How to play hockey
How I did it: I bought skates on New Year's Day with my best friend. We got sticks and pucks a few days later. He knew how to skate, I had only been on ice one other time in my life, 9 years earlier. But for some strange reason I took to the ice like it was something I was born to do. I had my share of spills, one particularly nasty one while learning crossovers, but I was on my way to being able to play hockey.
Just a few weeks later, I found myself playing my first pick-up game with a bunch of older guys I didn't know. They knew I had only been skating for like 2 weeks so they went easy on me. I realized this and played harder. They actually had to step up their games when they noticed that just because I had minimal experience on the ice, that didn't mean I was going to fall or keep my head down when I was skating with the puck.
The only problem I had at the time was stopping. I skated between two guys much bigger than me and scored a goal just as one of them came around in front of me. I didn't have enough time to stop and I hit him. He was fine since he had probably 70 pounds on me. I was a little shaken up but I was okay. And the guy laughed about it.
After this day, I was hooked. I was out on the ice everyday, even when the weather was unseasonably warm and the ice started melting to slush or when it was unseasonably cold to the point where school was cancelled because it was at least -20 degrees with wind chill. We even shovelled snow off of the ice for 30 minutes so we could practice.
This was by far one of the most rewarding things ever, and since I'm such a huge hockey fan (go Blackhawks!!) it was even better. I hope I can continue playing and possibly even play in college.
Lessons & tips: Try to learn with someone who already knows how to skate.
Don't start on figure skates, they are entirely different from hockey skates.
There are some pretty educational videos or articles you can find online. If you watch videos, pay more attention to their legs, not the actual words they are saying. It helped me more. Words can be confusing.
Go slow! Whenever you are learning something new, don't just jump into it. And don't get frustrated if you don't get it right away. I had trouble with elevating my slapshots so I worked on wrist shot elevation first and it helped with slapshots.
