Your first step before any hockey stick handling skills training should be to make sure that your stick is the right height for you.

Although there is no one fit all method for the proper stick height, a good starting point would be without your skates on your hockey stick should just touch your chin with your head slightly tilted upward.

At this point it is now a matter of refining the height of your hockey stick to suit your style of play.

If your stick is too long you will notice a difficulty in properly controlling the puck close to your body. This will greatly negatively affect your ability to deke in close quarters and to reposition the puck for a quick release shot.

If your stick is too short you will lose stick handling range to quickly move the puck away from defenders also you will be forced shoot the puck closer to your body losing shot speed.

Don’t get too caught up with trying to get to the exact stick length right away, generally by using our guidelines above you will be able to get to the right length within a practice.

If you are using a composite stick, even if you cut the stick too short you can always buy a “plug” which slides into the shaft to extend the length of your stick.

So don’t be afraid to play around with your hockey stick length to find the best length for your style of play; the benefits you will receive from playing with the right length of stick far out-weigh trying to adapt your style to your stick length.