The wrist shot is quick, it's deceptive, and it works, so hockey players who want to light the lamp should work on this shot twice as much as they do the slap shot. Hockey fans—and players—love a big, fast, and loud slap shot. But what both fans and players like more is seeing the puck go into the net behind the opposing goalie. Nearly half of all goals are scored with wrist shots around the net, more by far than with slap shots. In fact, slap shots come in third behind wrist shots and snap shots. That's why learning the hockey wrist shot mechanics is so important to your game.
The Hockey Wrist Shot Explained in Four Steps
1. The Preparation
- Start with your feet shoulder width apart and perpendicular to the target.
- Bend your knees to achieve a good athletic stance so you can easily transfer your weight.
- Place the puck several feet away from your body and behind your rear foot.
- Slide your dominant hand down the stick until your hands are about shoulder width or more apart.
- Keep your hands away from your body, not tucked in close.
2. The Weight Transfer
- To begin the shot, shift your weight onto the back leg slightly, moving your upper body and hips back.
- As you pull the puck forward, you shift your weight to the front foot moving your upper body and hips forward.
- Your head should move from over your back skate to over your front skate as your upper body and hips shift forward with the weight transfer.
- Your weight should end up on your front skate as you push off with the inside edge of your rear skate.
- As your weight transfers forward and just before release, open your front foot toward the target.
3. The Wrist Shot
- To begin the shot, you'll want to cup the puck with your blade to protect the puck and position your stick. The puck should be positioned behind your rear skate by several feet.
- As you drag the puck forward and the puck reaches your front foot, your hands should be away from your body and your top hand should be well out in front of the puck.
- The shot happens as you pull with your top hand toward your body and push with your bottom hand toward the target. The result is to shoot the puck toward the net.
4.The Follow-Through
As your bottom hand shoots the puck, follow through by rolling your wrist over and pointing your stick at the target.To shoot high, follow through high and leave the blade a little bit open. To shoot low, follow through low and close the blade.Speed and Accuracy Are Keys to Improving the Wrist Shot
Work on your wrist shot from a variety of distances and angles, and at different velocities. Practice getting the puck up over the goalie’s pads from short distances. Many wrist shots will have a better chance of beating the goalie when you get them off quickly, whereas sometimes accuracy is better. But developing a quick shot that is also accurate will make you deadly with the puck around the net.
Pro Tips to Improve Your Wrist Shot
“What makes an elite player,” says David A. Jensen, who owns and operates DAJ Hockey, New England’s premier hockey skills training company, “are solid fundamentals and a lot of practice.” As a former Olympian and NHL player, he should know—and he credits his father for really driving home the importance of good fundamentals when Jensen was just starting out on skates. Jensen takes a similar approach in his hockey clinics around the Northeast.
Here are Jensen’s top three fundamentals of a good hockey wrist shot:
1. Good Hockey Stance
The basic starting point for almost all hockey skills—from shooting to skating to checking—is a good hockey position, or hockey stance. In a proper hockey stance, your skates are about shoulder width apart, your knees are bent, your core muscles are engaged, your hands are up and in front of you, and your head is up. This position provides balance, strength, and the ability to focus power in one direction. The value of a good hockey stance is immeasurable, and every player should work on perfecting the position.
For the wrist shot, a good hockey stance is key because you need to maintain balance, engage your core muscles, and drive off your legs to achieve a powerful shot. If you are standing too upright or you’re off balance, you won’t be able to focus the energy of the shot toward the goal.
2. Proper Weight Transfer
Although it’s called a “wrist” shot, the true power of the shot comes from the lower body, not the arms or wrists. According to Jensen, a lot of younger players try to use their upper body to “muscle” the puck forward, but the result is usually quite weak. Instead, you want to use the bigger muscles in your legs and core to drive your body and the puck toward the target.
Begin with the puck a couple feet behind your back skate, with the puck cupped by your stick blade. Jensen calls this position “locked and loaded.” (If you start with the puck too far forward, you end up with what he refers to as “half a wrist shot.”) As you start to move the puck toward the goal, engage your core muscles and drive off your back leg, transferring your weight from your back leg to your front leg—the same way a baseball hitter does during the swing. At the start of the shot, your nose should be above your back knee, and you should finish with your nose above your front knee.
This sounds easier than it is at first, and it takes some time to get the balance just right during the weight transfer. That’s why the proper hockey stance is so important: It gives you a well-balanced starting point to build on. As you become more comfortable with this weight transfer, you’ll see the power of your wrist shot increase.
3. A Focused Follow-Through
It doesn’t do much good to have a powerful shot if you can’t hit the target, so it’s also vital that your release point and follow-through help you deliver the puck with accuracy. Jensen argues that players often don’t finish their shots properly, which makes it harder to hit the target. There are two keys to a proper follow-through—one based on evolution and one based on technique.
It sounds so simple that it should go without saying, but you should look straight at the spot you’re shooting for. We humans have evolved complex systems that combine muscle memory and the magic of binocular vision. The same adaptations that helped a Neanderthal hit a deer with a spear can help you pick out the top corner of the goal with the puck. The eyes tell the projectile where to go, and muscle memory makes that happen. One way to ensure you’re focused on accuracy is to finish the shooting motion with your nose pointed at the target.
This method works only if the actual shooting motion lines up with your gaze. Jensen tells his students to make sure the blade of the stick is pointing to the target at the end of the follow-through, as well. If your eyes and the stick blade are in sync, the puck will travel to the intended spot on goal.
By focusing on Jensen’s three fundamental aspects of the wrist shot, you will create a base you can build on throughout your career. To take wrist shots from different positions, you’ll need to adjust your hand and body positions, but the importance of a proper hockey stance, good weight transfer, and a focused follow-through will never diminish. Master these skills, and you’ll be on your way to constant improvement as a player.