Bedard's Broken Wrist
I watched a great feature on Connor Bedard that aired before the Gold Medal World Juniors game last week.
(If you aren't aware, Bedard is the likely #1 pick in the 2023 NHL draft. And he just lit up the World Juniors to the tune of 9 goals and 14 assists.)
The feature was an interview with his parents about Bedard's love and passion for the sport. I found the entire 5-minute segment very interesting, but one thing stood out.
When Bedard was 12 years old, he awkwardly crashed into the boards and broke his wrist. His team was about to travel to Chicago for a tournament, but the doctors told him he couldn't play hockey for 12 weeks.
But here's what happened:
Instead of doing nothing for three months, he continued his routine of going outside to his stickhandling and shooting area daily. And because he could still use his top hand, he could practice stickhandling and shoot pucks with his top hand only.
Bedard's dad, Tom, said, "His shot jumped another level that year, and that was right after he did all that work with just one hand."
In reality, his broken wrist was a blessing in disguise.
I often talk about the importance of top-hand strength and control in the Hockey Training TV stickhandling sessions and include some top-hand-only drills, but this has pushed me to focus on it even further.
If you want to test your top-hand strength/control:
Grab a puck and try to run through a stickhandling session with your bottom hand behind your back. If you can't do the drills at a slightly slower pace or your forearm tires out, you should look to improve your top-hand strength.
Here's how to you can improve your top-hand strength:
Throw on one of the 10-minute stickhandling sessions from the Hockey Training TV app, and the first time through each drill, try it with your top hand only. Once you master that, try doing the Connor Bedardo 10-minute Top -Hand-Only session.
Let me know how it goes.
Coach Kevin
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