More on Sledge Hockey Sticks

Now into my 4th year of sledge hockey I've had more experience with sled hockey sticks (see http://sledgehockeydad.blogspot.com/2008/08/some-answers-to-previous-questions-and.html and http://sledgehockeydad.blogspot.com/2007/12/sledge-hockey-stick-care-taping-this-is.html). We've been trying out some blade/composite shaft combination's.
Obtaining composite shafts can be quite a chore even for someone who plays with 3 different sets of AB players on a weekly basis throughout the year. I work across from a 4 pad arena and even though the guys who work there seemed to have their hearts in the right place there is big pressure for these broken stick to build everything from ball hockey stick to chairs to rec room bars... Finally I lucked out and while dumpster diving at another arena close by (you can't throw a rock without hitting one here in Ottawa) and caught a young Zamboni driver going to his truck. He had a great cache.
We've be running with woven textured shafts for the last year but now we've had the opportunity to use the soft hydrophilic shafts you see on Easton's Vapour line. They're great. I was worried about the shafts not sliding through my gloves as you transition from pumping for speed, receiving a pass and shooting but this was not a problem. When you squeeze your glove around it you get a more postive feel with no slip.
I used my table saw to cut a bunch of 2 inch plugs to fit in the end of the shafts where you need to bolt in the picks. The corners needed to be beveled to get a good fit. Also, some sticks have a ridge on one inside narrow side so I cut a small table saw blade wide dado cut down one of the narrow sides of my plugs.
Be careful when cutting the shaft. Epoxy, carbon fibre and Kevlar are probably a bit of a health hazard in power form. Note that these shafts often taper near the blade end and are not suitable to use for picks or inserting blades.
Plugs and blades are glued into the shafts. Hot glue sticks seemed to work for the most part but I'm not convinced that all sticks are created equal. Being a larger individual the blades seem to break the glue loose after a few games. They seem to stay in the shafts but you can feel some play (maybe someone can suggest a better glue). Don't heat the shafts to melt the glue. I used a heat gun to heat the end of the glue stick and rubbed the melting end onto the plugs and blade insert end which were held in a vise. When it came time to insert the plugs and blades I heated them individually and pushed them in. Probably best to clean up the oozing excess glue while it's still warm.
We had been using some nice Easton carbon fiber blades for a year and they worked quite well. Good control of the puck. We also purchased a pair of thin wood blades that many on Team Canada uses. Now I understand why they can shoot so hard! These blades do flex! You can take some ice and store energy in the blade without destroying the muscle in your fore arms. Now, I doubt most junior players would benifit but if you can get the blade to flex you will notice a difference.

Another Season Starts

Last Tuesday Jeremy and I started our season with a pre-selection camp practice with the some of the national teams guys. Jeremy has been at the gym all year 3-5 times a week, 2 hour minimum a session and is shows. Jean took one look at him and jokingly said, "Here comes steroid man" but believe me it's all natural hard work and being that magic age of 18. The team all looked in very good shape too. Even Mark has filled out some. Kind of made this old guy feel a little bit inadequate. Oh well, I'm like a moose and as the season starts I'll start packing on muscle. Besides, I've been playing AB hockey all summer and when I stepped out on the ice for the first corporate shinny game I actually looked pretty good (I'm sure that'll change too when the rust comes off the other guys).

My buddy Lou the sledge builder was out too, trying out his new "Maple Leaf" sled and some material changes to his sticks. He's getting a little slower but he still knows all the tricks and is a very good puck handler.

Can't wait for the "Sled Head" movie to come out on Canadian Television, Oct 4th. They will play the 44 minute version (1 hr with commercials) but the grapevine has it that Gordie (Todd Nicholson's brother) will be arranging an extended length feature in Renfrew on October 6th!

As for the rest of you... tape your sticks, tighten the bolts on your sled, get some Neats Foot Oil on your gloves, don't forget to stretch and we'll see you on the ice!

Dot Drill

-X1 passes puck to Y1 and starts skating to position X2

-Y1 passes puck to X at X2 and X takes puck to X3 and shoots and then returns to their dot of origin

-As soon as Y1 passes the puck to X at X2 they pass a puck to the next X at the dot and proceed to Y2

-The next X passes the puck to Y at Y2 and takes the puck to Y3 and shoots and returns to their dot of origin

-The same thing happens on the other half of the ice except that B should give the first pass.

