4.2.4 - Protect the Puck - Cut Hands
1. Gain Shoulder Position
The first step in cutting hands is to gain either one of two advantages over your opponent - you either want to gain shoulder position or gain a speed advantage.
- Shoulder Position: Get your inside shoulder slightly in front of your opponent’s outside shoulder
- Speed Advantage: Be going slightly faster than your opponent.
2. Drive Hips Through Hands
When you notice you have one of these two advantages, now is your time to attack. We want to invade our opponent’s space and drive our hips through their hands while we protect the puck. Even better if they only have one hand on their stick. This is known as a weak stick. Drive your hips & legs through their stick & hands.
Be aggressive here and initiate contact - this is how we can dictate the game and be in control of our opponents.
3. Double-Touch the Puck
You will typically use a shuffle, outside edge roll or crossover technique to protect the puck here. When you do so, under-handle the puck with little consecutive taps on either the forehand or backhand to keep control. Dont try to stickhandle or hold the puck too long, instead just tap-tap-tap the puck to space.
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