from How To Inline Skate on 10 Feb 2017
Shaun Unwin / Shop Task
Bill Stoppard / PintoPonyProductions
https://www.youtube.com/user/PintoPonyProductions
The Powerstop does not really work on ice … or does it?
It does work!
So … let’s break it down. Typically you first want to do a drag or T-stop to reduce speed. Then you make a very sharp turn. Weight is on the heel. You rotate around your inside foot, with the pivot point on the front of the blade.
You begin with almost no weight on the dragging skate, but during the turn you shift almost all your weight onto it.
Technically there’s not much difference between inline and ice. The only thing is that on rollerblades you trigger a slide, thus the name powerslide or powerstop. While on ice your skate carves really really deep into the ice.
The good things about ice is that it’s actually easier and that the marks on the ice reveal whether you do it right or wrong.
On my weak side I struggle on inline skates, but on ice I do it sort of okay. But the marks on the ice reveal that I probably put too much weight on the turning skate too early. Or, if you know better, please let me know in the description.
Doing it equally good on both sides is, of course, something to aim for.
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Now let’s compare it to a regular hockey stop. Typically you want your skates to slide, not to carve. And to accomplish this on ice, I think the clue is to rotate each skate around its own pivot point. So you have two pivot points in a way.
As mentioned, the powerstop is actually one big rotation around your inner skate.
Another big difference is that the ice hockey stop is on the front of the blade. Do not try this on rollerblades! Trust me, I tried, I failed …
Another thing though. Experiment a lot with the hockey stop. It’s very versatile and there are lots of possibilities.
Lately I’ve practicing slides on the heels and I plan to try this on inline skates too. I hope, I hope that’s the clue to a parallel stop on rollerblades. We’ll see. So stay tuned for updates.
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Finally I’d like to make shout-outs to Shaun Unwin at Shop Task and Bill Stoppard of PintoPonyProductions. Shaun Unwin recently made an excellent breakdown of Bill Stoppards stop technique, which inspired me to make this video. Links to both their channels are in the description below.
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Finally I should add a warning that you better practice the powerstop only on open ice like lake and ponds. Otherwise people will really hate you for ruining the ice.