To shoot a puck, put it at the heel of your stick blade with your weight on your back leg. Sweep the puck toward the toe of the blade while shifting your weight forward, pushing down with your bottom hand and pulling back with your top hand so the stick bends. Snap your wrists as the puck rolls off the toe, and follow through with the blade pointed at your target. That's a wrist shot — the first shot every player should learn, and the one you'll use most.
The rest of this guide covers the other three shots, which one to learn when, and the part almost every beginner gets wrong.
The one thing that makes every shot work
Before the shot types, the fundamental underneath all of them: the power doesn't come from your arms.
It comes from two places. First, your weight transfer — driving from your back leg to your front leg through the shot. Second, the flex of the stick — your bottom hand pushes down into the shaft while your top hand pulls back, and the stick bends like a spring. Release it at the right moment and the stick throws the puck for you.
This is why a 120-pound player can out-shoot someone much bigger. It's leverage and timing, not strength.
If you learn nothing else from this page, learn that. Nearly every beginner tries to hit the puck hard with their arms, gets a weak shot, and concludes they need to get stronger. They don't. They need to load the stick.
The four shots, and when to learn them
1. The wrist shot — learn this first. The most-used shot in hockey. Accurate, quick, works from anywhere. The puck sweeps heel-to-toe across the blade while your weight moves forward. Spend most of your first season here — everything else builds on it.
→ Full breakdown: How to Shoot a Hockey Wrist Shot
2. The backhand — learn it second, not fifth. Same mechanics as the wrist shot, mirrored to the other side of the blade. Nobody practices it, which is precisely why it scores. Josie Hemp started from zero here: "I walked in not even knowing how to take a backhand shot."
Coach Lance turns it into a question he asks every player he meets:
"Is most of your time at home with a pile of pucks ripping forehand shots? Do you spend the same time on your backhand as your forehand? Almost everyone says no — their actions aren't lining up with their goals."
— Coach Lance
3. The snap shot — once your wrist shot is solid. A wrist shot with the sweep cut short. The puck starts nearer the middle of the blade, you load the stick and snap immediately. You trade a little power for a much faster release, and release speed is what beats goalies.
4. The slap shot — last. The one every kid wants to learn first and the one that matters least. Big wind-up, you strike the ice just behind the puck so the stick flexes, then transfer through it. It's slow to load and easy to block, so it's mostly a point shot. Learning it early tends to wreck the fundamentals of the other three.
What beginners get wrong
Swinging as hard as possible. The single most common mistake, at every age:
"The biggest mistake is just trying to hit the puck as hard as they can — not the technique, head up, hitting spots. It's not all about speed; accuracy is super important."
— Josie Hemp
Staring at the puck. Your eyes are how you find the open corner. If they're down, you're shooting blind — you can have perfect mechanics and still be a bad finisher.
"Some errors I see — it's the whole idea of the name Heads Up Hockey — they're shooting the puck with their head down, never looking up."
— Rhett Pitlick
Only practicing the fun shot. Forehand, forehand, forehand. See the backhand section.
Practicing from a dead stop, always. In a game the puck is moving and so are you. Once the basics are there, start shooting off a pass or after a toe drag.
How to practice without a rink
You need almost nothing: a puck, and something to shoot into. A shooting pad or a sheet of plywood in a garage or driveway covers it. A rebounder helps once you're shooting off a pass.
For a beginner, 15–20 minutes of focused reps beats an hour of hacking. Ten clean shots are worth more than thirty ugly ones, because you're building a pattern your hands will repeat forever. Build it right.
As players get serious, volume climbs fast — Jovan Moore describes a session as "probably like 300 pucks." The well-known off-season target is the 10,000-shot challenge, about 100–150 a day. One hockey parent described the appeal plainly:
"We're going to do the 10,000-puck challenge over the summer — you just need to shoot 10,000 pucks."
And if you're worried driveway reps don't count:
"The hockey gods can't tell the difference between an on-ice or off-ice rep. It's just a rep."
— Coach Lance
For parents: what "getting better" actually looks like
If you're reading this for your kid rather than yourself, the hardest part isn't the technique — it's knowing whether the practice is working. Kids will tell you their shot is getting harder. It might be. There's usually no way to tell.
The measurable things are release time (how fast the puck leaves after they decide to shoot), shot speed, accuracy (are they hitting the corner they called?), and head-up rate (are their eyes actually up?). Those four move at different rates. Accuracy improves first because it's mostly attention. Power comes slower because it depends on strength and stick flex.
One parent described exactly the gap:
"It'd be nice to track how many pucks you're shooting — and location, speed, how high. At eight, you're excited to lift it over the goalie's shoulder — how many in the top shelf?"
That's the problem Heads Up Shooting solves. Your phone measures all four — no sensors, no radar gun, no filming and squinting at it later. It turns "I think I'm getting better" into a number that either went up or didn't.
Train on numbers, not vibes.
Just starting out?
Download Heads Up Shooting free on the App Store — or grab lifetime access for $175 and train all summer.
Related reading: How to Shoot a Hockey Wrist Shot · 7 Hockey Shooting Drills You Can Do at Home
Frequently asked questions
How do you shoot a puck for the first time?
Start with a stationary wrist shot. Puck at the heel of the blade, weight on your back leg, sweep the puck toward the toe while shifting your weight forward, and follow through pointing at your target. Go slow — you're building a pattern, not testing your power.
Which hockey shot should a beginner learn first?
The wrist shot. It's the most-used shot in the game, it works from anywhere on the ice, and every other shot builds on its mechanics. Learn the backhand second, not last.
How do you shoot a puck harder?
Load the stick instead of swinging your arms. Push down with your bottom hand while pulling back with your top hand so the shaft flexes, and drive your weight from your back leg to your front leg through the shot. If only your arms are sore after practice, you're doing it with the wrong muscles.
Can you learn to shoot a puck without ice?
Yes. A shooting pad or sheet of plywood and a puck is enough for every shot in this guide. Off-ice reps build the same muscle memory, which is why the 10,000-shot challenge is almost always done in driveways and garages.
How long does it take to learn to shoot a puck?
Basic wrist shot mechanics come together in a few weeks of regular practice. Consistent accuracy takes months. Power keeps developing for years, because it depends on strength and on using a stick flex suited to your size.
