The AI Beer League Hockey Training Experiment 2.0

Can AI actually help you become a better beer league player?

In this episode of the Beer Leaguer podcast, we revisit the idea of using AI for hockey advice. Last time, it was ChatGPT, this time, we put Claude through the same kind of beer league hockey questions and see whether the answers have gotten better, more practical, or just weirder.

Links

• Claude Transcripts
• Claude AI
• Original AI Episode
• 3D Printing Stick-handling Aids at Home

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

One of the biggest things going on, really just in the world in general right now, is using AI to do everything. So can AI actually help you be a better beer league hockey player? Hey everybody, Beer League here with another episode of the Beer League podcast. We're actually going to be revisiting a topic that we talked about a little over two years ago that has just becoming more and more relevant. We're going to be talking about can AI help you be a better beer league hockey player? Alright, so last time we did this, we used Chat GPT because that was kind of the big thing at the time. That was really the only kind of like mass used AI. I mean, just two years ago, that seems like forever ago. But today we're going to actually be plugging in the exact same questions we asked previously into Claude, uh, which is another AI that's being used. I don't know which one's the biggest one being used for business stuff now, but it's another one. We're gonna try it out, we're gonna see what it says, see if it gives anything ridiculous, or maybe we get surprised. All right, so the first thing I'm gonna ask it is super basic. What

What is beer league hockey?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

is beer league hockey? Alright, beer league hockey is recreational amateur ice hockey played by adults mostly for fun rather than serious competition. The name comes from the tradition of having beers together after the game, which is often as much the point as the hockey itself. Okay, that's true. Um, it goes on to say a couple of the characteristics that define it is that players are adults of all skill levels. Um the vibe is low stakes and social. Uh, no checking allowed in most beer leagues, that's true. Uh the beer part is fairly literal in a lot of leagues uh where teams head to the bar afterwards or crack open drinks in the locker room. It's a big part of the camaraderie. Oh, and hey, it's especially popular in Canada and the northern United States. It's a common way for adults to stay active, keep playing the sport they love, and socialize. I think that's pretty true. Um I think that this got this right on. I think this is better than the last time it answered. It's it's a much more succinct, uh, better sounding answer. I will also note here, uh, for any of those that are listening to this purely on the audio version, check the show notes. I will have a link to a page that will have the full transcript of everything from this. So you don't have to hear me just read walls and walls of text. We're gonna summarize it as we go, but go check out the show notes or head over to thebeerleaguer.com, get the full everything, and read all the stuff yourself so you can see what you think if you think it's giving good answers. Alright, the next prompt here that we have for it is pretty simple,

How do i get better at beer league hockey?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

how do I get better at beer league hockey? Alright, improving a beer league hockey is mostly about working on fundamentals that pay off disproportionately at the recreational level, since most beer league players have gaps you can exploit just by being a bit more consistent. I I feel like that's kind of a dig. I mean, it's true. That's kind of mean. That's totally true. Alright, talks about skating as king. Definitely true. Keep your head up and play simple. Uh, a huge amount of beer league offense comes from just making the easy, smart play instead of trying to stick handle through three people. Wow, that that that's actually really that that's good advice. Uh getting open spaces and call for the puck. Um, I don't know if I would say calling for the puck is always great, but getting to open spaces and looking for the puck is good. Shoot more and shoot quicker. Uh conditioning matters more than you'd think. I mean it does. Um but yeah, it it helps a lot. Uh watch better players and steal their habits. That that's a very good yeah, it's a good idea. It says notice how the good players in your league rarely look rushed, how they coast into position rather than chasing, how they protect the puck with their body. Yeah, that's good stuff. Uh a practical routine, hit stick and puck or a skill session once a week if you can. Focus on one specific thing each time rather than just skating around and do some off-ice conditioning. Even modest cardio and legwork translates directly to the ice. Yeah, no, that's actually that is actually a very good answer uh here at how to get better. Um that that is a much better answer than we got last time we did this. This seems very much uh practical takeaways and nothing too crazy. So I like that. Alright, next up we

How can i learn hockey game strategy?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

