-Hockey Idea Swap! -

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1 -Hockey Idea Swap! - Idea Sharing With Like-Minded Coaches From Joe... Here is my hockey drill (stole it from bantam aaa in Guelph) The cycle drill--- three players are involved, corner of ice surface, 1 player in corner,1 player at 9o'clock 7 1 player at 2o'clock on the face off circle. (triangle formation) player in corner starts with puck, skates around circle 1/4 & drops puck back to boards player at 9 skates counterclockwise to corner players original spot & picks up puck player at 2 skates counterclockwise to 9'oclock position rotate & drop the puck rotate pick up puck 7 drop puck to boards rotate again than one player keeps puck skating around circle other two players position themselves on left & right of puck carrier and proceed to net. this sets up the puck carrier with three options with the puck shoot pass to left or right teammate. this drill teaches heads up puck handling this drill teaches player position on offense this teaches player to think where is the play going to be not where it is now!! I LOVE THIS DRILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s. get all four corners going and this also keeps the goalies occupied too. I love drills that keep all the players active & not standing in a line!! From Darren... This is a drill I've been doing for awhile, and the kids love it because I split our squad into two groups and have relay races; Everyone loves competition. Anyway, I use two tires and two cones for this drill. Place the tires on the blue line far enough apart so nobody can collide and do the same with the two cones at the red line. On the whistle each team starts from the goal line; when you reach the tire you do a hockey stop to the right side with a quick spin move around the tire sprinting to the red line and do a sharp hockey turn around the cone; sprinting back to the tire and now doing a hockey stop to the left side with a quick spin move around the tires and sprints back to Page 1

2 the goal line to tag a teammate. Remember, this is a relay race. If you really want to have some fun have them do the race carrying a puck. I coach a Freshman hockey team ages years old and the kids really love this drill. From Derek... I call it a circle pass drill. I have a small team of atom girls. So I break them up in to pairs. They (pairs) go to a circle on the ice. One person is stationary on the top of the circle. This person is going to do all the passing from one spot. The other person is at the bottom. They skate to the left up 90 degrees forward and take the pass and return it. Once they get to the 90 degree they have to skate backwards to the bottom and turn forward and go up the opposite side to take a pass and return. once they get halfway they skate backwards to the bottom of the circle. At the beginning of the drill they would only do a pass on each side. But now they can do several passes from front or a backwards skate. They do this several times and switch. They get crossovers, stopping, skating front and backwards, and passing, receiving the puck. A great drill. From Jeff... Here is my drill I do when the kids are on the ice waiting for practice to start. Everyone gets a puck. They all stick handle anywhere on the ice for 3 minutes. I then blow my whistle twice. This alerts the players to stick handle between the blue lines for about two minutes. I then blow my whistle twice again. This is their signal to find a spot on the boards in which we do our tight turns drill. Hope this helps someone. Page 2

3 From Jeff... I call this baseball. It's a half ice drill. You split the team into groups of 5. one team of five plays in the "field" which is between the blue line and goal line. The other teams of five line up in corner. You need one goalie in the goal. The team in line is up to bat and the player shoots the puck into the field and skates out around face-off dots outside blue line and down the other side and crosses goal line. If he crosses the goal line before all 5 players in field touch puck and score it's a run. If the team in field scores after all 5 touch puck its an out. 3 outs and you switch positions. The key for the guys in the field is to move the puck fast and then score. Everyone enjoys this drill! From Don... I have been involved in the game for 30 odd years and the best change I've seen is the removal of the red line at all levels and ages. I find this creates far more scoring opportunities and opens up the ice if you know how to use it. One of the ideas we use to take advantage of the long stretch pass is on line changes by the opposition. When we enter a rink I have the boys take note what side of the ice the opposition bench is located. Alot of teams will dump the puck then make a wholesale change of all 5 guys. When this occurs we yell "CHANGE" from the bench very loudly (a coach can use any audible signal) and the winger on the opposite side of the ice of the opponents bench, breaks down his wing and the defenceman retrieving the dump in, picks up the puck takes a quick look and makes the long pass to the breaking forward. We have caught many teams with this, sometimes several times a game, creating quick breakaways. We practice this breakout every practice early in the season then every 3rd or 4th practice for the rest of the season. We practice the pass to wingers on both sides of the ice as every rink is different. The key is passing skills and the winger reacting fast enough to catch the opposition on the change. Defenceman need to be strong passers to make that rink long pass with control and accuracy. I coach 11yr. old boys AA From Don... One of my favorite drills combines passing, shooting and tipping with the goaltender in the net. I line the players up in the corner, with two players on the blue line and one in Page 3

