Roller->Ice conversion progress...

[Bernie]

This is mainly a thread for Evilpepe but I thought anyone else in the process as we are, or anyone with further advice can chime in or maybe learn something.

So Evil... it's been 2 weeks or so.... how's your progress going?

So far I've had about 20 hours on the ice and I have to say I am still struggling significantly compared to my roller hockey abilities. But I've made some progress- I finally have my balance under control so I can actually move without falling and skating backwards is becoming almost as natural as roller. But the side to side is still a problem- a real big problem. I'm trying to wean myself off of "playing roller hockey on ice" by trying to slide instead of T-push, but I still occasionaly catch that damn outside edge on the lead skate and boy, it's all over then. I also can't recover nearly as quickly on the ice as in roller- I still lose my edge a lot when I try to scramble up quickly.
I can finally shoot the puck as well as in roller on my forehand. I thought I'd NEVER be able to shoot a puck on ice, I swear I'd literally slip and fall whenever I'd try- but damn I still can't get the backhand at all.

The single biggest problem I have is moving to one side and then having to move back again- for example, on a 2-1, if the pass is made across ice, I can get over to the new puckcarrier, but man if he immediately gives the puck back where it came from it's all over for me!!

Finally, I just got my skates back from the sharpener after taking the majority of people's advice here and I got a deeper grind on my blades- 1/2 inch now. I'm hoping this will help me get the "bite" I seem to keep missing when I try to push off.


How bout you Evilpepe? What progress have you made?

[oogs]

here's my story:

roller --> ice

i've played roller for 3 years (not full years but yea) i played a 6 week ice season 2 years ago.. in a in house league. so i had played ice about 20 times. but a long time ago.

i tried out for a girls AAA team (ice) with my little ice background.. i was able to do most things well except for:

-skating (the edges and al lthat confused me) and my skates were teribly uncomfortable .
-shuffling ( i always picked up my feet. ) it worked for a while, but fast lateral plays... i was jumping
-sliding - i always over slid.

so i've worked for about 5 months now, approximately 1x a week on ice.. (but still playing lots of roller) and i've improved drastically in my opinion. i can now shuffle, i don't over slide,.. its come to a point where i prefer ice over roller. my crossovers and turns still need work, but everything else has come far from where it was 5 months ago.

The single biggest problem I have is moving to one side and then having to move back again- for example, on a 2-1, if the pass is made across ice, I can get over to the new puckcarrier, but man if he immediately gives the puck back where it came from it's all over for me!!

this is where i had a big problem (still kind of have) because of my oversliding. basically once you've made the save, you have to get back to square with the puck. in a 2-1, say the guy passes, other shoots, you bfly slide over. the rebound goes to the other guy and he shoots.. . well first , where's your defense, second, you have to get right on your edge after you bfly slide and down push or power push back to the other side.

learn to power / down push, and you've got it covered.

[EvilPepe]

Weeelll...

I have only been on the ice for about 6 hours. Unfortunately my schedule is hectic right now preventing me from going to morning drop ins, and I am still on a wait list to get on a rec team.

I am having the same basic problems. I still T-push quite a bit. I can shuffle to my left, but not to my right for some reason. I think it might be because one skate seems a bit sharper than the other LOL.

As far as shooting goes, I am picking it up really quick. I can't shoot it as far as a roller puck, but oddly enough, I can flip it higher.

I am really getting burned down low quite a bit. I am used to playing with an old pair of skates with some hard wheels on a sport court. It allowed me to slide very easily into a butterfly-esq shape. But now, if I lead with my foot like that, I catch the ice and tumble over. I am working on it, and can do it in a smooth, if slow, movement.

Up high...well, a puck is a puck. I've always been strong with my blocker and trapper, so nothing has changed there.

I am hoping to be able to get on the ice more. For a few months I could'nt play, and I was an addict looking for a fix. Now I just get a tiny, tantalizing bit, and I want more. Hehe. I will keep you posted. Maybe eventually get some *ugh* video. LOL.

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by oogs

its come to a point where i prefer ice over roller.

By God, if I ever get to this point I think I'll consider myself done with the conversion!!!!


Pepe- good point on the shuffling left but not being able to shuffle right. I have the opposite problem- I can shuffle right just fine, but shuffling left I still sometimes catch that damn outside edge and lose balance. But it's definitely getting better.

