Question from a Adult ice hockey beginner?

ice hockey has many similarities to street hockey. the wrist shots and passes are similar, but slap shots are completely different. It really all depends on you and how hard your coach pushes you. my first time playing ice hockey on a team in high school, my skating skills were questionable, but after practicing 3 times a week for a few weeks, they definately improved greatly. my advice to you would be try to do some on your own. recreate drills that youve had like starting on the goal line, backwards through the neutral zone, forwards for the rest. Do that a few times. Than repeat down on 1 knee backwards at center ice, back up backwards, forwards again after the neutral zone. Do that a few times than do both knees and chest. The more you practice the faster it will come, but the beginning will be rough. hang in there though, its definately worth it.

depends how often you practice. If you practice your skating a lot, you will obviously get better at it, but it may take a while to get the hang of skating backwards. The stopping will take not so long, you 'll have the hang of that by the end of your course, but I recommend a power skating course if you can find one down there. As far as shooting goes, it all relates to your balance and how much torque you can get behind your shot. Until your a better skater you probably won't have much of a shot because a slap shot relies on driving off your back foot. It's a lot different than on the street where you control yourself better.

it might take you a couple of hours to get the hang of it and then several weeks to get really better at it, depending on how much effort you put into it and how good you are ;-) i started playing ice hockey this year, unlike you i had not played street hockey and could not skate well at all. i just turned 20 today, so we're about the same age. but that wasn't any problem for me. i joined a beginners team and we're joining a real (new) beginners league next season. it's really great to see how much the whole team has improved, everyone is doing the best they can it's like we grew up together in one years time. beginners' games can be confusing, you need a great and patient coach who will tell you exactly what to do like every minute of the game, not to mention before and after! it's not difficult, but you can keep forgetting stuff like who goes on the ice first, to greet the other team from the blue line, stuff like that. but it's great fun. ref's won't be to tough about rules coz they know you're all still learning them. a lot of people will fall a lot (due to tripping over air or a twig that might have been there but really wasn't, haha). so yeah it's confusing and a bit slow, but it won't seem that way. it's really, really cool!

Practice, practice, practice. And taking the learn to play thing is a great idea, keep doing those. If you have not already, get your own skates. go to a pro shop and get advice, there's often one at the rink. If you get your own and bake them or just break them in the old fashioned way, they will fit your feet much better then rentals ever will. And make sure they're sharpened. Taking lessons is a good first step, but go to public skates and jsut get used to skating there. backwards, forwards, get comfortable on your edges. Once you're comfortable on them, they the hockey stop. I usually explain it by showing,but I'll try to describe it to you. In one motion, turn the leading skate (the one you want tin front when stopping) about 45 Degrees, then twist your body and keep your skates parallel but perpendicular to the direction of motion. try and use your back edges, and do it near the boards when you're first learning so you can catch yourself if you start to fall.