Ice hockey shooting
The four shots hockey is scored with — wrist shot, snap shot, slap shot and backhand — how each trades power against release time, and why the stick is bent on purpose.
Overview
Hockey shots differ mainly in one dimension: how long they take to release. A slap shot is the most powerful and the slowest to execute; a wrist shot is quicker and less powerful; a snap shot sits between them.
Against a goaltender who is set and square, power rarely wins. Against one who has not finished moving, a quick release does. Choosing the shot is therefore a reading of the goaltender rather than a preference.
Wrist shot and snap shot
A wrist shot is taken by dragging the puck from heel to toe of the blade while rolling the wrists, which puts spin on the puck and keeps it flat. There is no backswing, so it can be released the instant a shooting lane opens.
A snap shot compresses a slap shot into a short, sharp motion: a small backswing, a quick downward strike and a wrist roll. It sacrifices some power for a release almost as fast as a wrist shot, which is why it is the most common shot in close.
The slap shot and the flexed stick
A slap shot uses a full backswing and strikes the ice slightly behind the puck. Hitting the ice is not a mistake — it loads the shaft, bending it against the ice so that the stored energy is released into the puck as the blade passes through.
This is why stick flex ratings matter and why a stick that is too stiff for a player produces less power, not more. The shooter has to be able to bend the shaft to benefit from it.
The backhand
A backhand is taken off the reverse side of the blade. It is harder to elevate and harder to aim, because the blade's curve works against the shot rather than with it.
It is also the least expected, and it is the shot most often available in tight to the net where there is no time to pull the puck onto the forehand. A player who cannot shoot backhand loses half the ice in scoring positions.
How to do it
- 1Start with the puck behind or beside your back foot, weight on the back leg.
- 2For a wrist shot, drag the puck from heel to toe while rolling the wrists over.
- 3Transfer your weight from the back foot to the front through the shot.
- 4For a slap shot, strike the ice slightly behind the puck to load the shaft.
- 5Follow through pointing at your target — low for a rebound, high to beat a butterfly.
- 6Practise the backhand deliberately; it is the shot most often available in tight.
Key points
- Shot choice is a trade between power and release time.
- A wrist shot has no backswing and can be released the moment a lane opens.
- A slap shot strikes the ice behind the puck on purpose, to flex the shaft.
- A stick that is too stiff to bend produces less power, not more.
- The backhand is hard to elevate but is often the only shot available in tight.
Where it’s used
Sports that use ice hockey shooting:
Related techniques
Ice hockey skating
The skill everything else in hockey sits on — how a skater generates power from the edges, why stopping and turning use the same mechanism, and what makes crossovers faster than striding.
Stickhandling
How a hockey player carries and protects the puck at speed — why the hands work independently of the feet, the role of soft hands, and how body position beats stick skill.
Face-offs
How every hockey stoppage restarts — the nine face-off locations, why the location is itself a sanction, and the techniques centres use to win possession.
How it connects
The meaning-bearing relationships that place Ice hockey shooting in the wider knowledge graph — each one with the reason it exists.
Builds on
Understanding these first makes this one make sense.
- The puckThe puck declares this relationship, and the graph derives the reciprocal edge from it.
- Ice hockey skatingIce hockey skating declares this relationship, and the graph derives the reciprocal edge from it.
- StickhandlingStickhandling declares this relationship, and the graph derives the reciprocal edge from it.
Used with
Turns up alongside this across the same sports.
Explore across the knowledge base
Follow the threads that connect Ice hockey shooting to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Equipment
- The puckThe vulcanised rubber disc ice hockey is played with — its exact diameter, thickness and weight under IIHF rules, and the limits on what may be printed on it.
- Hockey stickA curved-headed stick used to control, pass and shoot the ball or puck in hockey.
- The goal and the creaseThe net a hockey team defends and the protected area in front of it — the exact goal dimensions, what the crease area includes, and why goaltender contact so often disallows a goal.
- Tennis ball types and specificationsThe four ITF ball types and what separates them — mass, size, rebound and deformation — plus the counterintuitive rule that fast balls are for slow courts.
- MouthguardA moulded guard worn over the teeth in contact and combat sports, cushioning the teeth and jaw against impact. Fit is what makes it work.
Positions
- The goaltenderHockey's most specialised position — how a goaltender covers a 1.83 m by 1.22 m net, what the butterfly style is for, and the rule protections and restrictions unique to the role.
- Ice hockey positionsThe six players on the ice and what each does — centre, two wings, two defence and the goaltender — plus why hockey substitutes in lines rather than individually.
- Power forwardThe power forward plays near the basket in basketball, using strength to rebound, score inside, and defend the paint.
Tactics
- The power playWhat a team does with a one-player advantage — the umbrella and 1-3-1 setups, why the extra player creates a passing triangle a penalty kill cannot cover, and what the clock is worth.
- The penalty killHow a team defends a player short — the box and diamond formations, why killers ice the puck legally, and what a short-handed team is actually trying to protect.
Decision making
Scoring systems
- Basketball scoringBasketball is scored by shooting the ball through the hoop, with baskets worth one, two or three points depending on where the shot is taken.
- Runs and boundaries in cricketHow runs are actually scored in cricket — by running, by finding the boundary, and by the penalties the fielding side concedes — and how each kind is credited in the scorebook.
- How golf is scoredGolf counts strokes: the fewest shots taken to complete a hole or a round wins, with par providing the reference every score is described against.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Technique
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
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- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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