How to check and pin
To begin learning how to check and pin a player into the boards, You first need to get into a nice and low and wide hockey stance, while checking your stance will be slightly lower than usual, this will give you a low centre of gravity increasing your balance and control on the ice.
The reason for maintaining a wide stance is again to help with balance and control, your just more stable and sold with your feet slightly over shoulder width apart rather than them close together.
Delivering the check
Begin by contacting your opponent against the boards, by this time you’ve been able to ensure they will not escape as you attempt to check them. In order to successfully check roll and pin them, you’ll want to aim for their side so you contact them side to side, shoulder to shoulder. Over placing your check can either result in your pinning their arms and stick to the boards giving you a chance to take the puck or this could give them the chance to sharply stop and go the opposite way. On the other hand, under placing the check could result in totally missing the player. Contacting them shoulder to shoulder is the best method.
Upper body action
Remember to keep your chest up, shoulders square to the boards. Taking a closer look at contacting them shoulder to shoulder, you’ll want your shoulder off set to theirs so your shoulder is very very slightly behind theirs, this gives you the leverage to roll them onto their chest. Remember while your doing all of this they’ll be trying to break free, all your power and force will be coming from your outside or centre ice leg as shown below.
Use this leg to generate all your power and push hard to hold them on the boards.
Lower body
While contacting your opponent the rules of keeping a wide base and low stance still apply (giving your a low centre of gravity and a good level of control). As touched on earlier, all of your power will be generated from your centre ice leg as shown above, you’ll be using the inside edge of this skate to push powerfully and hard! into the ice enabling you to push powerfully into the opponent on the boards.
You’ll then begin to use your upper body to roll your opponents check onto the boards, at the same time you’ll begin to move your leg closest to the boards between your opponents two legs, this will prevent them from establishing good footing on the ice to push back against your properly but most importantly it will prevent them from going in either direction (left or right) as your leg is between theirs. While all of this is taking placing, you’ll be using your centre ice foot to really push and hold them on the boards while you use your stick to take the puck.
Key points
- Keep your stick down and on the ice
- Remember to maximise on contact with the player (contact points are shoulder to shoulder and sides of legs to sides of legs before rolling them over)
- Wide and low base
- Remember to keep your chest up, shoulders square to the boards (helps to prevent injury on yourself)
- Push and get power from your centre ice leg as shown in the image
- Roll your leg closest to the boards between your opponents legs
- Push hard and hold them there