-This continues indefinitely.

Goalies end up guarding the net from alternate sides.
Skaters give and take passes and cover a lot of ice.

Corner Drills

Drill:

Great for practicing giving/getting a pass, turning, shooting and working as a team.

1) X skates beyond the blue line and turns toward the net (X1-X2).

2) Z get ready for their pass (Z1-Z2)

3) Y (Y1) passes the puck to X (X2) and immediately starts skating beyond the blue line and turns toward the net (Y2).

4) X shoots on the net (X3) and lines up on the opposite side they started (X4).

5) Z (Z2) passes the puck to Y (Y2) and immediately starts skating beyond the blue line and turns toward the net.

6) Y shoots on the net (Y3) and lines up on the opposite side they start (Y4).

Repeat indefinitely.

Hints:

-For safety try not to have players lined up directly behind the net.

-While it’s tempting watch your pretty pass, skate immediately after initiating the pass.

Bench Setup

*All players on bench must be against boards in neutral zone (between Blue and Centre line)

*Spare Goalie should be closest to the centre line so they are not likely to interfere with, on the fly, line changes.

*Defense, on the bench, should be positioned closest to their own Goalie.Forwards, on the bench, should be positioned closest to the oppositions goalie.

Legend:
Case of letter used to differentiate teams
G or g = Goalie
D or d = Defense
F or f = Forward

Click on picture for a larger view

Some Answers to Previous Questions and Other Odds and Sods

In the past I've posted questions at the end of my posts hoping that I had hoped readers may have answered though comments. So here are some of the answers I have found.

-One Piece composite sledge hockey sticks? ***Could be done for $600 to $800 dollars per pair.
-In AB hockey, one can lean on their stick and get it to bend, storing extra energy, before the puck is released. Is anyone doing this in sledge hockey? ***No known cases. The shafts are relatively short (less that half of an AB hockey stick) and so extremely stiff and considering that you are effectively sitting, the lie of the stick and using one hand very difficult to lean hard enough on the stick to get it to flex.
-Getting palms of hockey gloves to last?*** Use Pure (not prime) Neatsfoot Oil. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neatsfoot_oil for more info. I re-palmed my gloves for about $50 (the shells were very good quality already) and this oil is keeping them hole free and supple so far. I find I need to reapply every 3 or 4 games.

FUTURE SITE PLANS

I've been taking a bit of a break but hope to be posting more soon. Summer is not too busy for sledge hockey so the urgency is not there. I'm hoping to take a lead from http://www.cssha.org/coachs_corner.htm and publish drills we use here in Ottawa and others I've seen. I'll now be publishing local schedules and results on the www.sheo.ca site and not boring you too much with those details.

SUMMER ACTIVITIES

My son and I took club equipment to his high school and for a week taught his AB class to play sledge hockey.

My son and I (for the third year in a row) spent a day with the "Active Living Alliance" http://www.ala.ca/content/home.asp at the "Ice House" introducing disabled kids to sledge hockey.

We also went to Long Island to play in the RoughRider's tournament http://www.lisledhockey.org/ for the 4th year in a row. We love this opportunity and they are most excellent hosts.

SHEO Website

I am now webmaster for "Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario (SHEO)/Hockey sur luge de l'est Ontarien (HLEO)". Watch for updates at www.sheo.ca.

OCSHIP Sledge Hockey Challenge 2008 Results

Intermediate A:
Gold - Ottawa Barbarians
Silver - Long Island RoughRiders
Bronze - Connecticut WolfPack

Intermediate B:
Gold - Durham Steel Hawks
Silver - Windsor Ice Bullets
Bronze - Markham Islanders

Junior :
Gold - Sarnia Ice Hawks
Silver - Ottawa Valley Bandits (Red)
Bronze - Ottawa Valley Bandits (White)

Ottawa Wins Intermediate A Division at OCSHIP Sledge Hockey Challenge

My son and I (and our wonderful team!) won the Intermediate A division of the OCSHIP Sledge Hockey Challenge 2008. Our team dominated and our goalie Angelo racked up 4 consecutive shutouts. Jeremy played defense in the preliminaries and forward in the final. It was the opposite for myself. While we all played skillfully there was a certain amount of "puck luck" with Logan shooting from behind the net hit the tops of the goalies feet and scoring and Pete hitting Jeremy's helmet and deflecting in. Special thanks to Kerry for his excellent coaching!

