Hockey Training Aids – The Best Hockey at Home Products

Anybody that knows anything about the game of hockey understands that hockey is an incredibly competitive sport that takes an abundance of skill and endurance to be any good at. Finding the right hockey training aids that will help a person get the most out of every practice session is essential to gaining the competitive edge it takes to win games. Never forget that for every minute that you spend practicing your game, one of your competitors is too. Get the most out of your minutes by getting the right equipment.

Synthetic Ice Flooring for the Home

If you are an ice hockey player one of the best things you can do for your game is to invest in a robust synthetic ice flooring plan. When you build your own ice skating rink at home there is no need to go out and practice at an ice skating rink that might or might not be accessible to the public. 

The best thing about synthetic ice flooring is that it can be installed just about anywhere that there is a flat, hard surface that is large enough to skate on. What this means is that you can create  your own ice skating platform in the comfort of your home.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the difference between synthetic ice and traditional ice. Where traditional ice is, for the most part, smooth and easy to glide across, synthetic ice can be a bit cumbersome and less than smooth. However, if you invest in the kind of flooring that is of high quality and from a respectable distributor you can be equipped with a flooring that is self-lubricating and as much like ice as you can imagine. Yes, there may be a slight drag on this type of flooring, in the end it will cause you to build more strength and dexterity because of the extra drag that will be present.

Rugged Hockey Shooting Tarp 

There is not much more of an effective training aid than a high-quality hockey shooting tarp. Although it may seem like a large investment, the truth is that they are very affordable and not a big deal to install into your home. One of the most valuable assets to using a shooting tarp on a regular basis is that the player can build and sustain muscle memory for specific shots.

For example, one of the most popular ways to score points is to pull off a sick deke move. It is not every day, or even every game that a player gets an opportunity to trick the goalie and send a puck right through the goal at lightning speed. However, when you practice fast-paced deke moves by yourself over and over again you can hone in on your precision skills when it comes to making hard shots.

A high quality shooting tarp is large enough to protect the environment from being destroyed by fast moving pucks. This is essential to being able to take as many powerful shots as you can over and over again without having to worry about putting holes in the walls, dents in the appliances, or breaking any windows. Being able to focus on nothing but building hockey skills when you train will help to give you an edge when you actually get out and play.

The Hockey Rebounder

Another essential hockey training aid is the hockey rebounder. If you are not familiar with this particular tool, you should make it a point to get familiar with one. What makes this training aid so great is that it allows you to practice the way that  you pass and receive pucks without having to train with anybody else. You have total control over how hard you pass or recieve the puck. Although when using ice skates you have to use real ice, or synthetic ice, you can practice with a rebounder on dryland flooring, or even concrete. When you combined the rebounder with a shooting tarp you get even more out of your training.

With the rebounder you can calculate the best positions to be in for optimal one-timer shots. One of the best ways to use a rebounder is to set it a few feet away from you at an angle and shoot at it to get a fast pass back, then slap a shot to the goalie on a rebound. Since the shooting tarp is equipped with target areas for you to place the puck, you can choose the area that is most difficult for you to hit, and continue to try hitting that spot over and over again until you have it down to a science.

We mentioned muscle memory earlier in this article, and there is a good reason for that. Muscle memory is something that your brain remembers and keeps handy for the next time you need to move in that particular way. When you practice shots over and over again, especially while under stress and at high speeds, your brain stays ready to command your muscles to jump into action. When you get out into a real game and see an opportunity to slap a quick shot into the goal, your brain will already be primed to help you make it happen. This is where continual practice and training come in handy.

Dryland Hockey Tiles

For hockey players that prefer to play on inline skates, or tennis shoes, dryland flooring is great. Dryland flooring comes in smaller tiles than the synthetic ice panels that we talked about earlier. These hockey tiles are convenient and easy to install in a home, or wherever there is a flat surface.

Although dryland tiles are not made for ice skates, the way that the puck slides across them is much like the way a puck will slide over ice. This way when you practice with your stick you will get the same kind of feel that you get when you are in a real game.

As we mentioned earlier, other crucial training aids work great with dryland flooring. For example, many players use hockey shooting tarps in combination with their dryland tiles and have major success at gaining skills and stamina.

With high quality dryland hockey tiles there is an interlocking technology that pulls the tiles together so tightly and efficiently that the floor provides a seamless hockey platform that allows the game to move along and flow smoothly just like a real game.

Training Aids Make a Difference

The truth is that the only way a training aid is going to do a person any good is if they use them. Practice helps to build champions and star athletes. Whenever you take the time to build yourself up and strengthen your skills to the utmost prowess, you are giving yourself the precious gift of greatness. The difference between a person that takes advantage of training aids and a person that does not can definitely be the score of a game. Imagine if the entire team was built of people that push themselves to the max and get the very most out of every practice that they endure. That team will be tough to beat. Hopefully that is the team that you are on.