4 front of the net. The first player in the corner passes the puck to the player on the blue line, who then passes it to the other player on the blue line (keeping it onside) and then that player takes a shot on net. The player in front of the net must try to tip it into the net. The players then rotate, player in front of the net goes to the end of the line in the corner, player that took the shot goes to the front of the net and the other player on the blue line moves over on the blue line to become the shooter. I mix this drill up by adding defensemen in front of the net who must try to move the tipper out of the way. From James... One of our favorite 1/2 ice drills is a continuous 3 on 3 drill with a goalie. Split the team into three player groups with two groups competing at a time. All players are lined up outside the blue line. A coach shoots the puck into the zone from outside the blue line. Two of the groups enter the zone. The group that takes puck possession is immediately on offense with the other team on defense. When/if the defensive team takes possession of the puck they must pass the puck to any of the players outside of the blue line. The player outside the blue line that recieves the pass then passes back to one of the players on the team that passed the puck out. Then that team is on offense and attempts to score. Each change in possession requires that team to pass the puck out. This drill goes for 60 seconds and then you change to the next two groups of players. Our players love this high paced drill. From James... Have your defenceman line up on blue line on the boards, have half your forwards in each corner,have the forwards on the same side as defence pass to the defence,defence will shoot on net and the forward that passed the puck tip on goalie,then the tip forward and other forward in the other corner take off on a 2 on 1 on the defence that shot down toward the other end on your other goalie. Have the pucks in both corners. From Cal... Here is a forecheck drill I run, it can be changed to 2 on 1 or 3 on 2. First place one or 2 defensemen on their knees on about the hash marks in front of net, then dump puck into ether corner or direct on net. Then allow the forecheckers to go as soon as puck is dumped in, you can enforce how you want them to forecheck.2on puck 1 high etc. Page 4

5 From Brian... Matt, I have read many practice plans from you, USA Hockey etc, but here is one nobody seems to practice. I noticed right away that my Bantam team was not getting smooth line changes and creating scoring opportunities off the bench during line changes and out of the penalty box also. So, we practice moving the puck from behind the net from defense, to center to wing to our player off the bench or out of the box for a fast break away into the zone. The center, follows for a drop pass or possible rebound opportunity. We have scored three goals in our last three games doing this play from the bench. It works. From Ken... One of my favorites and the kids (4-6) is horse and buggy. The kids partner up one in front of the other, hold both sticks, the front player pulls the back player on his knee's across the ice. And then switch positions on the way back. It's a great relay race as well. Another game I come up with for our beginning of the season practices was: I had a bunch of plastic balls (from a ball pit toy, I was glad to get out of the house!) I spread the balls all over the a third of the ice. I told the kids they were the dogs and the balsl are the bones and the dogs had to go pick up their bones and bring them back to their dog house (the net) and dark each time they bought one back. It helped them will getting up and down, balance because the balls were big enough they needed 2 hands to pick them up. From Donald... I only get one day a week for the scholastic team I coach and it only last 1 hour so in the beginning after the team warms up we run our first drill.i took five things and put them in 1drill.We start at the goal line ( on either side ) and skate 2 times around the circles frontwards on the 2nd time they turn and skate backwards 2 times and then skate backwards up to the blueline and stop turn and skate up to the red and stop then back to the blue line you do this 2 times when you return to the blue and stop you then do 2 /360 turns around the face off circle then back to the blue line where you do crossovers facing the goal to the center of the line then switch and face the opposite goal to the faceoff circle on the other side and repeat the same thing in reverse order.it works well for our guys and I don't have to wast time doing alot of diferent drillls. We do this for 5-8 mins. Page 5