have is how can I learn hockey game strategy? That's something a lot of beer leaguers struggle with, of just learning where you're supposed to be, because it says get you know, get open. How do I get open? What does that mean? So let's see if we can give a good answer here, some good insight into this. Learning hockey strategy works best if you build it in layers, starting with the concepts that actually come up every shift rather than diving into complex systems you'll never use in a rec game. Here's how I'd approach it. Uh start with core principles that underline all hockey strategy, uh, because systems are just specific applications of these. Alright, it says the big ones are support the puck, maintain good spacing so you're not clustered together, and understand the concept of the triangle. Wow, that's okay. Uh on defense, it says it flips, take away time and space, stay between your man and the net, and don't get caught running around chasing the puck. Yeah, those, I mean, super simple strategies. Uh, for those who don't know, the concept of the triangle in an offensive setting is generally it's the three forwards, uh, because usually you're talking three forwards kind of down towards the net and two defensemen up by the blue line. Obviously, this can change if you know a defenseman goes down low and hopefully you have a forward going back and covering them. It's just keeping those three people in a triangle moving around. Uh, that's really the idea is you don't want to have two people clustered right next to each other, more than likely. You want to have a triangle uh formed by those three people around the net. So you don't have you know all three people on one side of the net. Uh, generally, you don't want two people behind the net. Uh, you don't want everybody over in front of the net, you know, way up high in the slot. You'd like one person in front of the net, maybe two people in the slot, or people on both sides of the net, one person in the middle of the slot, something like that. But it's the idea of keeping a triangle uh on offense. Uh, it's a very basic way that usually you do that, and they mention it here. Uh, for defensive structures, um learn uh the biggest thing to learn is positional defense in your own zone. Uh saying generally cover the net in the corners, center supports low and helps down low, wingers cover the points. Yeah, this I mean, this is actually I'm impressed so far. This is actually pretty good uh laid out basic stuff. This is the kind of stuff I see people asking about and wondering about for very basic beer league things, um, and not getting uh too crazy complex on offense, learn the basics of breakouts, cycle the puck around. Um also doesn't hear the cycle is huge in beer league because it lets a possessing team wear down tired defenders. That's really true. I mean, that's pretty much every level of beer league, and that's honestly all levels of hockey, but I think it is the most effective in beer league. If you can keep the puck in the offensive zone for it doesn't have to be a super long time. You know, in the NHL, it's a big deal if they keep the puck in the zone for 30 seconds. Uh, that's a huge, huge thing. In beer league, if you can keep it in the zone for you know a couple of shots, you probably have people getting tired, you probably have goalie getting tired. So any kind of cycle and keeping pucks in does make a huge difference on offense. Uh talks about getting in the neutral zone and four-checking, which, yep, good luck with that, trying to get things like that. Uh, for actually learning all this, a few resources work well. It recommends YouTube channels like the hockey guy. I don't know how much he would help with uh specifically playing things. I mean, he is a fun YouTube channel. Uh, he doesn't really talk too much about hockey playing, but sure. Uh, Coach Jeremy from How to Hockey, definitely. And Weekend Warriors. Um, that is a company that does like three-day, I think they are, uh, camps all around the US uh that are for beer leaguers specifically. Uh is another great thing. Um else do we have here is uh talk about off-puck awareness. And oh, here you go, near at the end. The fastest the fastest accelerant, though, is talking to your team. Yes, I a hundred percent agree. Even a five-minute conversation before a game about okay, what's our breakout, who's covering the net, gets everyone on the same page and makes the abstract strategy concrete. I cannot agree with that more. Uh, if you've listened to other episodes where I talk about these things, those are things that I definitely, definitely talk about. Uh, is just talking. Just, you know, it doesn't have to be a huge thing about strategy, but just a little bit of talking to make sure everybody's on the same page can make a huge, huge difference. So I agree with you, Claude. You're doing a good job so far. Okay,

What should I watch for in professional games to learn hockey strategy?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

next question is what should I watch for in professional games to learn hockey strategy? Because that is something that's always talked about and it's always brought up. Watch the pros, see what they do, try and pick up stuff from there. Okay, it starts off with watching programs to learn strategy requires a deliberate shift in how you watch, because the natural instinct is to follow the puck, and the puck is where the least useful learning is. The strategy lives in what everyone else is doing. Once again, I'm uh I'm pretty impressed here. I I agree with this. Saying watch away from the puck, uh, see what players are doing to get open, to keep open passing lanes, taking away space defensively, that that's super useful. Watch defensive zone coverage. Uh it's saying to pause the game and notice the structure. Again, the I agree with that. Uh watch breakouts in slow motion. If you can do that, that does help for sure. Uh, watch the support around the puck carrier. Count how many passing options the puck carrier has at any moment. Pros almost always have two or three because teammates work to support. Notice the spacing, they're close enough to pass, but far enough that one defender can't cover two of them. That is very good strategy. Uh, especially in lower-level beer leagues, you will see when somebody has the puck, is not just does the defense tend to just kind of collapse down and you have, you know, two, three people covering one person, is the offense a lot of times that whoever's supposed to be supporting them kind of does the same thing. So if somebody has, you know, a breakaway or even a slight breakaway, you know, they have someone that's going with them, which is great. So they have a passing option, but they'll be, you know, three feet away from them. And that that doesn't help. It doesn't help a lot because you don't have to really guard that person because you can just guard the puck carrier, and if that person is three feet to the side, it gets the puck. You just turn and you're already guarding that person. So spacing, that is a very good thing to watch uh in the pros to kind of notice that and hopefully bring that in your game. Uh watch the neutral zone, that's where a lot of strategy hides it says. Uh, watch what happens after a face-off. I think that is something I think is very underrated for Beer League. Uh, not necessarily having set face-off plays all the time, but just watching where people go and how they handle, you know, offensively and defensively like the couple moments after a face-off, like the next one or two beats after a face-off happens, you know. Do the defensemen on offense automatically just pull back to the blue line, or do they stay where they're at? Do they spread out uh on offense? Do the wingers just crash the net right away? Do they move to the corners? Do they go to the slots? I think watching stuff like that and kind of learning maybe some different things to try, that can make a big difference. Uh, I know when I play, some of the things that against certain teams, it can really, really make a big difference is you know, simple things like offensive face-off. Do you have both wingers kind of stack on the inside of the face-off, and one person just goes straight to the net, and one person, you know, either stays in the slot or gets tries to get the puck to them right away. Uh, something like that can actually make a big difference, and it's an easy play. Uh, so watch what happens after a face-off with the pros. Not necessarily for everything they do, but for just little things like that, I think can really help out a lot of people and be really useful. I'll say with quotes, play that you can run off of a face-off that can definitely help. Uh, it does put here at the end one realistic caveat. Pro hockey is so fast, and the players are so skilled that some of what works for them won't transfer to beer league, where everyone's slower and the structure breaks down constantly. Ouch. I mean, true, but ouch. So watch to absorb principles, support spacing, positional discipline, rather than to copy specific high-end plays. The principles are what's scared down scale down to your level. I think that that is another uh good point. I think a lot of people say that they're going to watch, you know, the pros and get ideas for what to do in Beer League and you know how to play their game. And the things they pick up on is oh cool, I'm gonna try, you know, crazy breakout move I saw McDavid do. Like that that's that's great, but that's probably not what you should be watching to try and pick up on. Uh, try and pick up on you know how he got the puck and where he was moving to or something like that, and do those types of things. Uh, this is also where I say I really like if you're trying to watch a game to learn hockey principles, I really like watching uh some of the minor league teams, college teams, and also women's hockey. Um, because I think that they end up doing a lot more kind of structured things that are easier to see and more transferable to bigger league, more so than watching NHL games, where a lot of times it is players are so skilled and so fast that you're really almost waiting for something to break down for players to take advantage of. So it's not necessarily something that they've uh planned out to do. Whereas kind of that slight step down uh in some of the speed of the game, I think really translates a lot easier to being able to see what's going on and pick up what's happening uh in the game and see these kind of principles and the different things that players are doing versus just waiting for someone to you know extend too far to try and do a hit or or a poke jack or something like that, and then watching a guy who just has you know game breaker speed take off. Um because that's not necessarily something that most beer leaguers uh can do. So I think that's true, but I think also watching some of the other stuff that is not just NHL when you say pros is also a big help that you can have. Okay,

