Slap shots, Michael Ryder recalled recently. Nothing but slap shots.
"That's all it was," said Ryder about his shot of choice. "Slap shots. Always slap shots. When I was in peewee or playing at home when I was 15 or 16, it was always slap shots."
And that's coming from the Bruin who may have the most lethal wrister on the team - blink-of-an-eye release, top-shelf accuracy, heavy shot.
It was sometime in junior hockey, Ryder recalled, that he first realized the grip-and-rip slapper, then his preferred method of delivery, wasn't going to be his moneymaker. It took too much time to wind up and fire. It wasn't accurate enough.
"When you get to this level, guys are on you quicker," Ryder said. "You have to get shots off quick and on net."
As bombers like Zdeno Chara and snipers like Ilya Kovalchuk have shown, the slap shot is the sexy, fast-moving rocket that can whiz past goalies and bring fans out of their seats. Youngsters all around the world practice the slapper on their driveways, against nets or garage doors.
Pros like Chara hammer one-timers at triple-digit speeds that have opposing blockers - to say nothing of teammates like Chuck Kobasew, whose tibia was fractured by his captain's slap shot last season - cringing as they enter shooting lanes.
But with a leaguewide emphasis on shot-blocking and getting in shooters' sticks to take away the bombs, the wrist shot is, more and more, the go-to scoring weapon that players believe is the better option.
"I think the slap shot gets dramatized a little too much because of how hard it is and it looks good," said Bruins winger Blake Wheeler. "But a quick wrist shot? Ask Michael Ryder. It can be just as effective."
Like Ryder, Wheeler was taught the efficiency of a quick snap shot before he became a pro. For two years of youth hockey, his coaches had a rule: no slap shots.
"Our coaches talked about working on the wrist shot," said Wheeler. "Your snap shot is quicker and more effective. So, yeah, no slap shots allowed.
"Maybe that takes away from developing your slap shot. At the same time, you develop a quick release. And that's more important any time than working on your slap shot."
The result? When asked about his slapper recently, Wheeler said he couldn't recall winding up for a slap shot once this season. Like his linemate Ryder, Wheeler owns an above-average wrist shot that he can snap off in traffic.
"It's a lot quicker," Wheeler said. "It's on your stick for a nanosecond. You don't whiff on it as much and you can get more of the puck. I have more success snapping it off quicker."