6 From Dave... The high school tryout process is usually spread over a short period of time and great care is given so all candidates have an opportunity to display their skills to the coaching staff. Periodically, new players/freshmen enter the school with high reputations that are shared by their parents. I try to make it a point during tryout controlled scrimages to pair these players agains't my top returning veterans. I most instances the new group is dominated by the older players. This serves two purposes...one to ascertain their ability agains't top high school players and two, it silences those parents who are under the illlusion that their child is an impact player. From Brent... Goalies are a tough one for any coach to teach, if you do not have experience with that position. What I do before every practice is pick a thing that the two goalies need to work on. Example: better side to side movements in a butterfly position. I tell all the players that when we shoot today we are all going to be shooting inside the post on the ice. This way we get our players practicing that shot, along with our goalies getting to work on a particular individual skill. From Bob... I have a nine year old atom team that have responded well to the four corner flow drill. Players in all four corners of the rink with pucks. One player starts out of one corner and skates down the ice staying close to the boards on his side and curls deep in the opposite end of the ice to pick up a pass from the opposite corner player( has to come deep into the end through the circles). The player in the corner on the same side times his leaving just before the pass from the player in the corner to join the first player for the outlet pass from the first player. He skates up the wall and across inside the blueline to receive the pass( just to shorten the passing gap). They pass as they skate down the ice one player takes a shot on net and the other player cycles down low and receives a pass from the player in the opposite corner, he then passes to the player comming out of the other corner and the play goes the other way. Page 6

7 From Kevin... We put one guy in the circle with the puck behind him and no stick. The other player has his stick and tries to get the puck and stick handle around him in the circle. It works well to get the kids to keep their heads up and to skate to get in front of the player with the puck. From Don... Practice Plan 8 More practice with passing, off side, and skating with puck, checking, and first idea of how you pass to someone that is skating (lead pass) 5 mins Warm Up Chaos. Players skate around with Puck. When coach blows whistle go hard for 30 seconds (chased by other coaches). On next blow slow down for 30 seconds. 5- Mins stretch and discussion. 7 - mins Puck Carry Full length of ice. 2 lines skate down ice first cupping the puck, then stick handling, then pushing in one hand. Mark starting point with marker. Put cone on each dot at far end. 8 mins Passing Drill with offside. 2 lines. 1 against boards another starts at face off dot. Player against boards start with puck and skate down the ice passing back and forth Offside applies (coach must explain to player if they get it wrong) o Player with puck at the center line shoots it into the zone and chases the puck. When he gets the puck he passes it out to other player in front of net. o Player without puck skates full speed to front of net by hash marks for the pass and then shoots it on goal. Drink 25 mins Stations (8 Mins each) Station A (At one end) Dump Puck out Drill. Idea here is to get the kids used to getting it out of their own zone. Coach applies pressure. If no coach then player can just carry it out. If pressure then get player to bounce off boards around coach. a) 2 Lines one in front of net a. 1 facing end boards between hash Marks and top of circle. b. Other line at top of circle. b) Coach dumps puck in behind net. a. Player from in front of net skates and gets puck and shoots it around boards where player is b. Player from other line skates to side boards tries to receive puck and then shoot it out of zone. c) Players skate hard to top of circles and get back in other line. Page 7