What is the most important part of beer league hockey?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

next question here is what is the most important part of beer league hockey? Let's see if it gets this right. The most important part of Beer League hockey is the part that's right there in the name. It's the social side, the camaraderie, the hanging out afterward. Beer league exists, so adults can play a game they love, stay active, and spend time with people. The hockey is the vehicle, the connection is the point. Uh goes on to give a longer answer than that, uh, with things, but basically the uh that's the gist of it. Talks about some of the other uh being someone people want to be see on the bench, reliable, good humored, gracious when you lose, generous with the buck. Matters more the longevity of the whole the whole thing than your wrist shot ever will. So getting better is a great goal, and there's real satisfaction in it. Just hold it alongside the thing that actually makes Beer League worth doing, showing up, playing hard, and enjoying the people you're out there with. Okay, yeah, no, I think that that is another good answer. I yeah, I agree with that. Uh that that's uh uh uh really what Beer League is all about. It's all about getting to uh do something fun with a bunch of people. People that eventually become your friends, hopefully, and uh getting to meet new friends and having a group of having a group of adults that otherwise you wouldn't get to meet that at very least you have one common thing with that you all like playing hockey. Uh so you can talk about hockey if nothing else. So yeah, I think that that is the most important part of beer league hockey. So good job. Good good job, AI. Your your answers are getting a lot better. Also, I've noticed they are a lot shorter than when we did this before, a lot more succinct, which is nice. Okay,

How should I work on my skating technique?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

on to the next question we have is how should I work on my skating technique? Something that I think most beer leaguers want to do, especially low-level beer leaguers, because low-level beer leaguers, we are generally not good skaters and did not grow up skating. So this is something that we're always trying to work on. Uh, skating is the highest leverage thing you can work on, so being deliberate about it rather than just skating laps. The key shift in mindset is that skating improvement comes from drilling specific movements with intent, not from accumulating mileage. Okay, I I I think that makes sense, although I do think that there is something to just skating more to help you out, but I can see the idea of that. I agree. Um, let's see here what else it's talking about is going to stick and puck sessions. Um yeah, the mistake most adults make is only ever skating games where you're reacting and never isolating a skill. I totally agree that if you can do any kind of skating away from that, and stick and puck is a much better place to do things than just like an open skate, because with open skates, all you get to do is go around a circle, probably one direction. That's all you're doing. Um, and that's why you have a lot of these people. I chuckle because it's such a common thing, it's people that you know know how to ice skate. You know, they're not falling down and stuff, but they go to start playing hockey, and they can really only turn and stop and do stuff in one direction because their entire skating career is them going to open skate, and very rarely do you see open skates do you see them ever reverse how you go? So it's really just one direction around and around and around and around, and that's all anybody knows how to turn or stop or do anything in one direction. And as soon as in hockey you have to go the other way, don't know how to do it. You just can't do it because you've never done it. Um, so stick and puck is good because you can kind of skate all over the place. You know, you can turn left, turn right, stop on your left, stop on your right, stuff like that. Go backwards if you want. Uh, also, generally, it's not as packed at most stick and puck sessions. So hopefully you don't have to worry about you know little little kids being behind you that you're gonna fall over, or younger kids that are really good at skating just flying around and trying to knock you over. Uh, so yeah, stick and puck. Much better than a public skate. Uh, also gives some specific things to try drilling. L edges and balance come first. Yep. Uh knee bend is the unglamorous fix that changes the most. Wow, that's so true. Uh, I mean, I think that's kind of the universal thing of how do I become a better skater is just get lower. Because everybody thinks you know they're betting their knees enough, and you're not. I say this as someone that skates very standing up. Um, yeah, that that's that's kind of a harsh truth there. Uh stopping on both sides, you know, even says almost everyone has a strong side and a side they avoid. I can say from personal experience, I mean I definitely do have a strong side. I have a side that I will definitely default to when stopping. Uh, but that is something for the first couple years I really did work on stopping on kind of my my weak side for it. And I can do it, I can do it consistently. Uh, I do do it regularly in games, but I definitely do stop on my strong side more. Um, because if it doesn't really matter, you know, if it's not, I need to keep you know my body in a certain way, uh, I will go uh default to strong side, but that does make a big difference, uh, being able to stop on both sides. Uh crossovers forward and backwards. Yeah, that's good. Drill them in circles both directions, focusing on actually crossing the outside leg fully. There is so much stuff out there about crossovers and skating nowadays because there's different ways that people do crossovers. Uh if you guys keep up on any of the I don't know how you put it, kind of the the new ways of skating. Uh, there's lots and lots of different ways that people do crossovers now, uh, different mechanics for it and things. So if you thought you weren't good at doing kind of the classic crossovers. Crossovers, which is I think what this is talking about of you know going around usually the face-off uh circle and just doing like the classic crossovers each way and backwards. There's a lot of different ways up there for people like McDavid, I guess, and stuff uh and Eichel and a couple of these other guys have popularized doing some kind of more choppy crossovers that are more about like generating speed in the same direction you're going. Whereas I was always taught before that crossovers were more of a way for generating speed, like for changing directions, you know, either going from forward to back or vice versa, or like for going a turn or something. Whereas a lot of these guys now are using crossovers for even if you're just skating forward, using like these kind of more choppy crossovers to just generate speed uh going in the same direction. Um, so if you're having trouble with crossovers, definitely something to kind of look up more of these more modern ways of doing crossovers. Like you find tons of stuff online about it, a bunch of different ways that people are doing it. Uh, and everyone kind of does them a little bit differently. Uh, so different than kind of the classic crossover that you're thinking of. So definitely would recommend checking those out if you're having trouble, or if you just want to learn some new skating techniques. Uh, stride mechanics. Yep, that's a different uh it's definitely a good thing to work on. Uh and it has on here about stride mechanics, you know, film yourself. That does help. It is painful to watch, uh, but it does help. Uh, the gap between what you think you're doing and what you're actually doing, especially on knee bend and stride extension, is enormous and you can't fix what you can't see. Yeah, that's very true. Uh, filming yourself, you might feel ridiculous, and you're definitely going to look ridiculous to yourself watching it, but you know, like I said, you're never bending low enough. You're I'm sure most people, you know, if you film yourself, you think you're getting very low, you think you're fully extending your leg on every stride, and you're probably not. So filming yourself definitely can make a good difference. Uh, so it's good. Uh, off-ice work, talking about doing some off-ice stuff like squats and lunges and single leg balance things, definitely good. Uh, consider a few power skating sessions or lessons. Yep. Yeah, no, 100% agree. Uh, once again, another good answer with some I would say practical advice. So I think that that's I like that it's giving a little bit more practical advice versus just kind of overarching uh ideas like we got last time. Okay, uh, what can I do to improve my stick

