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The “Punch Turn” is a different type of turn. It’s usually used when a player is trying to create time and space in a small area, or trying to be deceptive when attacking an opposing player. Other names you may have heard it been called before is a “half stop” or a “hybrid turn”. It helps players change direction quickly and allows them to attack in a different way.
As part of this skating technique, the skate that opens up has to find the flat of the blade, if players are on their inside/outside edge, this is when players catch an edge and sometimes fall down. While one skate has opened up on the flat, the other skate is on the inside edge, almost like a tight turn, hence one of the names being “hybrid turn”, one foot looks like it is stopping, while the other foot is tight turning.
For this blog, we will look at the punch turn used in different areas. Attacking the defenseman and using the punch turn while you are at the top speed can help create separation. When you are down low, using the punch turn creates that deception that can help you to escape from pressure.
Having the ability to be agile and good on your edges (inside and outside) is part of the game now. The punch turn is a useful skill to learn and to add to part of your game.
Five key points when teaching this technique are:
Below, I’ve outlined a five-drill progression that you can use to help your players work on the “Punch Turn”. All drills can be found in the CoachThem Marketplace so you can easily add them to your personal playbook.
The below Practice Plan can be found in our Marketplace under Punch Turn.
On blue line:
Blog by CoachThem Contributor, Mitch Giguere
Mitch Giguere, ChPC, an assistant coach with the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL, affiliated with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Mitch has his High Performance 2 from Hockey Canada, Advanced Coaching Diploma from the Canadian Sport Institute and is finishing his Learning Accelerator at the Canadian Sport Institute. You can follow his popular video breakdown on Social Media for more excellent hockey content.
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