8 Station B (Center Ice) Stick handling around cone and passing (need 1 cone for each line) Split players into 2 lines (one line on either side of center) Player at front of each line skates across the ice does a quick turn around the cone and then passes it to next player at front of line. Station C (At other end) Lead Pass (need 1 cone) at point position against boards on same side as where players to receive pass are located. In this drill we are going to start to get the players to pass in front of skating player so he can skate into the pass. Move net to bottom over to bottom of one circle. One person (A) in other corner behind red line. Other line (B) is where net normally is (with pucks) Player (A) skates up boards on coaches signal. Player (B) passes puck in front of (A) so that he can skate into it. Player (A) carries puck out and around cone and goes and shoots on goal Player (B) goes to corner where (A) was. Player (A) goes to end of Passing Line. Drink 5 mins Rabbit and Coyote (practice checking) Players group into pairs. One has the puck and the other tries to check them. On first whistle they start. On second whistle rest for 30 seconds. 5 mins Shootout Players line up at center. One player with puck other on one knee. Coach signals and player with puck skates and other player tries to check. Other Drills. 5 mins Mill Drill (divide players into 4 balanced teams) Place all pucks at center ice. Each team lines up in a different corner at hash marks. Mark starting position with cone. Player from each group skates around the face-off dot (put cone if available) goes to center gets a puck and then goes and shoots it on net. Next player in group goes when previous player crosses blue line for shot. Each player gets 2 turns. 10 min 3 on 3 scrimmage at both ends. Play 2 games of 3 on 3 cross ice one in each end zone. Spare players line up along blue lines and switch when coach blows whistle. From Jim... Place the nets on each blue line. Have 2 teams lined up against the boards at each blue line but diagonal from each other. Each team sends a player in on the opposite goalie on a breakaway. Player continues until he scores. First team through all their players wins. Page 8

9 From BJ... I have a drill that works well. Players in opposite corners, first two players start out down the ice staggered. The opposite line makes a pass to the second player as they are doing a horseshoe type pattern. The player that recieves the pass one touches it to the first player, he goes down and shoots. After making the pass to player 1, player 2 skates around the center ice circle and recieves a pass from the same line he started out at, player 2 skates down and shoots at the opposite end he started at and shoots. Player 1 is waiting on the other corners player 2 to come down and shoot. Player 1 will be screening. This drill both corners are going at the same time. It works on timing, passing screening and be alert when in line. Hopefully this helps, From Patrice... Unfortunately I have been a coach for only a couple of months, and I do not have the knowledge of many drill as of yet. I have two drill that I tried and got some success with my team, they might not be new, but my team enjoy them. First, to help them to have a smooth puck movement I make them skate around cone place on the face off dot, with a golf ball, which force them to be more gentle. Then I make them pass the ball to each others. It helps to have a smoother control and a better puck reception. The second one instead of usual scrimmage I make them play in the end zone with the net at each side. This way they learn to skate, stick handle in a crowded space. Sometime I let them play only between the blue lines. Again I get a great response from my players. Again I'm very junior at coaching and I welcome any help. Hope this is what you are looking for, they might not be new trick but they are fun and they works. From Mark... I love your knowledge sharing ideas... Tim Newlin gets credit for this great tip which I used with my little dudes at least 10 times a practice: Page 9

10 I've coached mini-mites through travel mites (all under 8) and this is a great way to get the kids's to listen & pay attention: Tell them that when you say "Lis-ten", singing it, while raising you voice as you say "Lis", then lowering your voice for "ten"... Require them to then 'sing' it back to you, in the same fashion and altogether, while turning all their attention (eyes/heads/etc) towards you as they sing it. They then have to stay quite and attentive. You will tell them that you will keep saying it until ALL kids have repeated it back & are now directly focused on you. Be sure to inform the parents that is what you & your coaches expect so they can reinforce at home, and will understand why everyone is standing around on the ice waiting for them to complete. From Dave... To work on defensemens backwards skating and backchecking I use this drill. Forwards behind goalline and D on the closest faceoff circle. On the whistle forwards fly up the boards to catch a pass from a coach at centre ice and skate in on the goalie. D backpedals and pivots at red line towards the forward, if necessary chases toward the net. If the D steals the puck he takes it towards the other goalie while forward backchecks. This is repeated several times ( I do it 4 times). In the beginning the forwards usually win, but as the year progresses the D footspeed and pride push them and fewer and fewer forwards make it without being caught. Then switch the forwards and D. The D love to beat the forwards as they skate backwards! From Dave... We work a lot of half ice drills in our house division. One drill we like is to put two lines of skaters between the blue line and red line in the middle of the ice. We then send two kids in at the same time. The one on the right goes clockwise around the right face off circle. The one on the left goes counterclockwise around the left face off circle. The coach passes the puck to either player once they come around the circle and they break in two on zero. Make a quick pass and a shot and then a follow up rebound. You can also have the next skater in line make the first pass. Page 10