What can I do to improve my stickhandling skills?

SPEAKER_00 24:39

handling skills? That is the next question. Because we've improved our skating so much, now we need to improve our stick handling to catch up to it. Uh but saying here, uh the core principles is reps with soft hands and your head up. Stick handling is a feel skill. It lives in your hands and your wrists, not your eyes. The whole goal of practice is to build the feel until you don't need to look at the puck. Yeah, that's uh that's a good way of putting it. Uh start with a ball or stick handling ball at home. Uh says a green hockey ball. I think it's getting confuser. I think it's thinking kind of I think it's combining like a green biscuit and a hockey stick handling ball, or even a golf ball. Uh on smooth surfaces, mimics the puck well enough and lets you practice anywhere. Golf balls are great. Uh talks about like just doing it while you watch TV. Consistency of small daily reps beats occasional long sessions for this type of motor learning. Yeah, a golf ball is great. Um, they are awful to stick handle with because they are small, they kind of bounce around, uh, and they're a little bit tougher to control, but that makes it great, especially if it's on a harder surface. Uh, I'd be careful if you're doing any of this stuff like on hardwood floors or though, on hardwood floors or anything like that, because if you're like kind of doing choppy or even like hard sweeping motions with your hockey stick, uh you're probably gonna mess up the floor. You're gonna at very least get tape marks on the floor. Um, so this is where having a small pad of some sort to do this on really helps. You know, you don't need a full shooting pad or anything. You can buy a shooting pad specifically for it, but this is where you know, going up to the you know, your big box home improvement store and getting a piece of like whiteboard material uh is kind of the big one to get, or just kind of anything, really. If you're gonna use like a golf ball, you don't need anything in that even that slidey. You know, you can you can get like a small piece of uh project wood board or something like that. Uh that'll even work. Uh maybe you even have that around uh that you can use. And that is a way that you could use like a golf ball or a uh training ball uh for things. Uh I would recommend against using a tennis ball. Uh I think we all used tennis balls back in the day for like street hockey and stuff like that, because that's probably what you had, and you didn't, you know, didn't have anything else you could use. Uh, but tennis balls do not mimic a hockey puck almost in any way, shape, or form. I mean, it's better than nothing, but it's gonna feel very different uh for it. And they're kind of like how a golf ball doesn't feel like a hockey puck, but a golf ball is smaller and bouncier, so it's more difficult. So if you get good with a golf ball, it is almost easier to get good with a hockey puck, whereas the tennis ball is the opposite, it's big, it's clunky, it's bouncy, but not that bouncy for things, not bouncy in the same way. So if you get good with a tennis ball, it's like a step below getting to uh good with a hockey puck, if that makes sense. It's still harder to then get used to the hockey puck feel. So golf ball, definitely over a tennis ball for sure, uh, for it. Uh that talks about some specific patterns to learn, uh, side to sides, wide dribbles and tight dribbles, front to back, toe drags, figure eights around things, uh, and get your head up as soon as you can. Um, that is definitely, definitely a good, good idea has here. Um, has some ideas for different ways to you know try stuff. I think the biggest thing here it's is really getting your head up while you're doing all this. Um, I think the watching TV is a good way. One of the things that I've heard people do with kids, and I think it applies to adults too when they learn stick handle, is you know, while you're watching hockey, um while while you're uh watching a hockey game on TV, have your setup so you can practice some stick handling. And you know, hey, during every uh TV timeout, which it's only like two minutes, every TV timeout, I am going to uh you know watch the you know, have my head up to watch the commercials and stick handle that whole time. Try and stick handle, you know, and the first time is going to be going back and forth, and the second time is gonna be going front to back and doing something like that. That is, I think, a really easy way to consistently work on your stick handling, and you know, you're doing it like while the commercial's on, so you you know you're not missing the game uh if you you know mess the puck around. But it's also it gives you like multiple blocks to be doing it, you know, that those happen usually three times a period, so it's giving you those blocks to do stuff. Well, some people do things like that uh around like hey, every every time there's a power play, I'm gonna watch it, you know, keep my head up so I can watch the game while it's going on, but stick handle and do the same kind of a thing. So I think having something like that set up uh is kind of a nice, easy way to get into a routine of stick handling regularly.

