GRIT Academy

Home
Canada
Lucan, ON
GRIT Academy

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from GRIT Academy, main Street, Lucan, ON.

We develop confident, capable young athletes and leaders by pairing dynamic athletic development with inspiring academics—fostering resilience, curiosity, character, and the joy of achievement.

10/24/2026

Are Your Skates Too Sharp?

Most players skate on a hollow nobody chose — a shop default, an older sibling's cut, whatever the skates came with. Our new report works through what that number actually does. The groove under the blade runs from 0.0044 inches deep at a 3/8-inch hollow to 0.0016 at 1 inch, and the trade-off is measured, not folklore: in University of Calgary sled tests, blade friction was 11 percent lower at a 1/2-inch hollow and 19 percent lower at a 3/4-inch hollow than at a deep 1/4 inch.

The right cut starts with weight and skill, not preference — a light beginner starts around 7/16 to 1/2 inch, a heavy, skilled skater can settle at 3/4 inch or shallower — and hard ice moves the answer one step deeper. Too deep is a failure of its own: edges that catch in stops and will not rotate in transitions.

Full report (free, no sign-up): https://grit-hockey.ca/sharpening-report/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharpening_report

GRIT Hockey — Modern Hockey Training and the Ultimate School Experience for grades 4-8 kids.

How deep should your child's skate hollow be? A free GRIT report on radius of hollow, weight-and-skill charts, ice hardness and Flat Bottom V.

10/22/2026

Your Kid's Favourite Shot Is Disappearing in the NHL

We counted 1,831,808 NHL shot attempts across 18 seasons. In 2008-09, slap shots were 26.6% of all attempts. In 2025-26, they were 11.8%. Defencemen once attempted a slap shot more than half the time; now it is fewer than one attempt in four — the point shot has become a wrist shot or a snapshot through traffic.

What remains is more selective and more effective: today's slap shots score at a higher rate than the ones that disappeared, and the power play is where the shot still holds its share — 19.2% of attempts, against 10.6% at even strength.

For a minor hockey player, the application is direct: release beats wind-up, deception beats raw power, and the slap shot belongs in the game as a specialty, not its foundation.

Full report (free, no sign-up): https://grit-hockey.ca/slap-shot-report/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=slap_shot_report

GRIT Hockey — Modern Hockey Training and the Ultimate School Experience for grades 4-8 kids.

10/17/2026

Backward skating is dead.

We counted it. We went through one full NHL game, freezing play every 20 seconds and classifying every skater on the ice — 1,432 observations in all. Backward skating only counted if a player stayed backward for more than a second without changing direction.

Defencemen: 2.8% of sampled play in true backward skating. Forwards: zero, in 865 observations. The whole game had 16 true-backward plays — 14 of them a defenceman backing in against a rush at speed. The old published figure for defencemen was about 19%.

Backward skating is important and should be trained — in its proper context: serving transitions, and moving without turning your back to the opponent. Not as a means of defending.

At GRIT, we prepare kids for where the game is going. Not where it was.

The full report is free, caveats and all: https://grit-hockey.ca/backward-skating-report/

GRIT Hockey — Modern Hockey Training. The Ultimate School Experience for grades 4–8 kids.

Address

Main Street
Lucan, ON
N0M2J0

Website

https://www.gritacademy.ca/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when GRIT Academy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.