11 Drill works very well. Goes goes fast so skaters are not standing around. Works crossovers, speed, pass catching, pass making, shooting, and rebounding. From Steve... Forwards in oopisite corners of the ice and defence in the center circle with pucks. Each D starts with a puck on one side of the circle then pass it to the corner and skate backwords in a half circle to pick up the forward the other D passed it to, This is a 1 on 1 drill. The Key is the forwards stay behind the goal line on the corner until they recieve the pass. From Brian... Morning, I use a drill that strenghtens quick feet,quick passing & timing. Have two D-men on the blue, fowards in each corner, goalie in net, one passer on one side in circle. Drill starts off with one skater from corner passing to D, then skates past D outside blue line around D,then back into high slot, while this is going on, D passes to other D, then passes to F in circle, F passes to skater coming in, skater shoots on goalie, then circles towards other corner, receives pass from corner, skater passes to D, skates outside blue line again, D passes to other D, then to F who switched to the other circle, then to skater coming in again, second shot is taken. Momentem is fast, passers mix up passing sequence to keep everybody on toes, passes have to be quick and accurate, skaters have to time coming into slot. Then F from other corner starts next. From Steve... Here's my cool idea I like working with small ice games because the game of hockey is won by winning all the mini games and battles that take place on the big sheet of ice. This is a ½ ice cross ice game called "2 on 2 with a behind the net rover" Set up: using only one end of the ice (blue line to end of rink) put one net on one side and the other net on the other side. The Game: behind each net position 1 rover. He can not come out from behind the net area and plays offense for which ever team has the puck. Page 11

12 The game end's when one of the teams scores a goal. The winners stay on the ice and the next 2 come out to challenge the winners. - This involves 2 goalies, 4 teams of 2 (8) and 2 rover at a time and they are quick hard fought games in a small area. From Kevin... Here is an idea to practice stick handling, edges and heads up play: With a goalie in net, have the players line up near the center ice (width wise) on the blue line. Have the first player go without a puck through the slot then following the face off circle clockwise (towards the corner and then in an up ice direction), once they reach the top of the face of circle (nearest the blue line) they start towards the opposite face-off circle(a figure eight - almost) in the same zone following the circle counter clockwise. As the first person crosses in front of the crease the second person follows the same original path with a puck. As the second person and the first person near the top of the face off circle the second person makes a pass to the first person (across the ringette line) The first player makes a shot on net, the second player proceeds around the opposite face off circle just like the first and the the third player starts out with the puck. Run both right and left sides for all the players so they can shoot on both the strong and weak sides. From John... After doing the toe heel, side side drill with the puck I put 10 of them in the center circle and they have to stick handle around everybody else with out losing the puck or going outside the circle. Then half of them freeze and the others go around them. This helps them keep their head up and handle the puck in traffic. The boys like it because we make a little contest out of it. From John... I do this with my Mite team: Everyone is in the offensive zone wingers split into each corner, centers near the wingers. From one side, the winger passes the puck back to his defenseman. The winger goes in front of the net and is joined by an opposing defenseman. The offensive defenseman Page 12

