Stop Shooting Muffins: 3 Fixes for a Weak Wrist Shot
Stop Shooting Muffins: 3 Fixes for a Weak Wrist Shot
Coach Jeremy Rupke has a name for the soft, floaty wrist shot goalies catch without moving: the muffin. He has three fixes for it too — and none of them is a new stick.
SHOP NOWRocketGrip Coaching Desk · Based on Coach Jeremy Rupke’s cues · 8 min read
Key takeaways
Top hand comes off the body and pulls while the bottom hand pushes. Two hands, one lever.
Upright and still is how you shoot like you’re waiting for the bus. Sink, step in, drive through.
Angle the shaft, pull the puck in, then time the pull-push with your leg drive.
One cue at a time, then stack them. Game speed comes last.
A muffin is a mechanics problem, not a strength problem
“Wow, what a muffin.” That’s how Coach Jeremy Rupke opens his How To Hockey breakdown — a floaty wrist shot the goalie gloves without breaking a sweat. It’s the most common shot in beginner and adult rec hockey, and it has very little to do with how strong you are.
You already own the three things that make a shot hard: two hands, the biggest muscles in your body, and a stick built to bend. A muffin is what happens when one of them sits the shot out.
1. Your top hand is along for the ride
You’ve got two hands. Most beginners shoot with one. The top hand stays plugged to the hip while the bottom hand shoves the puck toward the net.
It sticks around because it half-works. The puck still lifts. You can still aim a little. You get a shot on net — just not a good one. Coach Jeremy demos it on purpose, top hand glued to his hip, and every release floats.
What’s missing is leverage. Just before release, the top hand comes off the body and pulls back while the bottom hand pushes forward. Pull and push together and the stick becomes a lever instead of a shovel.
Punch the top hand out. Pull and push. Feel the snap.
Ten slow wrist shots. Stickhandle in, then freeze for half a second with the top hand off your body before you release. Feel the space it creates — then add the pull-and-push.
2. You’re shooting like you’re waiting for the bus
Quads, glutes, hamstrings — your legs are the biggest muscles you’ve got. Beginners leave them out of the shot in one of two ways.
Knees locked, arms doing all the work. Lazy, upright, nothing loaded.
All that body weight, parked. No step-in means you’re holding power back.
The fix is three words: bend, step, drive. Sink into your knees, step toward the target and drive through the puck. You’re not lunging — you’re moving your weight into the release so your arms aren’t the only engine.
Take a short step toward the target as you start the pull-and-push, and keep the knees bent through contact. If you finish tall and flat-footed, you skipped the load.
The step-in only counts if the foot stays put
Fix 2 asks your skate to accept a real load — knee bend, weight transfer, drive through the puck. That chain starts inside the boot. If the foot slides a few millimetres on every plant, the step-in you think you made isn’t the step-in the ice gets.
RocketGrip Hockey Grip Socks are designed to reduce foot slipping inside the skate so the same step-in feels the same every rep. Consistency under load — not a power shortcut.
3. Your stick never bends
A lot of your shot’s power lives in the stick: the right flex, the right height, the right technique. Coach Jeremy zeroes in on flex — the one most rec players never actually load.
The catch: you can’t flex a shaft that’s straight up and down. Fixes 1 and 2 give you the angle and the energy. Fix 3 is the timing that turns them into bend.
How to train it: draw the puck a few inches toward your body, punch the top hand out, drive the bottom hand — boom. Film one rep from the side. You’re looking for a bent shaft, not a big arm swing.
Pull, push and flex all load through the grip
Fixes 1 and 3 ask a lot of your hands: a secure top-hand pull, a clean bottom-hand push, and the timing that loads flex. If the top hand slips on the knob or the bottom hand can’t drive cleanly, the lever and the flex window fall apart — and you’re back to a bottom-hand shove.
The RocketGrip Hockey Grip Pack is designed to give a secure hold and better stick control so the pull-and-push stays consistent shot after shot. Support for the mechanics — not a substitute for them.
How to actually practise this
Six steps that build the three fixes in the right order. Don’t move on until the current step is repeatable.
Ten slow reps. Freeze with space created before you release. Ignore power.
Same slow pace. Feel the lever and the snap at the end.
Same release, knees bent, deliberate step toward the target. Finish still loaded.
Close the puck a few inches, create shaft angle, time the pull with the drive.
Live pace only after steps 1–4 are repeatable. Film a side angle.
Top hand out, knees bent, puck pulled in — then take the next shot.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my wrist shot so weak even when I swing hard?
Hard arm swing without a free top hand, a stepped-in load and stick flex usually produces a muffin. Bottom-hand-only pushes and upright, still shooting leave power on the table. Fix the lever, the legs and the flex timing before you swing harder.
Should I use more top hand or bottom hand on a wrist shot?
Both. Pull with the top hand and push with the bottom hand at the same time so the stick becomes a lever. Either hand alone misses the snap.
How do I get more stick flex on my wrist shot?
Create shaft angle with the top hand out, time a quick top-hand pull while the bottom hand drives forward as the legs step in, and pull the puck in toward the body a little before release. A straight-up shaft is hard to flex.
Do I need to step into every wrist shot?
Stepping in and driving through the puck means you’re not holding back the energy in your legs and body weight. In tight space you may shorten the step — but upright, still releases are the habit to break.
What’s the difference between a muffin and a quick-release wrist shot?
A muffin is the soft, floaty result of weak mechanics — often bottom-hand-only pushing and no real flex. The cleaner release comes from pull-and-push, a loaded step-in, and stick flex that produces a snap at the end.
Can better grip on the stick help my wrist shot?
Grip doesn’t create power by itself. It supports the hold you need for the pull-and-push and the flex timing. The Hockey Grip Pack is designed to give a secure hold and better stick control so those cues stay consistent. Technique still comes first.
Watch Coach Jeremy demo all three fixes
Four and a half minutes, straight from How To Hockey. Full video on How To Hockey — Watch on YouTube.
The short version
Muffins come from a top hand that stays home, legs that stay straight and a stick that stays stiff. Free the top hand, step in, bend the twig — in that order — and save the muffins for the bakery.
Then make sure the hands can hold on while you do it. A lever only works if it doesn’t slip.
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Source: coaching points from Coach Jeremy Rupke’s How To Hockey video Why Your Wrist Shot Sucks — Use these 3 tips to instantly improve (watch the original). Interpretation and drill progression are ours. RocketGrip is not affiliated with How To Hockey or Coach Jeremy Rupke. RocketGrip grips and grip socks are performance accessories; they support technique and do not replace it.