How to learn the hockey stop: blades across the direction of travel, shoulders first, knees deep. With lead-up steps, milestones and typical mistakes.
The honest answer first: the hockey stop is the fastest of the normal brakes. You turn both blades about 90 degrees across the direction of travel and press them sideways into the ice [1]. The skating-school curriculum requires it in both directions on level 4 of 6 of the adult levels, together with forward crossovers [2].
The Canadian ice hockey coach education calls stopping one of the first skills to be taught, for safety reasons, so that players do not end up at the boards [1]. That applies to you just the same, even without a stick. According to this source the two-foot stop brakes faster than the stop with only one foot pushed out [1].
Realistic: the hockey stop needs some courage and enough glide speed. With a solid snowplow and calm gliding it is achievable in a few sessions; the exact duration is individual.
The hockey stop presupposes that you can glide and brake, also sideways. The snowplow is the basis: pressure on the edges, shaving snow [3]. Milestone: you stop in the snowplow three times in a row within a few metres.
Stand with feet shoulder width, knees bent, head up, back straight [1]. Turn both feet across the line. The body turns about 90 degrees for that, the hips give the rotation [1]. While standing, shave a little ice sideways.
Glide on both feet toward the line. Start the stop by turning the shoulders first; hips and legs follow [1]. The inside leg is the pivot, the outside leg swings into the braking position. At first turn only to the strong side [1]. Milestone: you turn the blades across without feeling slipping or tipping.
The curriculum states: the knees stay deep, the body does not extend upward before the blades are turned. Whoever straightens up beforehand can hardly bring pressure onto the blades [1]. The blades stand about 15 to 20 centimetres apart, roughly two hand widths, the inside one slightly ahead of the outside one [1]. Distribute the weight evenly on both feet and extend the legs vigorously, with pressure on the front parts of the blades [1]. You brake on the inside edge of the outside blade and the outside edge of the inside blade [1]. Milestone: you stop from glide speed within one body length.
Repeat on the other side. The curriculum requires the stop in both directions [2]. Increase speed only when both sides carry securely.
Start with the speed at which you stop securely in the snowplow. Increase only when the hockey stop sits three times in a row, and then in small steps (experience, not a study). The more speed, the more pressure the stop needs and the higher the fall. Mark a line on the ice as stopping mark and measure how far behind it you stand. That way you see progress in metres instead of feeling. If you always slide further than planned in the stop, go back in speed and first check whether you straighten up before the blades stand across.
The hockey stop is not a beginner stop. Falls happen sideways, and head, face and wrist are injured most often: in a US analysis of more than 400,000 ice-skating injuries, head, face and neck made up 34.5% and the wrist 14.1% [4]. So wear a helmet and gloves. Never brake in the crowd, look to the side first. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Practise the sequence dry on land: knees deep, turn the shoulders first, then hips, then legs. Ten repetitions in front of a mirror or in the hallway (practical experience). On the ice you then have a sequence in your head instead of guessing in the decisive moment, and straightening up before turning, the most common mistake, creeps in less often.
First be able to stop in the snowplow, then turn the blades across while standing and finally from a slow glide: shoulders first, hips and legs follow, knees deep [1]. Practise one side first and increase speed only when both sides sit.
When you want to stop quickly from higher speed. The two-foot stop with blades turned across brakes faster than the stop with one foot pushed out [1]. For the first day on the ice the snowplow is safer.
Usually you straighten up before turning or distribute the weight unevenly. Keep the knees deep, turn the shoulders first and then press with both blades into the front parts [1]. Dull blades make the problem worse.
In the Learn to Skate USA curriculum the hockey stop in both directions is on the fourth of six adult levels [2]. It sits on the same level as forward edge curves and forward crossovers.
Backward Crossovers: Circles Without Seeing Ahead