Many of us ice-hockey players are aggravated by the limited turning and stopping ability of inline skates. A typical drag stop (rear foot 90 degrees against leading foot) works in most circumstances. But another good technique is the stick stop.

In this stop, the skater begins a tight turn towards his stick side. For this example, we'll use a right-handed skater. Right foot forward, he makes a tight turn, putting his stick blade down (to the right) in the process. He leans against the stick, grinding his left foot outwards, until coming to a stop. With practice, one can even hang onto the puck while executing this stop.

Sometimes, when going very fast, I find that I must crouch low to keep pressure on the outer foot -- often to such a degree that the boot, instead of the wheels, makes contact with the ground. This gets good results, but is not recommended for less durable boots.

The same technique is used in the stick turn. The skater uses the same combination of tight turn and stick friction, but instead of using the stick as a mere brake, uses it as a pivot point to make a tighter turn and continue on in a new direction.

Evan