A slapshot (also spelled as slap shot) in ice hockey is the hardest shot one can perform. It has four stages which are executed in one fluid motion to make the puck fly into the net:
The slapshot is harder than other shots and, because of the violent motion involved, somewhat less accurate. It also takes longer to execute; a player usually cannot take a slapshot while under any significant pressure from an opposing player because the opponent could easily interfere during the windup. The slapshot is most commonly used by a defenceman at the point, especially during a power play, although a forward will sometimes find an opportunity to use it.
The invention of the slapshot is credited to Bernard "Boom Boom" Geoffrion (a nickname alluding to the thunderous clack of his slapshots) of the Montreal Canadiens.Black Canadian Eddie Martin, of the Coloured Hockey League's Halifax Eurekas, has also been credited with inventing the slapshot in the late 1800s.Dick Irvin, who was a star player in the WCHL and PCHA - and who later coached Geoffrion with the Habs - was also renowned for having a hard and accurate slap shot. Growing up in Winnipeg in the 1890s and 1900s, he would practice shooting against a doorknob in his attic during the winter months for accuracy. In the summertime, Irvin would draw a chalk outline of a net onto his family's sled garage, and practice one-timers off a piece of wooden board embedded into the ground.
During a hockey game, a puck can reach the speeds of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) or more when struck. The current NHL speed record belongs to Zdeno Chára of the Boston Bruins, whose slapshot clocked 108.8 miles per hour (175.1 km/h) in the 2012 NHL All Star Game SuperSkills competition, breaking his own earlier record.Alexander Riazantsev of KHL's Spartak Moscow slapped a puck at the 2012 KHL All Star Game skills competition in Latvia with a speed of 114.127 mph (183.67 km/h); however, the NHL does not recognize this as breaking Chára's record, as the puck travels a shorter distance to the goal net in KHL competitions than in those of the NHL.