My parents came down for my birthday (49 for the first time). This was the first time they have seen sledge hockey being played and they took some great pictures. There is a slide show on the right and if you click on it it will take you to a version with larger pictures.
PS. A few more to come. Some nice ones of Kerry instructing the troupes between periods, in particular.

P.S.S. If anyone has additional pictures of any of the Tournament, I'd be happy to post them or link to them :)

2008 OCSHIP Invitational Sledge Hockey Challenge

2008 OCSHIP Invitational Sledge Hockey Challenge

Friday, April 18, 2008->
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ray Friel Arena Complex

April 18-2008
Intermediate-B B1 Pad1
17:00 Durham Steelhawks North Bay Ice Breakers
Junior J1 Pad2
18:00 Ottawa Valley Bandits Red Sarnia Ice Hawks
Intermediate-A A1 Pad3
18:30 Long Island RoughRiders Peterborough Patriots
Intermediate-B B2 Pad1
18:30 Markham Islanders Windsor Ice Bullets
Junior J2 Pad2
19:30 Durham Steelhawks Ottawa Valley Bandits/White
Intermediate-A A2 Pad3
20:00 Ottawa Barbarians Connecticut WolfPack
Intermediate-B B3 Pad1
20:00 Sudbury Northern Sliders Ottawa TechSupport

April 19-2008
Intermediate-A A3 Pad3
7:30 Long Island RoughRiders Ottawa Barbarians
Junior J3 Pad2
8:00 Ottawa Valley Bandits/Red Durham Steelhawks
Intermediate-A A4 Pad3
9:00 Peterborough Patriots Connecticut WolfPack
Junior J4 Pad2
9:30 Sarnia Ice Hawks Ottawa Valley Bandits/White
Intermediate-B B4 Pad3
10:30 Durham Steelhawks Markham Islanders
Intermediate-B B5 Pad2
11:00 Windsor Ice Bullets Sudbury Northern Sliders
Intermediate-B B6 Pad3
12:00 Ottawa TechSupport North Bay Ice Breakers
Junior J5 Pad2
12:30 Ottawa Valley Bandits/White Ottawa Valley Bandits/Red
Intermediate-A A5 Pad1
13:00 Connecticut WolfPack Long Island RoughRiders
Intermediate-B B7 Pad3
13:30 Sudbury Northern Sliders Durham Steelhawks
Junior J6 Pad2
14:00 Durham Steelhawks Sarnia Ice Hawks
Intermediate-A A6 Pad1
14:30 Ottawa Barbarians Peterborough Patriots
Intermediate-B B8 Pad3
15:00 Markham Islanders Ottawa TechSupport
Intermediate-B B9 Pad2
15:30 North Bay Ice Breakers Windsor Ice Bullets

April 20-2008
Intermediate-A A Bronze Pad 1
7:30 3rd Intermediate-A 4th Intermediate-A
Intermediate-B B Bronze Pad 2
8:00 3th Intermediate-B 4th Intermediate-B
Junior J Bronze Pad 3
8:30 3th Junior 4th Junior
Intermediate-A A Gold Pad 2
9:30 1st Intermediate-A 2nd Intermediate-A
Junior J Gold Pad 3
10:00 1st Junior 2nd Junior
Intermediate-B B Gold Pad 1
10:30 1st Intermediate B 2nd Intermediate B

My New Sledge!

Being AB fairly hefty, strong, aggressive and gaining skill, I've been though a few sleds and sled adjustments. This has been a bit of a challenge for my buddy Lou the sledge builder. The evolution has included:
-narrowing the blade carrier (channel) to an inch wide
-increasing the material thickness of the blade carrier
-customizing the blade carrier to make it more monocot (none adjustable but we both know where my centre of gravity is.
-parabolic blades
-open bucket to closed molded "puck-stop" bucket.
-raising of seat height.
-adding "dump" to my bucket.
-added bracing from the blade carrier to the forward rails

My new sledge is a beast! While before, leaning into a turn I might touch down my seat onto the ice and go for an uncontrolled slide, the new height makes this virtually impossible unless I was checked. The height, while making balancing more tricky, also makes me more intimidating and more difficult to knock over. Turning now requires much less lean but if I do lean hard the turn is quick, tight and immediate although I do scrub off a little more energy than I use to. This later effect is now fading with a little technique adjustment.

