The uppercut is a move used to slide the puck quickly underneath an opponent that is swimming on the free hand side of a player. The player starts with the puck in a natural position for swimming with the puck, either with the puck out in front of them or under their shoulder. To do the upper cut, the player will switch the puck to the inside of their stick and pull it back until it is under their stomach, then rotate their stick and slide the puck straight out to their non playing hand side. The puck should move in an approximate “L” shape.
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This move is effective when an opponent is swimming parallel to a player's free hand side and the player has a teammate on the opposite side of that opponent. The upper cut can be used to slide the puck under the chest or hips of the opponent to a teammate. If an opponent is reaching forward to block a forward pass, the upper cut will take advantage of the space under their hips to which they can not quickly reach back to.
Some players will keep their stick back under their chest when chasing someone. It is difficult to do an upper cut when an opponent does this since they can quickly reach under their hips to block the slider. If the opponent does this, it may be easier to do a forward pass instead.
Black team player swims the puck up the middle of the pool then does an upper cut underneath an opponent.
UPPER CUT