13 takes a shot from the Blueline and the winger tries to deflect the puck while being guarded by the opposing defenseman. Whistle is blown to stop drill WINGER & OPPOSING DEFENSEMAN STAY IN FRONT OF THE NET. The winger in the opposite corner passes back to his defenseman and the drill is done but now there are 2 forwards and 2 defense in front of the net. Whistle is blown and the center and 2 wingers go down the other end of the ice 3 on 2. Whistle is blown and everyone back-checks to the far Blueline. I like the drill because at the end 7 players are involved in the drill, and we accomplish the following: o Game situation with a pass back to the defensemen o Offensive defenseman have to get shot on net o Wingers are battling to get position and a stick on the shot o Defensemen learn proper positioning vs forwards in front of the net. o Fast break out of the zone into a 3 on 2 o Offensive defenseman now have to play defense o Forwards learn to be creative at offensive blueline o Everyone works on back-checking From John... Ok, Here is a very simple drill that I use for getting garbage goals. I call it popcorn! It works the goalie and the defensemen at the same time! Every one knows how hard it is to get a good rebound shot off with the puck bouncing, legs and skates in the way, being pushed around by defensemen, etc.try this! What you need: The goalie in the net, a couple of defensive players out front of the net, three shooters and a bunch of pucks. The coach, stands/hides behind the net and drops pucks in front of the net. The pucks come from all angles, bouncing, rolling,etc. (just like real rebounds). Shooters try to put the pucks in the net while defensive players attempt to clear the pucks and harass the shooters. Its very simple, but adresses an area that rarely is covered in practice. From Erik... Though I've been playing hockey for 30 years, I've only been coaching for 3. Here is a drill we developed to help our kids crash the net and grab rebounds. It works on quick forward skating, backward skating, direction transition in both directions, rebounds, and hand-eye coordination. Page 13

14 Drill: Crash the Net Description: Crash the net looking for rebounds (Players line up at the outside the blue line facing the zone, skating one at a time) 1. Skate forward to the left post looking for the rebound as coach shoots 2. Skate backwards to slot around cone 3. Skate forward to right post looking for the rebound as coach shoots 4. Skate backwards to cone 5. Skate forward to the back of the line * Be sure to face the net at all times From Daniel... this idea of exchanging drills is one of the most excellent ideas I' ve ever seen. Keep on trucking!! Here's one fun drill : At the end of the practice, you place both net in a corner, 45 angle, facing each other at +/- 15 feet distance. You divide your players in two teams, aligned with the net and away from the play zone, also at +/- 15 feet. Puck in the corner, at the whistle, 1 player from each team challenge to score in the opponent net (1-1). After 15 seconds, the coach whistle again and the players in motion has to stop playing, skate, reach and tag his partner that will take over and continue for the next 15 seconds... From Robert... I call this one THE WALL Good from Mytes to Pro Forwards are asked to always charge the net after a shot for a possible rebound (create the habit) Most of young defensemen do not react properly to prevent the opponent from charging the net Here's a drill that will teach them to react Duration of the drill : a game-like situation, about 2-3 seconds... for the purpose of the learning, make it last 3-5 seconds So: 1 vs1 in front of the net - 1 defenseman against 1 forward - no goalie Place a puck on the red line in the crease Defenseman is face to face with the forward, both aways 3 feet from the puck At the whissle, the forward have 3 or more seconds to push the puck in the net with is stick against the defenseman who tries to block and neutralize the forward for the time Page 14

15 . If no crease available, use 2 cones. Teach how to neutralize the opponent stick - closed body checking where admissible. Defensemen try to put their stick betwen the legs of the attacker and control him out of the reach of the puck. Action-reaction - defensemen always keep their body between the net and the opponent. lefty VS lefty, righty VS lefty, righty VS righty (dependind of the age and the ability level of your players) From Lee... On the rink that we practice on, it has the ringette line just above the hash marks, so doing this drill usually gets some groans. It doing the lines with a twist.(i like doing this drill to see the skill level of a new team, as I coach 1st year peewee house).starting on the goal line, the team skates with the puck to the blue line, stops and then skates backwards,with the puck, to the ringette line. Skates hard to the red line, then backward to the blue line.and so on. By the time they go from blue to ringette, red to blue, blue to red,ringette to blue, goalline to goalline, you get a real good idea what your player skill level is. When I do this drill, the coaches and I find: whose the power, who needs help, and its entainertaining to see, the ones that are "cockey" trying to skate backwards with the puck. We usually get a well rounded group of kids, that have a great skill, and the coaches need to find a way to unleash their full power. we found that good forward skaters have a difficult time skating backwards with a puck. This drill also helps us out, who we can move around to play different positions, if we get into a bind for players. From Frank... One I like a lot is the one that incorporates a few skills in one; start from the corner, skate w/puck up the boards (puck on the back hand to simulate open ice) do a power turn around the cone (at faceoff dot over the blue line), skate in and rip off a wrist shot in the slot. Coach to the side of the net passes the puck right after the shot to simulate a rebound. Player catches the pass and shoots again. I like it because it has stick handling, power turns, shooting and receiving a pass and rebounds all in one drill. From Mike... Great idea to share coaching tips! I am presently the District Coaching Coordinator for British Columbia Amateur Hockey and conduct the coaching clinics throughout the Page 15

