One thing that many players who don’t reach their potential have in common is that they never learn to power skate. Power skating is absolutely crucial training for any player that wants to make it to elite levels, and even for those who just want to have a good time, the changes power skating can make in your game are incredible.
Skating by nature is a completely unnatural movement; in fact, hockey is the only major sport that revolves around a movement no human naturally knows how to do. Teaching yourself to skate is doable, but without instruction, you’ll only be able to go so far, regardless of how much you practice. The reason is that tiny adjustments in your skating stride can have huge impacts on your overall speed and agility on skates. Players who never seek power skating training never realize the small flaws in their technique, and spend their entire lives re-enforcing bad habits that hold them back their entire hockey careers.
You’ll be hard pressed to find any elite level hockey player that never took a power skating course, if not many power skating courses. These courses are available for players of all ages. They aren’t just for kids. Plenty of adult classes run at arenas all over the United States and Canada. Power skating classes also aren’t expensive, and when you consider the long term benefits and the ability for the classes to open up your game, you owe it to yourself as a player to at least look into seeking skating instruction.