Imagine the blade of your stick has eyes.

When you’re about to shoot, what you see with your own eyes is very different from what the stick sees with its eyes.

As a right handed shot, if I am about to shoot a wrist shot on my forehand side, the blade of my stick is at least 1 to 2 feet to the right of where eyes are and about 5.5 feet lower. So when I look at the spaces to shoot past the goalie, I must remember that the puck isn’t being shot from where my eyes are, but from over 5 feet away where the eyes of my stick are.

These two goals by Brianne Jenner in the gold medal win by Canada at the World Championships illustrate shooting through the eyes of the stick perfectly.

Jenner is a right handed shot skating on the left side of the ice on both these goals (ie her off wing).  On both goals, she takes an extra step to cut towards the middle of the ice before shooting. This changes the shot angle slightly, and gives the eyes of her right handed stick more room to shoot at on the far side.

Jenner probably can’t see the far side as being open with her own eyes, but she has practiced shooting from the off wing through the eyes of her stick so often that she knows the eyes of her stick are seeing space on the far side.

Two world class shots by a world class player for sure, but shooting through the eyes of your stick is a concept that players at all ages can use to score more goals this season.

Work Hard. Dream BIG.

Shoot More, Score More.

~ Coach Kim

Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS
Director & Founder, Total Female Hockey