Pictures on the "OCSHIP Sledge Hockey Challenge 2008 Ottawa Barbarians" slide show on the right.

Collingwood Ontario Paralympic Tournament

Jeremy is finally big and tough enough to play a tournament with the big guys! The tournament in Collingwood was quite an event. Not only was our favourite sport “Sledge Hockey” but many other winter sports were represented. The crème-de la crème of Ontario were there to compete (short of national team players of course). Jeremy is a lot like his dad in style of play. Not the greatest puck carriers but very effective in engaging puck carriers J. In his enthusiasm he managed to bend his sled but luckily arenas are chocked full of metal railings and the problem was quickly remedied. This event was very stressful for dad since he’s use to being on the ice but being able bodied was unable to play. Eastern Ontario competed against 5 other teams in as many games and took home a bronze. It could have been easily argued it should have been silver but for an unfortunate pool draw. Western Toronto was unarguably the best team and took the gold. All in all the event was very well run. There were very nice accommodations and food for the athletes, nice facilities for the competition and above average officiating. Special thanks to our coaches. Very special thanks to the Canadian Forces who were on hand. They were very helpful and gentlemen all.

See new slide show for pics!

Parabolic Blade Revolution in Sledge Hockey

Recently I acquired a new Sledge from Canwinsports ,which are now available with the same Light Parabolic Skate (LPS) technology available on high end AB hockey skates. The high quality steel of the blades actually allow them to arc as you load them into a turn and return some of the energy as you exit. Between the parabolic cut and the flexibility of the runner, it's like having a blade with a rocker that adjusts perfectly to your needs in real time. What this means is they are much more forgiving. As you carve a turn you don't have to pay as much attention to your centre of gravity vs. the arc of the turn to avoid scrubbing off speed (sliding and loosing energy), loosing control or skipping across the ice. It's like turning on a rail (I weigh over 200 lbs and you should see the depth of the groove left on a high speed turn). Of course if you already have a great deal of skill I'm sure you can get even more out of them. You can lean your sledge at radical new angles allowing much tighter turns, again without loosing much energy. This gives you the ability to pinch, loose, but still be able to re-engage quickly because you come out of turns at higher speed. Given the amount of lean you can utilize, you might want to consider raising your seat a little to avoid touching it on the ice and going for a slide. You'll definitely want to adjust your game style given the performance boost!
See http://www.canwinsports.com/. BTW that's Billy Bridges' and Bradley Bowden's new black sledges on the products pages (more about that later).

Sledge Hockey and Wikipedia

When it comes to political issues wikipedia can be a bit of a sticky wicket. At one point an editor of theirs removed the record of sledge hockey teams citing it as an indiscriminate list. However, another more enlightened (albeit visually challenged) editor quickly put them back. I believe the list is there to stay. If you have a team or club that is not listed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledge_hockey), and are web challenged, leave a comment with its name and web address (if there is one) and I'll be happy to put it up for you. Or mail me at webmaster@canwinsports.com.

Turning Drills

Backward skating is not very practical in sledge/sled hockey. Quick turning under power is very important for challenging for the puck and effective defensive play.
Try skating around the face off circles on one blade. Try pumping with both hands. Try pumping with one hand. Try not letting your gloves touch the ice. Try different hand positions on the stick shafts, both symmetric and asymmetric (in a game you may not have your choice of hand positions). Pay attention to the sound of your blades. Try to avoid side slipping as much as possible. Generally, the quieter you keep your blades the less energy your wasting. How far your leaning forward or back can make all the difference. Don't forget to practice in both directions.

Another more advanced exercise is to perform figure eights around 2 small pylons. As you make your left turn, plant the picks of your left stick into the ice, carve your turn and as you complete the turn use the planted picks to push off. Repeat around the other pylon making a right turn and using your right stick. Once you start to become more accomplished, move the pylons closer and closer together until you are continuously planting one stick and then the other turning alternately left to right and back again.

Try these exercises in warm up before a practice or game!