium also included about a dozen vendors exhibiting their products.
“The exhibition show was fantastic,” he said. “They had the top skating training product exhibits.”
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