How can I enhance my hockey shooting accuracy?

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Okay, next question. How can I enhance my hockey shooting accuracy? You know, because we've gotten to be great skaters, we now can handle the puck like nobody's business. How can we become better at shooting? Uh, the core principle is that accuracy comes from a consistent repeatable release plus deliberate aiming. You can't aim a motion that's different every time. So the foundation is grooving a clean wrist shot you can repeat, then layering target on targeting on top. Uh, so start with the wrist shot because it's the most accurate and most useful shot in beer league by far. I would agree. Um I think everybody should have a reliable wrist shot, not necessarily saying good, but reliable, something that they are used to. I think that's better than you know, people always want to have the big booming slap shot. I think having a good wrist shot can really help. Uh you know, you can you can build on everything else, I think, from a wrist shot for it. You know, you can uh turn a wrist shot basically uh on a on a simplified level, really turn a wrist shot into a slap shot, and same thing, turn a wrist shot into like a snapshot uh kind of thing fairly easily. So I think if you have a good wrist shot that is your base, you can more easily transfer those skills into the other two, and that kind of gives you all three of the major shots that people have uh that they use. Uh so it's talking about getting, you know, building your fundamental, uh, your base, you know, weight transfer uh for things. And again, I'm not gonna I'm not reading this verbatim. Uh I don't think you guys want to hear me read the stuff verbatim for stuff, but I do definitely recommend checking out these full answers uh because there is some good stuff in here. Check out, I will have this in the show notes, a link directly to it, or as always, thebeerleager.com will have always has all the old podcast episodes and whatever the latest one is, and have links to everything on there for it. So if you want to get this full transcript, because you don't want to hear me just reading a wall of text. That that's well, maybe you do, maybe you do. Let me know if you do want me to hear me reading a wall of text because I will gladly sit here and read all this if you guys want. Uh so you kind of get your basics down, like I said, with weight transfer, uh, with follow-throughs, pointing the blade at your target. I think all the stuff if you've done any kind of learning how to shoot properly, stuff you know. Uh, and then it says to uh then build in the targeting. So always shoot at a specific spot, never just the net. Uh so it's talking about using different targets and things, even if you don't have targets, hanging anything or even just shooting at a spot on the net helps. Uh run the four corners and prioritize low. I think that is a great thing. Uh says here, beer league goalies like most goalies below the elite level are generally weakest low to the glove and blocker sides and on shots along the ice. A wrist shot to the bottom corners beats a goalie far more than one aim high, where you almost where you also risk missing the net entirely. Yeah, that is something that I think you see a lot more of in as you go from like the lowest level beer leaguers that generally can't probably raise the puck a lot, go up from there a little bit to people that can raise the puck, and they do everybody just wants to go bar down. And when you start wanting to just go bar down all the time, if you miss it, you're you're not hitting the net at all. Whereas if you are going low and you miss high, you're still gonna hit the net. And if you hit where you want to, or even you go lower than you wanted to, you know, you're still going towards the net. And low shots are great for your hopefully your teammates that are crashing the net uh looking to you know get putbacks, which is how a lot of stuff gets scored in beer league. Uh, you don't usually have people sniping goals, it's usually a lot of just dirty goals from in front of the net. You know, somebody takes a shot, somebody else tries to flip it back in, that gets blocked, and you know, you get a couple things like that where you have a couple people in front just digging away and trying to flip pucks over the goalie. Uh, and those low shots are what tend to do that. Trying to go high with it, if you like I said, if you miss it, you're probably going over the net. I mean, they look great, but they're not really generating as much offense uh as you would hope. So I definitely agree with that, is shooting low is really good. Uh gives some things to practice, uh make practice more productive, shooting off a proper surface. You know, it's talking about like a shooting pad. Um, saying volume here matters. I definitely agree with that. That the more and more you shoot, the more it kind of gets drilled into you. Uh, it is definitely kind of gets to be like a volume thing. Uh practice of shots you actually take in games. Yeah, this is one of those where it's tough to do at home. Uh, because at home, a lot of times you tend to have your setup of where you're shooting and like your net or whatever you're shooting at stay stationary and you're taking the same shot, you know, same distance, same angle all the time. Uh and that is something that I think gets lost a lot. You know, you're stationary and you're shooting the same thing always. You know, some people even have a setup where you're shooting straight on all the time. Whereas in a game, sometimes you're further back, sometimes you're super close, sometimes you're off, you know, generally you're off to a side shooting more. You're usually not always coming straight down the middle and shooting, you know, 15 feet straight on from you know the goal. Usually it's uh different setups for it. Um, so I think that if you can either you know just manipulating the net or your shooting surface, you know, so you are adjusting one of them so you're shooting at more angles and shooting you know closer and further, I think really can help you a lot. I also talks in here about stuff like shooting in stride and off of a quick stick handle and stuff like that. I think those are also things that a lot of people tend to neglect with it. Um, because very, very rarely when you're playing a game are you at a standstill, you know, 10 feet directly in front of the net with time to set up and take your shot. I I don't know if I ever see that happen for people. You know, you're moving, you're you know, picking up bad passes and fumbling them to try and get a shot off. You don't have room, so you're not fully extended, so you're having to like shoot close to yourself, things like that all the time. And that is stuff that you can really easily practice when you're at home shooting. And I think that's something more people should be doing. Uh, not just that straight-on, you know, basic shot. I think that is a good thing for getting reps in and really kind of honing, you know, your own steps for getting what you feel comfortable shooting with, you know, making sure you have, you know, the right arm swing and you know, you are doing the weight transfer and like you know, twisting of the hips and the follow-through and all that. I think that's really important to kind of get that down. But I think once you kind of have an idea of that, it's a really uh good thing to maybe even split up your training to have half of it being that to just reinforce it, and the other half being kind of different different ways of shooting, different stuff that you're doing. Like I said, moving the net, moving your shooting pad, you know, doing quick shots, doing like a quick stick handle into shooting. Um, if you have a any kind of stick handling aids uh that you have out there, maybe like the ones that we talked about 3D printing in a previous episode, uh, or like a they make those rebounders, and this is really what those are for that you can set up on you know shooting boards and stuff, or you can build one yourself, where you kind of pass the puck into it and it gives you a pass back, and then you're shooting right off of a pass, or do that, you get the puck and do like a little movement, a little uh stick handle off of getting that in, or purposely give yourself a bad pass off of that and shooting from that kind of stuff, I think can really, really become more useful than just trying to do that perfect shot every time uh that you're probably gonna take during a game. Uh also hasn't hear about not neglecting the backhand. I think backhand is something that is very neglected uh in beer league, especially low levels. Uh few reps of the snapshots and one timers. Yeah, we talked about that. Uh let's see what else we have here. Um the realistic framing for beer league. You'll score far more goals by reliably hitting the net with a quick, low, accurate wrist shot than by developing a big slap shot. A huge fraction of rec league shots miss the net entirely or get stopped because they're aimed at the goalie's chest. Just consistently hitting the corners low with a quick release puts you ahead of almost everyone. Yeah, so kind of what we said. Uh practical routine: get a net and a couple of corner targets, take 30 to 50 deliberately aimed shots a few times a week, pick a target on every shot and rotate through wrist shots from a standstill off a pass and off your backhand. Track roughly how many you hit, the feedback loop of aiming and seeing whether you hit sharpens you quickly. Okay. No, I agree. Uh, and you know, you don't targets are definitely helpful. Uh, you don't need them, but they are definitely helpful for learning to shoot. Um, net is helpful, but you can't you don't need a net. You can, you know, have a tarp set up. Uh you can maybe shoot. I mean, if you have like a brick side of your house, you can, you know, this is what kids do, shoot at the side of your house, uh, outside for stuff. Uh, if you have a a brick or concrete wall, like in a basement or something, you could shoot at that if you really want to, I suppose. Uh, but it doesn't have to be a net always. Uh, you can find other stuff to shoot at. Uh, I will say though, as if you are practicing any type of shooting, if that's something you think you're going to be doing, make sure you pay attention to what's going to happen to the pucks that miss and the pucks that have like weird uh bounces off of whatever you're shooting at. Because it's great if you hit it, you know, if you have some kind of targeting system set up and you hit those and the puck just kind of drops, great. But if you just have a net set up and it's like out in your backyard and you miss the net, even if it's by like you know half an inch, you miss the net, where's the puck gonna go? Are you gonna hit a car? You're gonna hit a window, you know. That's that's the stuff to really watch out for, more so than what's gonna happen when you actually hit the target that you're shooting for. So little tip um to make sure you don't, you know, mess up your house really bad uh trying to get better with your shooting. Okay, uh, right a hockey practice routine

