The article is titled, “On Assignment: Nine Eyes on the Prize“, and it’s by Nicholas Loomis. In it, Loomis interviews Getty Images’ Bruce Bennett, a very well known sports photographer who is recording somewhat of a pictorial history of the current Olympic hockey tournament. (Have a read if you get the chance; it’s a pretty interesting article.)

Anyway, partway through the article, Bennett says, “Sports photographers often complain that hockey is difficult to shoot. It’s fast. It’s unpredictable. It’s played with a tiny rubber disc that you have to track through a scuffed-up piece of plexiglass as it zooms over a frictionless surface at speeds topping 100 miles an hour.”

Ya, as I said earlier, hockey IS unpredictable. (Thanks, Kathy!)

I’d tend to agree with you on the outcome of that sprint between a runner and a speed skater. I think a skater would initially be slow off the mark with those long blades. However — and as you say, each of the skater’s subsequent thrusts and glides would likely carry him or her farther than each of the sprinter’s strides.

As for the figure skaters, I agree with you on some points, and I might disagree on some others… I am very familiar with “compulsory figures”. As a matter of fact, I’ve modeled some of my skating drills after those, as a means of teaching edges. However, we hockey types have to be careful about getting too hung-up on the figure skater’s way of doing things. In general, their sport is planned, while the hockey player’s game is basically helter-skelter, requiring quick reactions to whatever might need to be done next. I also eventually abandon those big, pretty figure skating cross-overs once a player has learned to control his or her edges. For, a defensive hockey player can’t react while dangling one leg way up in the air.

As for that visual stuff… Wow! That would be an interesting study, although I’m not sure how one would undertake it. Let me really think on that for awhile, though. Also, we can always pray that someone with an expertise in that area will weigh-in.

Thanks again for that, Dana!

When I was growing up, learning how to skate and attending hockey schools, I was amazed to see the amount of negative attitude towards figure skaters. Our power skating school was run by figure skaters. They were able to extract the best outcome out of each individual stroke. Compulsories are no longer part of the Olympics, but if you were to watch one of these events, you would understand how figure skaters are able to generate so much speed, power and control. The deceiving part is that they make it look so easy on tv.

I’m still convinced that most hockey players are never taught how to generate the greatest result from each stroke. Most players choose to expend more energy to achieve the desired result.

Most hockey players have a stride that moves to the back. A figure skaters stride is to the side. it’s counter intuitive, but I’ve seen it in action. Amazing.

As usual, coach points out the fact that it’s not just about going straight from point a to point b. There are a lot of factors involved in being a great hockey player than going fast.

I’m still looking forward to a discussion on peripheral vision (size of native field of focus), eye travel (how fast the eye is able to move up down or side to side) and eye refocusing (how quickly the eye is able to refocus after it has changed location) as it relates to a players performance.

My apologies for the ramble.