Starting from scratch
So yesterday morning, I dragged my hockey bag outta storage thinking I’d just magically score like Brady Fleurent after watching some highlights. Big mistake. Hit the local rink before dawn, laced up my skates feeling all confident, then totally ate ice first time I tried his signature quick stop-and-shoot move. Just flailing around like a newborn deer on blades.
The painful learning curve
Spent twenty minutes trying his wraparound backhand nonsense near the net. Pucks kept sliding away like buttered toast. Nearly broke my wrist when my stick jammed into the post. Got so frustrated I almost chucked my helmet across the ice.
- Equipment issues: Realized halfway that my stick was way too light for this – felt like swinging a spaghetti noodle
- Bad habits: Kept automatically looking down at the puck instead of scanning the ice like Fleurent does
- Timing disasters: Every fake shot I attempted turned into actual weak shots that trickled toward the goalie
Finally swallowed my pride and pulled up those highlight reels on my phone right there on the bench between failed attempts. Noticed two things I totally missed before:
Breaking through
Took his weight transfer trick – seriously just shifting my hips a fraction earlier made all the difference. Started planting my left skate harder before shooting, pretending an invisible defender was coming at me. Slowly stopped overthinking every movement.
After like ninety minutes of pure struggle, something clicked. Made myself skate full speed toward the boards imagining game pressure, did Fleurent’s toe-drag-release combo and… ping! Rang one clean off the crossbar. Nearly cried real tears.
Where I’m at now
Still can’t dangle through defenders like him obviously. But now I understand why he keeps his hands so loose on the stick during breakaways – lets the puck roll naturally for quicker releases. Biggest lightbulb moment? His “secret” ain’t fancy tricks. It’s being stupidly consistent with basic stuff like keeping your head up when exhausted. Still practicing that last part – almost wiped out three times just writing this.
