half a stop..wheres the rest

Question
I've been on the ice for about a year..prior to that i played lots of roller hockey.  I have a decent hockey stop but i can only seem to use my outside foot on a stop.  If i try to stop with both skates the inside will chatter or not slide at all.  I can stop decently fast but it would help me a lot if i could stop faster.  What can i do to start stopping with both feet.

Answer
Hi there,

The basic keys to remember that will help with hockey stops are to have knees and ankles bent to have that low center of gravity to improve your balance. Also, by keeping your knees bent throughout the whole stop, it will apply the weight to the edges of your skate blade which will dig into the ice to stop you. You want to try and keep your feet from turning sharply past 90 degrees. Just turn your feet quickly in the same direction to make the stop, and put more of your weight on the inside foot so that way you can quickly accelerate with the other when come to a complete stop. It will take many attempts to get the stop down correctly, but once you have it once or twice, then it will become a breeze for you to do.

Another idea that might be not be helping with the skates chattering is the sharpening on the blades, you might want to experiment with the hollow of the sharpening. IE if you are getting a 3/16" cut, maybe try 1/4", it will change the sharpness and could help with stopping both feet.

Hope this helps you on your quest!!

Guy