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Skate a few strides forward. Practice pushing from side to side and stopping. Rotate your hips in the direction you want to turn. Bend your knees deeply. Drag your skates across the ice to stop. Practice to build speed and finesse.
Begin along the boards, holding the boards with your hands. Take it slow, at first. You don't want to pick up too much speed until you have gotten a feel for how to hockey stop. You should be looking forward, not down at your feet. Spread your feet slightly apart, and keep your skates running parallel in the direction you're headed. You may find that you are able to stop your side-to-side motion with just your inside foot. Rotate your left hip to turn the left skate, and rotate your right hip to turn the right skate. At the same time, try to angle the skate blades slightly back to shave the ice. Be careful! If you dig in too much, you will "catch an edge" and fall forward. As you rotate your hips, be sure to bend your knees. Keep your weight low, and work on balance. Staying low will help you stop with less effort. It might also make the falls more bearable. The deeper the bend, the quicker the stop. If your knees aren't bent, you will almost always fall! First, identify the "hollow" or "flat edge" on each of your skates. All skates have an inside edge, an outside edge, and a "flat edge," which is really the concave space between the two. The "flat edge" allows the skate to slide sideways across the ice without digging in. As you enter the stop, rotate your hips, bend your knees, and turn your skates to allow them to slide on their "flat edges." Hold this position until you stop. To clarify: reduce your weight off the outside skate, and turn both skates parallel to the direction you are travelling. Apply pressure to the inside edge of the outside skate and simultaneously to the outside edge of the inside skate. Keep working on your hockey stop. Gradually work up to skating faster and faster, and to stopping at high speeds. If you're playing competitive hockey, you'll often need to stop on a dime to change directions or avoid colliding with something. Once you feel comfortable turning one direction to stop: practice turning the opposite direction, using the same technique.