by Brett Jamieson

Created on: February 04, 2009   Last Updated: February 19, 2009

Physical contact is one of the things that separates hockey from many other sports. There are a select few mainstream sports that allow full contact during play without penalty. Like with American football, rugby and lacrosse, the excitement in a hockey game comes, in large part, from the physical contact during play. A huge hit can not only get the fans going crazy, it can fully change the momentum of the game in favour of your team. At the same time, a poorly executed hit can cause you to be out of position, or to get a penalty, both of which can cause a goal against your team. As well, even though everyone loves a big hit, and sometimes people get hurt, nobody plays hockey to injure other players, and if you are negligent in using your body, you can cause serious injury.Because of this, it is important to know how to hit properly. But before I tell you the best way to hit, it must be understood what a hit is actually supposed to achieve.

First, and foremost, it is a means of eliminating a player from a play. Whether they have the puck or just gave it away (you can't hit someone who has not had recent contact with the puck), hitting them essentially makes their attack one man short for at least a few seconds. In what is known as the fastest game in the world, a few seconds can be quite significant, and if they were the primary attacker, this is the best way to end the attack on your net quickly. Secondly, hitting is a means of intimidation. Nobody likes being hit, and when you hit someone, they will remember next time. This could distract them into making the wrong play or giving up the puck to your team. This is the reason that almost every coach has a strict rule of "finishing your check" or hitting everyone after they get rid of the puck. They want the intimidation factor to be permanently imprinted in the brains of the opposition.

Now, what is the best way to hit? This is a question that can be answered with one word: effectively. However, unless you know the ins and outs of hockey and have lots of experience with contact hockey, this does not explain much. The main thing to remember when hitting, though, is that every hit does not have to be on the sports news highlight reel. The best hits are usually those that are very unspectacular looking, but very effective in ending a scoring chance on your net. One of the best defensemen in the NHL, Zdeno Chara, could crush every guy that comes near him due to his immense size and stature. However, most of his hits

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