Edge Control
Tuomo Kärki, IIHCE
The overview of the presentation
• Introduction
• What is edge control and what things effect on it?
• Why players have problems with edge control?
• How to practice skating and edge control?
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Background
Born in Finland, Oulunsalo, 1967
Ice hockey
• Playing career 14 years
(F  A- jun. age 7-18, Oulun Kärpät 11 years, National teams U16-U17, after
that “cooling down” RoKi ja Kiekko-Oulu 3 years)
• Coaching career 11 years
(RoKi 2 years, JYP 5 years, Kiekkoreipas 4 years, National teams U16-U17)
• Work career 12 years
(JYP–head of junior hockey 2 years, Kiekkoreipas–head of coaching 4 years,
IIHCE–head of education 6 years)
Education
• Sport instructor
• Sport science studies (Jyväskylä University)
Other sports
• Finnish baseball (age 11-15, Oulun Lippo 4 years)
• Hobbies (jogging and gym)
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Skating in ice hockey
Specific characteristics related into ice hockey skating:
• Changing situations in game
• Different playing positions
• Different playing roles
• Length of shifts
• Opponent and contact
4
Skating in ice hockey
How skating in ice hockey differs from figure skating and speed skating?
Figure skating
Ice hockey skating
Speed skating
Drills to develop:
Drills to develop :
Drills to develop :
• balance
• skating position
• strength
• glide
• return phase
• speed
• coordination
• glide – stride phase
• stamina
Drills should support the
development of different phases of
ice hockey skating technique
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What edge control means?
Ability to control centre of mass while
point of pressure against the ice
moves horizontally (heel  toes)
and laterally (outside  inside)
during different phases of skating
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Edge control (phases of glide – stride)
Changes in centre of mass while point of pressure against the ice moves horizontally and
laterally during different phases of skating
Horizontally
Activating bottom muscles
Abducting thigh to the side
Extension of hip, knee and ankle
Pushing to the side and back
Pressure point in the
middle of the blade
Pressure point in the
middle of the blade
Pressure point in
front of the blade
Laterally
Outside edge
In the middle
of the edge
Inside edge
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Example player 1.
Weakness of the bottom
and core muscles
Big difference between the
pressure point and the centre
of mass point
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Example player 2.
Strength of the bottom and
core muscles
Small difference between the
pressure point and the centre
of mass point
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Skate (boot) – dressing equipment
Position of tongue under shin pad
All tied or one
open if necessary
Laces tight
enough
First lower body equipment
Laces tight
enough
Better:
•Protection
•Flexibility
•Balance
Tongue under shin pad
Whose responsibility to take care of ?
10
Skate (blade) – profile and sharpening
• Wrong kind of sharpening effect on blade profile in long
run  glide, agility, balance suffers
• Pay attention to maintain blade profile (flat glide surface
30-80 mm or radius profile)
• Be aware of the depth of hollow (deeper hollow increases
the grip and friction)
Whose responsibility to take care of?
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Skate (blade) – profile examples
Centre point
Flat glide surface in the middle
e.g. 5 cm
Flat glide surface in front
e.g. 5 cm, 3 cm front of the centre point
Flat glide surface in the middle
e.g. 5 cm, front and back of radius 3,96 m
or
Radius profile without flat glide surface
Whose responsibility to take care of?
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Skate (blade) – depth of the hollow
blade
r = radius
shallow radius   short radius
Shallow radius
•blade doesn’t go so deep into ice  less friction  better glide
Short radius
•blade goes deeper into ice  more friction  better grip
•requires more strength to skate
Whose responsibility to take care of?
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Practicing ice hockey skating –
things effect on edge control
Example drills:
Skating position – balance
• off ice
• on ice
Glide – stride
• off ice
• on ice
Skating is a kinetic chain ...
develop kinetic chain instead of isolated muscles!
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Practicing ice hockey skating - conclusion
Things to consider concerning drills
to improve ice hockey skating:
• practicing muscles used in skating (develop kinetic chain
instead of isolated muscles)
• balance (exercises on one leg)
• coordination (use of upper body and arms)
• take care of the skate (boot, tongue, laces tight, blade profile)
• pay attention to skating inside of game like drills (backward,
crossovers, turns, with a puck)
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Thank you!
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