Speed And Agility Training New Jersey Article

MARIAN GABORIK. JAROMIR Jagr. Scott Niedermayer.

Their skates are their brushes. The ice is their canvas. They are hockey's Rembrandt, Picasso, and Dali.

Across the vast ice they maneuver, sometimes fast and furious, sometimes slow and smoothly,-but always their skating is artistry. Their cuts and turns and bursts of speed create masterpieces every bit as beautiful to behold as Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

In a league filled with wonderful skaters, these All-Stars are among the best of the best. And just as artists' styles range from Norman Rockwell's homespun Americana to Andy Warhol's loud pop art, each of these skaters is genius in a different way.

Gaborik, who led the Minnesota Wild with 30 goals last season, can go from standing still to a brilliant blur in just a few strides.

Niedermayer, who won his third Stanley Cup ring with the New Jersey Devils last spring, has an effortless stride that makes him deceivingly fast.

With apologies to the San Jose Sharks' Patrick Marleau, the Dallas Stars' Bill Guerin, the Devils' Jeff Friesen, the Florida Panthers' Jay Bouwmeester, and the Capitals' Peter Bondra, here are HOCKEY DIGEST'S picks for the 10 best skaters in the NHL

1. Marian Gaborik, Minnesota

2. Wes Walz, Minnesota

While Gaborik won the fastest skater competition at the 2003 All-Star Game, lapping the rink in seconds, he may not even be the fastest skater on his team. "The past three years when we have the team fastest skater competition, Wes Walz has beaten Gaborik," says Wild radio announcer Tom Reid.

One of the keys to the Wild's stunning upset victories over the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks in the 2003 playoffs was moving Gaborik and Walz onto the same line. Their combined speed was impossible for other teams to match.

Toronto Maple Leafs scout Murray Oliver is impressed by Gaborik's explosiveness. "He has that little gitty-up-and-go to his game," Oliver says. "He's a lot like Pavel Bure was before his injuries. He just finds another gear and he's gone."

Adds Reid: "What I like about Marian is that he can be standing still and then he can just take off with those powerful legs. He has huge thighs. Players realize that if they can make their legs strong, they can increase their speed."

Walz, a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward for 2002-03, works on-his skating almost every day. "Even day of game, he'll come out at 4:30 to make sure his skates feel right," Reid says. "If he's not psychologically set with equipment, he's not going to be comfortable in the game. He wants to be fully prepared. That's why he's a tremendous skater."

3. Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey

In the Devils' strict defensive structure, blueliners like Niedermayer don't get too many chances to pin their ears back and rush toward the opposing net. Pull a stunt like that and he'd likely get a call to principal Pat Burns' office for a stern lecture. But on opening night in Boston, he wiggled his way through two or three Bruins, burst to the net, and slid in the puck in a move that can only be described as a work of art.

Niedermayer not only is blazing fast, but he's very nimble, almost like a dancer. You'll often see him peel away or take a few quick steps backward to avoid an onrushing forward at the last second.

While such gifts are usually God-given, Niedermayer can also thank his mother, Carol. She is a power-skating instructor, and Scott credits her with helping to make him the speedster he is today. In 1998, he won the annual skating skills competition at the All-Star Game.

4. Jaromir Jagr, Washington Capitals

Here's another guy who should thank his parents. Growing up on a farm in the former Czechoslovakia, the Jagr family didn't have fancy workout equipment like a Stairmaster to train on, and there were no personal trainers to walk Jaromir through his paces.

So, Jagr's dad set up a crude, yet intense workout regiment. To build up his upper body, Jagr used barbells made from the axle of an old tractor and two slabs of iron. And to build his legs, he did hundreds of deep knee bends every night.

Thanks to that training, Jagr has some of the strongest legs in the business. He's fast, he can power through checkers, and forget trying to hold this guy back with a hook. It's like trying to lasso a tank with some dental floss.

"He's got very strong legs, unbelievable leg strength," says Chuck Grillo, a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. "A lot of young players, that's what they fail to work on. They think all they have to do is go skate and they'll get faster. You have to do a lot of work off the ice to be a better skater."

5. Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay

St. Louis opened a lot of eyes in the first round of 2003 playoffs with the goal he scored against the Capitals in Game

4. He faked one way, faked the other way, turned the defenseman inside-out, and came back to the left. He then snapped off a wrister past Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig.