Write a hockey practice routine for me I can do by myself.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

for me that I can do myself. Let's see if it can take all this stuff and really turn it into something practical that we can turn around and go with. Okay, here's a full routine. It's got a uh complete solo routine built around the three areas we've covered skating, stick, handling, shooting, plus the conditioning that ties it all together. It's designed for one person with no teammates needed, mixing cheap off-ice work you can do daily at home with ice sessions when you can get them. Alright, so what does it have here? How does this thing start? Wow, this is it's it's got a lot of stuff in here for it. So it gives you a this is this is like a seven-day a week practice routine. Um has uh on Monday, it's got stick handling and shooting at home, then off-ice strength and training, stick handling and shooting, an ice session with skating focus, rest or light stick handling, and off ice. Uh so for like off-ice stick handling, it has has you doing stuff like warm-up touches, wide tight dribbles, front to back, toe drags and pulls, figure eights around stuff, and heads-up finish. Alright, that's a 10-minute routine. That's pretty easy. That's that's that's a a kind of a full uh routine there, that only in 10 minutes, that's pretty good. Off ice shooting, has doing wrist shots from a standstill, quick release reps, shooting off pass and backhands. Another 10-minute thing. Okay, I like that. That's two quick quick uh work kind of workouts you can do uh for your stick handling and your shooting, each one only taking 10 minutes, so that's not bad. You know, like I said, you could do those like while especially the stick handling one, that's something you could do while you're watching hockey. Uh I mean, honestly, the shooting one you could do during intermissions if you wanted to. It's a real easy way to uh uh kind of schedule that stuff out if you're looking for a way to do that. Uh stuff for on-ice sessions with skating focus for like an hour, and that's you know got warm-ups, edges and balance, stopping, crossovers, stride mechanics, and then using a puck at the end. That sounds very much like you would have for an actual skating session with a skating coach. Uh, sounds like how they usually break that stuff down. Uh, throws in there about film one session to watch yourself, and I would agree. I'd agree, film your like first time doing this. If you are going to do some kind of on ice trying to get better with your skating, honestly, even with shooting, I think filming yourself with shooting is also a great help to see because what you think you're doing is not necessarily what you are doing. Uh, and with both of those, and I think more so even with shooting, because it's probably easier to set up something to film, uh, filming yourself from the side, watching it, and then also filming yourself from behind, or and even if you can from in front, like from what the net sees, uh, filming a couple shots like that can really help see things like, you know, are you twisting your wrists properly on your shot? Are you really transferring the weight as much as you think? Are you twisting as much as you think? Um, is your follow through really going where you think you're like where you're seeing it going? Is it actually getting to where you're doing and like pointing at the net and stuff like that? So I think filming from multiple angles, uh especially from shooting, again, because it's usually a little bit easier because you're probably at home doing. That uh is definitely helpful. Uh, that has like an off-eye strength and conditioning kind of workout circuit here that has a little warm-up, uh, some basic strength stuff, squats, reverse lunges, single leg, uh bounce things, lateral bounds and planking, and then some conditioning. Yep, pretty pretty basic workout there. So, you know, the the skating and the workout stuff, sure, seems pretty basic normal stuff. I really like the idea of having these like two kind of different 10-minute stick handling blocks and shooting blocks is what it's calling them. I like those. I think those are are very handy things to have in there. Um yeah, so I like that. And those are stuff that are pretty easy to do. Um pretty easy to uh integrate, you know, into your into your weekly thing. I mean, 10 minutes each. So like I said, you could you know just make a thing like, hey, I'm gonna be, you know, you watch however many hockey games a week, probably. I'm assuming most people that play Beer League do enjoy watching hockey. But if you're doing that, you could say, hey, I'm doing the I do the stick handling block during the first intermission, I do the shooting block during the second intermission. I mean, intermissions are what, 18 minutes? Those are those take 10 minutes. So you still got time to uh you know get up, go to the bathroom, go do your your little stick handling or shooting routine that helps out, then get whatever you need for you know the next next period to watch the game. So still plenty of time to do that. So that can work out. I like that. Good good advice here. So far, I'm I'm pretty impressed with the advice we've gotten here out of Claude. We're gonna get we're gonna do one more question here. Uh, I will have other questions because I'll go through all the ones that we asked previously. Um, I'll have all those questions with the full kind of chat transcript that we're having here. Like I said, I've said it multiple times over at thebeerleaguer.com or in the show notes to get that. So you can get the full version of all this transcript plus some other questions I have asked, uh, like we asked previously. So go check that out if you want some more answers on things. But we will ask

What’s the most important hockey equipment to spend money on?