16 district. I have numerous drills, tips and ideas amassed over 30 years of coaching with 7 being professional in North America, the Czech Republic and Japan. A drill that I have used from Novice to Junior A with very good results is the "Combo Drill". The drill starts off with a forward line and defense (DP1) against another set of defense (DP2). They dump it in and forecheck DP2 and after they gain control they proceed to try and score. On the coach's whistle they perform a breakout with DP2 and proceed down the ice against DP1. After that play has concluded a coach passes a puck back to DP2 who regroup the puck allowing the forwards to get back onside and attack DP1 again. The play is over after the attempt to score and a different set of players start on the whistle in the opposite direction. The drill usually takes seconds, or the length of a shift and they get 2-3 minutes rest...just like a game. Must be executed at full speed! From Mike... Here is a drill that I like to use to early in the practice: I line up the players in the two corners and one player about 10-15feet from the goalie on the red line. The side where the player is on the red line will start and will skate out of the corner with a puck, when he is past the hash marks and before the top of the circle will make a pass to the player on the redline. He continues around the top of the circle and goes hard to net where he receives a pass back and takes a one time shot on net. After he shoots he goes to the other side of the goalie and assumes his position about feet from the goalie and player from the other sides starts (after the shot is taken) and replicates the drill from the other side. I insist that if they are on their back hand it has to be a back hand pass and shot. This drill gets the goalie going side to side and helps introduce the cycling concept to younger players From Dennis... 5v0/5v1/5v2 Drill to work breakout options, passing & weaving down the ice, and reinforces hard backcheck. Here's how it works. Coach puts all the players on one bench (near their defensive zone). Coach blows 1st whistle and shoots puck in on goaltender in the net nearest to the bench full of players (this goalie represents their teams goalie and their "D" zone). The 5 players jump onto the ice when they hear that first whistle, they read the defense and get into position for an outlet pass Page 16

17 (the breakout). They then proceed all the way down the ice (at game speed) to try to score on the goalie in net at far end (5v0). After goal is scored or scoring attempt is saved, the coach blows a 2nd whistle and that line has to backcheck all the way down to their end of the ice to breakout a second time. They do this and proceed down the ice again, except this time one defender has stepped out (5v1). Again they try to score and when the coach blows the whistle a 3rd time, that line again backchecks to their end of the ice to breakout a last time. They then proceed down the ice for a third time, except this time their is 2 defenders (5v2). On the next whistle a new line comes out off the bench and the cycle starts all over again. 5v5v5 Fun scrimmage Ice is separated into 3 zones with 5 skaters in each zone. Team of 5 in the neutral zone gets the puck first, they can attack either end of the ice. Once the enter in one of the defensive zones it's a 5v5 until either they score or the defensing team of 5 in that D zone get the puck out over the blue line. If they do, they can either re-enter the zone they just came out of or attack the team of 5 players at the far end. This is a continuos drill the all the players love to do. They goat the other teams into coming down and attacking them by laying on the ice or turning their back to them. It's fun to watch what they come up with! :-)) From Jesse... I have great stick handlers on my team, but most of the time it is along the boards that we lose possession. The hardest part used to be when the puck was in their feet and they were forced to use their bodies and other means to maintain possession other than their stick. My tip would be to USE THE FEET in practice. Try having the players line up at the hashmarks along the boards. You stand in the opposite corner. Practice ringing the puck along the boards, behind the net, and have it meet them at the hashmarks - players MUST trap the puck in their feet. You can be very creative with this drill. But I found that footwork was the KEY. Page 17