That's the kind of shiftiness St. Louis can bring to his game. He had a breakout season in 2002-03, teaming on a line with Vincent Lecavalier. Together, they kept the Lightning in first place in the Southeast Division for much of the regular season.

St. Louis had 33 goals and 37 assists last season--approximately doubling his previous career highs in both categories. At 5'9", you know that he didn't do it with size or strength. Mostly, it was his speed and agility.

"He's a quick little bugger," says Denis Savard, an assistant coach with the Blackhawks. "When you get in tight situations, where you have no time or space, I created that for myself by just stopping and turning and jumping hole. And with St. Louis, I think that's what he's doing. He's finding himself in situations where there's just not much room and then with his speed or agility to move, he finds time and space for himself. He's a little guy, but he works hard and he's not afraid of anything."

6. Paul Kariya, Colorado

If Kariya had quit hockey at the age of 13 to take up golf, hockey would have lost one of the most explosive players in its history.

What Kariya can do perhaps better than any other player in the NHL is go from standing still or gliding to full speed in a stride or two. He proved that in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season. Kariya, then playing for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, was leveled like a dilapidated apartment building by the Devils' Scott Stevens. When Kariya returned, he scored in the third period, taking a pass, busting into the Devils' zone, and launching a slapper into the top corner of the net.

"He's just a great skater," says Kevin McCarthy, an assistant coach with the Carolina Hurricanes. "When you're as small as he is, you have to be good at something to survive. For him, it's skating. He's got tremendous acceleration."

7. Sergel Fedorov, Anaheim

Fedorov, a two-time winner of the NHL's fastest skater competition, has a uniquely smooth skating style, moving along the ice like a cheetah waiting to pounce. Take, for instance, when he scored his 400th career goal last season. He pounced on a loose puck at center ice and had a three- or four-stride lead on the closest defender when he scored.

As a child, the Fedorov family moved to a part of northern Russia inside the Arctic Circle. One of the few advantages of living so far north was that the rivers and ponds stayed frozen for much of the year. That's where Fedorov honed his skills, skating nonstop for hours.

One particular drill stays with Sergei to this day. If a plant or a shrub had grown up out of the ice, and Sergei's dad made it part of a drill. Sergei would have to skate, full speed, down the ice, turn around the plant, and come back. When you see Fedorov turn on a dime in a game today, you know it was, in part, because of that plant.

8. Bret Hedican, Carolina

Hedican, who might be the fastest skater in the league, was schooled in the art of skating by his dad, who was a power skating teacher. "There probably is no better skater in the league than Bret Hedican. He's a natural skater. He has natural leg strength and a great stride," says Pittsburgh scout Grillo.

While with the Florida Panthers, Hedican twice won the team's fastest skater competition, beating Bure, Rob Niedermayer, Radek Dvorak, and Gord Murphy, to name a few. Hedican, who is married to Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, says he naturally gets asked all the time if their children will grow up to be great skaters.

9. Sami Kapanen, Philadelphia

"The Flying Finn" didn't get his nickname because he wanted to be a commercial pilot; the Vantaa, Finland, native won the NHL's fastest skater race in 2000 and 2002. After the later race, he frowned, stared at the ground, and said he was "disappointed" with his performance in the race.

"Going up and down the wing, I don't know if anybody in the league is faster than Sami," says McCarthy, who coached Kapanen before the forward was traded to the Flyers at the end of last season. "He has flat-out speed--a lot of it."

10. Marian Hossa, Ottawa

Game 6, Eastern Conference finals, overtime. Hossa is coming down the wing on Devils defenseman Stevens, a guy who will someday go into the Hall of Fame based on his ability to not let guys get around him. But on this day, Hossa can smell a play developing. He drops the pedal to the metal, goes around Stevens, suckers the other Devils defenseman, Colin White, to his side, and feeds a wide-open Vaclav Varada.

Not only did Hossa's speed free the front of the net for Varada, but here's how much time he created: Varada got two weak pokes at the puck before defenseman Chris Phillips swooped in and chipped the puck in for the winning goal.

Hossa has the rare gift of game-breaking speed, and he used it to score 45 goals last season. "He's very strong on his skates," says McCarthy. "He's got a lot of quickness and he can change gears. There are some players that even with the defense on them, they're still dangerous. That's Hossa. He's so dangerous because all he has to do is get a step on you and either he's going to get a great scoring chance or you're going to have to take a penalty just to slow him down."