Mostly though I just can't seem to shake the "stigma" that I'm on this totally foreign surface still. In Roller, I never for a second thought "Wow, I'm on sport court with inlines on. Woooooow...." But from the instant I step on the ice til I step off, about 80% of my brain is saying "Holy crap- I'm on ice! It's cold in here! Don't catch the outside edge! Damn this is slippery!"

[WERNER 1]

I'm interested to see how you like the 1/2 radius of hollow! (Don't be surprised if you feel like you're "Stuck in the ice"!!!)

I'm only at 5/8" right now...............but hey, maybe it'll work out just right for you.

You playing tomorrow moring? I have to go out to Clayton tomorrow so.........maybe?

Rick

[Bernie]

I'll be there tomorrow, Werner- 6am.

Now damn, somone has to explain this to me but this is the second time I've seen someone indicate their 5/8" hollow is somehow less than a 1/2"

Last I checked, 5/8" is greater than 1/2" so wouldn't that mean the 1/2" is the "sharper" skate?

[WERNER 1]

Yes you are correct!

See, but you probably had a 1" + hollow before, so you've went from slick to "stick"!

You'll be able to push off like a mother, but if you think you had side to side shuffleing problems before.........

It's confirmed that I'm going to Delmar / 170 tomorrow.........but I can't commit to hockey just yet....

What time does the rink open...........you know to get in and get suited up?

[Huntster]

I agree with Werner that if you were catching your edges with a duller skate then the 1/2" hollow is going to be tough.

I would practice in the warm up a lot. Get the feel of the sharper skate when you shuffle. Like anything else it takes time.

[rhanz]

Sounds like he was catching his leading edge from tilting his ankle too much. I don't see that a deeper cut is gonna change that a whole lot. Of course, it won't make shuffling EASIER, that's for sure!

[EvilPepe]

Originally Posted by Bernie

Mostly though I just can't seem to shake the "stigma" that I'm on this totally foreign surface still. In Roller, I never for a second thought "Wow, I'm on sport court with inlines on. Woooooow...." But from the instant I step on the ice til I step off, about 80% of my brain is saying "Holy crap- I'm on ice! It's cold in here! Don't catch the outside edge! Damn this is slippery!"

Ha, yeah, I have found myself thinking that. I mean, I came into it thinking the conversion process would be too steep of a hill to climb, though I really hoped it wasn't. Part of this was because all the guys I knew who played on ice kinda sneered at us roller hockey players saying that I could not make the conversion and would totally suck. Yeah, I am definately having problems, but there are things that very obviously transfer over, and yet, I didn't realize it. As I said before, a puck is a puck. I can catch a puck on ice just as well, if not better than a roller hockey puck (I say better because the puck is a bit more visible in a play area that is so white.)

[oogs]

haha you guys will report back in the next year saying that roller sucks

don't worry, plenty of ice time will get you used teh the new playing surface.. you're job remains the same .. so that makes it somewhat easier..

[Nguyener85]

When I started playing ice after about 1.5 years on roller, I loved it right away. I could already ice skate (when I was younger I took classes and I actually did public skate once a week for awhile) and I already knew how to slide, thanks to the roller rink I was playing at. They hardly ever cleaned the floor, so a nice layer of dust built up on the bottom of my Tour pads, so I could actually butterfly slide if I pushed hard enough. I suppose the worst problem I had converting to ice was oversliding in my butterfly.

[Bernie]

Nguyener, even if you COULD butterfly slide on a floor, you wouldn't be able to skate on it at all. If the floor was slick enought to do a butterfly slide on, your skates might as well have been on oil.

[Bernie]

Onto realistic matters now....


Evilpepe, I took Werner's advice and got my goal skates cut 1/2".


Oh....My....GOD!!!! What an incredible difference. I can now T-push without any slipping and I can stop on a dime. I can even do a butterflyslide and recovery if pushing to the left!!!

It took more effort to shuffle, but I got used to it literally within minutes.

I highly, highly recommend this if you are having and problem with traction like I was.

[PenguinMan]

I started as a roller goalie but am doing just fine on ice now. The way in which I got myself better was to show up to the really non-crowded free skates before pickup, throw my lower body equipment (jock pants pads skates) on, and just do drills. I would shuffle back and forth for about 10 minutes at a time, work on butterfly slides to both sides, work on proper stance, side to side movements, recoveries, backwards movement and tracking, telescoping, and whatever else I felt I needed work on. I will likely be doing this again to figure out how the hell to downpush (freakin lead pad always seems to tuck underneath me, not slide in front of me).

Of course, this means that once I start the club roller team up again i'm going to be in a world of hurt as I relearn how to play the position for roller.