[StuHockey]

I am taking up ice hockey and wanted to know whether or not roller hockey was a good way to practice and train since I can not get to a rink that often. What do you think?

 

[BE-LEAF-ABLE]

I think so. I know that Milan Hejduk uses tennis balls to practice his shot accuracy, as I'm sure a lot of us do.

And skating... well, honestly, Ice skating and Roller-Blading aren't the same thing... There's an unexpected learning curve that I discovered when I made the transition to the Ice.

Eventually the roller-blading will still help in the end though, with the understanding that you have to learn your edge, and of course your hands and vision are always going to be there... after your wrist get used to hitting the puck, which obviously has a big difference in weight from the tennis ball.

On the whole, it helps a lot. You should give it a go, but eventually you will have to hit the ice, because there are dfferences. It's a bit of preparation.

 

[ReLyT]

Only problem is it doesn't help your skating at all doing roller hockey. Alot of movements are very different as well... moves that work on the floor wont work on the ice...

 

[Canuck]

roller hockey is good for stick-handling purposes but the skating is way different. Puck is usually lighter puck in roller hockey but roller hockey is a very very fun sport to play.