Shooting: Top & Bottom Hands

How To Turn Your Hockey Stick Into An Effective Lever

Feb 18, 2021

In a previous post, we went in-depth on Body Shape and its important role in shooting technique. Today, we are going to look at hand positioning.

Max Pacioretty scored the only goal in a 1-0 Vegas Golden Knights win over the Colorado Avalanche on Valentine’s Day 2021. And it was an absolute bomb of a shot.

Greg Revak, CFP® @CoachRevak

The goal:

Stick like a lever

A great shot like this takes great body shape and turns the hockey stick into a highly effective lever. Work (total power) is the force times the distance, W = Fd

*Physics note* = an object wants to return to its neutral position and will release force in order to reestablish that neutral state.

Elements

Load = Blade/Puck
Arms = Stick (its neutral position is straight)
Fulcrum = Bottom Hand
Effort = Top Hand

Let’s see what it looks like in practice:

Part 1: Dual-Threat

Pacioretty puts his hands in a position that allows him to be a dual-threat, meaning he can easily pass or shoot. To pass to his left he would push his top hand out. To pass to his right he would push out his top hand. This is a great threatening position that gives him optionality and keeps his opponents on their toes.

Part 2: Hand Activation

Once Pacioretty decided to shoot, he extended both arms, pushing them away from his body. Most importantly, his top hand moves far away from his body, allowing him to activate the stick as a highly effective lever.

Part 3: Powering Through

Ahhh, the great stick flex picture everyone loves! Both hands are working to create force.

Top hand pulls back violently, applying effort.
Bottom hand pushes down and through.

Part 4: Finish

As Pacioretty finished pulling his top hand back and pushing his bottom hand through, the stick’s energy is transferred through the ice and puck. The stick violently returns to its neutral/resting state after being flexed and the puck zips toward the net at high velocity.

This is a textbook example of great hands when shooting the puck. Everyone understands the bottom hand has to push, but what is often missing is an effective top hand. Combining the two elements allow for a highly-effective shot.

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