One of the core aspects of playing underwater hockey is puck handling. Maneuvering the puck successfully to maintain possession and advantage is critical to being able to score and prevent the other team from scoring.
Puck handling requires a player to grip their stick properly. Nearly all maneuvers use the standard grip, but there are a few variations that make some maneuvers easier, such as the monkey Grip and fingertip grip.
As a player maneuvers the puck they often need to bring the puck to the back (or hook) side of the stick and vise versa to the front side. The options for this are to perform a tic-tac or a front to back roll maneuver. Additionally, the puck can travel throughout a player's range of motion entirely on the front side of the stick (with a little help from the top) by using the infinity swerve maneuver. The puck can also be moved with the back side of the stick across the front of a player and down their stick-hand side using a half yin-yang maneuver.
Passes allow players to interact with their teammates and if a pass was too high, or the puck bounces when it lands, being able to quickly settle the puck is very important.
When the puck is up against the court barrier (wall) many of the puck-handling options are limited; there are also important stick positions to consider when playing at the wall. When attempting to move the puck off the wall a player can use portions of the tic-tac or they can use the wall itself to help in a roll and scoop maneuver.