Synthetic Ice Hockey Training
Because ice time is expensive and limited, many hockey coaches have turned to synthetic, or artificial, ice surfaces for training purposes. Synthetic ice surfaces are designed to mimic actual ice skating rinks except instead of frozen water, they're typically made from plastic polymers and lubrication. This alternative ice and its minimal resistance has proven to be an effective way to develop hockey skills year-round, according to The Hockey Farm, a New Jersey-based training facility.
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Skating
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On most modern synthetic ice surfaces, the artificial ice performs about as effective as traditional ice surfaces. This allows players to effectively practice skating techniques such as speed, length of stride, crossovers, backwards and transitional skating as well as starting and stopping. Additionally, synthetic ice surfaces typically require about 10 percent more user effort. This forces the player to skate harder and exert more energy. This helps build up the player's lower body strength and translates to added speed on natural ice.
Stick Handling
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A key to becoming a good stick handler is constant practice and repetition. Because synthetic ice surfaces mimic natural ice surfaces, players can effectively practice toe drags, dekes and back-and-fourth puck control. The benefit in practicing stick handling on synthetic ice is the increased effort the user must extert. This gives the player a feeling of stick handling with a weighted puck, which will increase forearm strength for more mobile puck handling on natural ice surfaces.
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Shooting
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Synthetic ice gives a player around the clock opportunity to practice shooting. Whether it be wrist shots, slap shots, snap shots or the back hand shot, synthetic ice provides a surface to develop proper technique. Again, because the user must exert 10 percent more effort than on natural ice, the player has the feeling of shooting a weighted puck. This increases wrist and forearm muscles so that, over time, the athlete will develop a harder shot to use in game situations.
Passing
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For hockey players, a strong pass is a better one. Hard passes make it more difficult for opponents to intercept and ensure that the puck will more efficiently end up on the intended recipient's stick. Because synthetic ice surfaces are typically more resistant that natural surfaces, players must pass the puck with more force. Training on this artificial ice teaches the player to make and handle crisp passes, which will have a direct carryover into game situations on natural ice.
Goaltending
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A crucial skill for hockey goaltenders is their ability to effectively cover the goal mouth. This includes frequent side-to-side movement and starting and stopping skating techniques. On synthetic ice surfaces, goaltenders can practice these skating techniques, which allow them to cut down angles on shots they face, properly square up to shooters, and practice making saves and returning to proper form. Because of the resistance features in synthetic ice, goaltenders are required to skate harder, which improves their game posture.
Training Limitations
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Although synthetic ice surfaces have advanced to nearly mimic natural ice surfaces, there are some training limitations. The most obvious, for instance, is that these artificial surfaces can't 100 percent duplicate the feel of natural ice. Because of higher levels of friction, skate blades are more likely to wear down and the player doesn't have the feeling of skating freely on actual ice. Also, while synthetic ice is cheap and can be installed in any environment, surfaces generally tend to only last for 7 to ten years.
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