Hockey stop

Both feet turned sideways together, parallel, and skidded to a stop.

Also called side stop, parallel stop or parallel side stop. Other names.

Not checked yet. The mechanics on this page are a first draft by a non-expert, and no coach has seen them yet. Read them as a starting point and check them with a coach. Corrections are very welcome.

Travelling forwards, you turn both feet sideways together, parallel, and skid to a stop. It is a fifth-level skill in Learn to Skate USA. New Zealand’s KiwiSkate calls it the forward two-foot parallel side stop and assesses it both ways, turning to the left and to the right, at its Novice 2 badge. Ice Skating Australia teaches it in the second level of its hockey stream.

All three name the stop, and none of them, in the documents this guide holds, describes how it is done: how far the blades tip, where the weight goes, what the upper body does as the feet turn. Those are a coach’s to give. This page says what the stop is and where it sits, and no more until a published description or a coach fills it in.

Build on

• Snowplough stopBoth stop by skidding the blades. New Zealand teaches the snowplough at its first badge and the parallel side stop at Novice 2.

Appears in