A slapshot (or slap shot) in ice hockey is the hardest shot. It has four stages which are executed in one fluid motion: 1. * The player winds up his hockey stick by raising it behind his body, sometimes raising the blade to shoulder height or higher. 2. * Next the player violently "slaps" the ice slightly behind the puck and uses his weight to bend the stick, storing energy in it like a spring. It is this bending of the stick that gives the slapshot its amazing speed. Just like a bow and arrow, the stick's desire to return to being straight is transferred to the puck, giving it much more speed than just hitting it alone could do. 3. * When the face of the stick blade strikes the puck, the player rolls his wrists and shifts his weight so that the energy stored in the stick is r