SPEAKER_00 46:06

one more for this episode is what's the most important hockey equipment to spend money on? That's something that gets asked a lot. A lot of people wonder about you know, I gotta buy new something. What's the one thing I should spend money on? A lot of times, people coming back from hockey uh after like 20 years away or something, like hey, I have my old gear. What's the thing I should get? Uh, so here you go. Oh, let's say it's weighing spending priorities across skates, helmets, and sticks. Okay. Has here uh for beer leaguer for beer league, the spending priority is pretty clear and it's worth being deliberate about it because most of your money should go to one or two items while you can comfortably save on the rest. Skates without question. This is where your money matters most. Yeah, I mean that's that's a good one. That's that's a that that is a big one. And a helmet that fits and is certified. This is a don't compromise item, but for a different reason. It's safety, not performance. Yeah, I agree. Uh skates and helmets. Those are the those are where you really want to put your money for stuff. Uh skates because you gotta you know keep them comfortable, and you know, hopefully those will last you a decent amount of time. And helmet because that's probably the thing that's gonna keep you the safest. So that's the thing that you do want to definitely get a good one for. And actually update it. You know, if you're still wearing the same helmet you've been wearing for 10, 15, 20 years, get a new one. You know, just just just get a new one, keep uh keep that noggin safe. Uh, then after it says after those, you know, sticks, uh, it matters for feel, but it's smart to go mid-range. Expensive sticks break just as easily, and the performance gap is marginal at the rec level. I I disagree with that. I think it's very expensive sticks tend to break more because they are so light. And generally the uh like the people that are buying the more that they're marketed to for the super expensive sticks don't mind buying multiple of them uh any year. So I think super expensive high-end sticks tend to break more than uh some of the lower end sticks. Um, so they might have great feel uh and they are super light, but yeah, I think that is gonna generally break more. Um so that's something to think about. Uh gloves buy for fit and comfort, mid-range is plenty. Definitely agree. I don't know if super high-end gloves really make much of a difference. Maybe they are a little bit more flexible, a little bit more comfortable. Uh, pro stock gloves, I think, are great uh kind of compromise there of getting a little bit nicer glove, but one that is not crazy expensive usually. Uh, and also pro stock gloves, if you need it, uh, tend to have extra padding on them, which is really nice. Uh, then it just kind of says for the rest of the protective gear, shoulders, elbows, shin guards, pants. Uh this is where you can save. Bearly is no checking mostly, so you don't need high protection. Yeah, entry level used gear is fine. Uh, I definitely agree. A lot of players buy this stuff secondhand for cheap. Uh, yeah, I I definitely agree with that. Um, I mean, you want to have all those things, you want to make sure they fit properly, but a lot of that stuff, you are protecting yourself from uh more so from like falling and people falling around you than actually having to like take a hit. Uh so some like the super high-end shoulder pads, you know, they're designed for you know, checking hockey. Uh, you really shouldn't have to worry about that in beer league too much. I mean, you want to I don't get there are people that don't wear shoulder pads at all. I don't understand that. I would think you'd want something to just kind of protect your shoulders and like your chest and your back and stuff like that. So if you do fall or if somebody falls into you or somebody hits you by accident, you are protected. So I think you want something there. Um, same thing with elbow pads. Uh for me, the one thing I have noticed with elbow pads, though, is as you kind of get more expensive, is they tend to uh sit better on the elbow and stay where they're supposed to, uh, not sliding up and down the elbow as some of the the cheaper ones do. Uh so that is something to look out for with it. Um and elbow pads seem to be the pad that universally has velcro that wears out the worst. So getting ones that fit properly uh are a big deal for that. Um shin guards, you know, you you can you can get super cheap ones that just have plastic on the front uh for a little bit and it will protect you from straight-on shots. You can get really fancy ones that kind of have protection all around, which can help and be nice. Um, and then for pants, same thing. Uh you can get pants that offer a lot of protection uh and you know have kind of plastic and hard protection everywhere all around them, so they're protecting all around your body uh and stuff, and then cheaper ones that really just have it right right on the thigh. Uh so I think you definitely do get kind of what you pay for with that kind of stuff, but you definitely don't need to get super expensive ones. I think secondhand is a great way to do it. Uh, it does have here a couple small things punch above their cost. Uh good skate socks and footbeds. Definitely agree. Skate socks, very important. Uh, good skate socks, I think, can make a world of difference for how comfortable your skates are. Footbeds. It used to be everybody got um, you know, extra different different party footbeds for their skates. Uh, you'd all you never had the ones that came in your skates generally because those were kind of crap. Uh, but now a lot of the skate manufacturers, I think all of them do now have uh you can buy like kind of more customed footbeds for your skates. So they're not like necessarily custom to your feet, they're not custom orthotics, but you can get ones that have like a little bit higher of an arch or lower arch or ones that you know have like a a uh uh a higher heel on them and things like that. Uh, a lot of them do have different different style of footbeds that you can get to put in your skates that do help. So that definitely can make a big difference having nice footbeds for it. Uh, I would recommend against some people do get footbeds like you just buy at Walmart or whatever for your shoes. I would recommend against things like that for your skates. Uh because those are usually made uh kind of spongy and soft, so they're comfortable to walk on. Not necessarily what you want for skates. So I would I would definitely recommend against something like that uh for your skates. Also, I don't want to hear regular sharpenings. Figuring out what your what kind of sharpening you like and how often you like to get those, I think can really make a difference in how your skates feel. So, you know, are you do you know what hollow you like to have for your skates? You know, find that preference for it uh where you like to be. Some people aren't very picky, some people thought they weren't picky and then tried different hollows and realized they were kind of picky. So learning that and then how regularly you like your skate sharpened. Some people like their skate sharpened a lot. I know people that sharpen their skates almost every game. Uh, I also know people that get their skates sharpened once to start the year, and that might be it. Uh, you know, like I've talked about before, I have a sparks machine at home, so I can sharpen my skates whenever I want. I usually sharpen my skates every two or three games just to keep it my skates feeling the same uh for all the games, and I really have gotten used to that. So, you know, I think just kind of learning what you like uh is a good thing to have on here. Uh and then it also says on here a mouth guard. Uh cheap and genuinely worth it. I would kind of agree. If you're one of these crazy people that doesn't wear any full face coverage while you're playing, I think a mouth guard is a must-have while you're playing. Uh, definitely a must-have. And getting anything above kind of that super cheap, generic, like boil and bite mouth guard, anything that's a step above that, I think is good uh and will help out. I don't know that you necessarily need one if you are wearing a full face cage. I know that there are benefits uh that does actually help when you hit the ice so you don't, you know, teeth don't slam together, uh, and it can help in concussion uh prevention a little bit for it. Also helps if you are somebody that you know grinds their teeth when they play. That is something that I I definitely do. Uh, you know, like if I'm shooting a lot or doing something like that, I will kind of uh a little bit grind my teeth while I'm doing it, and I will you know chew up mouth guards, so that is uh can help with that as well. So you're actually chewing up the mouth guard, not chewing up your teeth. Um, yeah, there's tons of different ones out there. Uh the the Sisu mouth guards have been a very popular choice for me and among other people uh because they are they're pretty minimal mouth guard, but it does enough. I think it does enough for what a mouth guard for you want, especially if you're somebody that does have full face protection, like you should when you're playing beer league. Uh, you know, you can talk with it and everything. It doesn't bother you, you don't like take it out all the time. Uh it's super easy to form. They're small, but it does uh sit in there and keep your teeth from uh you know banging into each other if you do fall or get hit or get impacted anyway. So I definitely like those. But yeah, I think mouth guard is generally a good thing to have, not that not nearly as necessary, but probably something worth looking into.

Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 55:30

All right, well, there you go, folks. Kind of a look at can AI help you become a better hockey player version two, uh, the update uh for this. I thought there was some pretty good stuff in here. Um, I was actually really impressed. The last time we did this, I feel like we got much longer answers than we got this time, and I don't feel they were nearly as practical as advice. Uh, this seemed uh shorter or more direct answers. Uh, I liked that. I thought it was pretty good. Um, so I would say if you're looking for some kind of bigger picture ideas like this on Beer League and getting better at it and learning different things, using AI seems like uh it's gotten better. Um, I would hope so, uh, since it's it's kind of taken over the world in so many ways that it's gotten smarter about things, but it seems like definitely has. So hopefully this was some useful stuff for you. Hopefully, this gives you some ideas of things that you know you're gonna use it to get better at hockey with yourself. Uh, like I've said a couple times in this episode, if you want the full transcript of all the questions I asked in this episode, plus the ones that I'm asking after the episode, you can get that down in the show notes or over at thebeerleaguer.com. That's also where you can send in any ideas you have for the show. You can text the show, email the show, you can send voicemails to the show and let me know stuff that you like, didn't like, stuff you've tried that has worked, what hasn't worked, show ideas you have, whatever. Would love to go hear it, hear all the stuff from there. So go check it out. Thebeerleaguer.com. That's where all the stuff is. Thanks a lot for listening, everybody. I'll catch you in the next one.