18 From Joseph... Developing positional hockey players is the paramount at this stage of hockey. Establishing good fundamental positional hockey habits it will be more important for future hockey skills and development. What you need: You will need to place the bumper pads on the red line dividing the rink in half. Place a goal net at each goal crease. How this drill works: Create four teams two on each side and two coaches per side. One coach will assign each player to an offensive position and the other coach will assign all of the defensive positions. No one sits on the bench for this drill. The defensive team will position themselves in the defensive zone and the offensive team will position themselves in the neutral zone Once the first five positions are filled continue to add players to all five positions both on the offensive side and defensive side until you run out of players. You may have two or three player at one position, and that is ok. The drill is started by the offensive center carrying the puck into the defensive zone and the game begins. All players must stay in their position during the game. Coaches can encourage them to stay in their position but, if one player moves out of their position the other team will receive a point. The play stops and the puck is shot into a neutral corner to keep the play moving. After one minute the whistle blows and both the teams will shift their player into different positions. This will allow all players to play both offensive positions and defensive positions. Each week teams will alternate playing defense and offense. Scoring chart: Offensive team: Offensive players keeping all five position during each minute drill without have the coaches blowing the whistle: 1 point Keeping the puck in the defensive zone for one minute: 1 point Making a one player pass: 1 point If the team make two consecutive passes: 2 point (add 5 points with a goal) If the team makes three consecutive passes: 5 points (add 10 points with a goal) If a player causes a penalty: -10 points Defensive team: Defensive players keeping all five position during each minute drill without have the coaches blowing the whistle: 1 point Page 18

19 Clearing the puck from the defensive zone: 2 point for each time the puck is cleared Saving the puck in front of the goalie: 3 points Clearing the puck around the boards: 2 points Making a one player pass: 1 point If the team make two consecutive passes: 2 point (add 5 points for the clear out) If the team makes three consecutive passes: 5 points (add 10 points for the clear out) If a player causes a penalty: -10 points Results: Your team will be able to learn how each position is played and play as a team to cause a goal or a clear out. The add excitement of adding points and removing points will cause each team member to stay in their position. From Brad... what I have been doing for the past 15 years of coaching at the squirt or peewee level is some form of power skating before each practice for about 10 minutes.every practice it is inside and outside edges forward and back.then I will throw in whatever comes to my mind like power turns,mohawks,croossovers,whatever I come up with.but I always do the edges because I feel once a player gets those inside and outside edges down then he or she will be on there way to becoming a better skater and a better player. From Dale... 1) 1v1 drill to test competitiveness. - full ice drill -split players into two groups in opposite corners -both groups do the same drill - at coaches whistle two players go into a corner face-off circle and battle for a puck (teach body position and puck control) players must stay in circle - at second whistle the coach shoots another puck along boards - the two players race to the puck,skating to the far end to shoot on the goalie - for the player who loses the race they try to catch up and steal the puck - the two players then join the other group at the other end - at the second whistle also two new players go into the face-off circle - the drill is continuous Page 19

20 2)1v1 to test defense quickness and 1on1 capability and to test forward speed and 1on1 capability - full ice drill - use both ends of ice at same time - 2 groups of defense in middle of ice - forwards in 2 groups at opposite ends/corners of rink - at coaches whistle forward skates out of corner around the face-off circle and shoots on goalie, stays in front. the defense then skates over the blueline for a shot - the forward tries to tip or put in rebound-the forward then continues to the other corner and picks up a puck and skates up the ice to goalie - the defense after shooting skates to the board, touches the board with his stick and then immediately skates to other side to play 1 on 1 vs the forward. - both sides are going at the same time From Albert... The players start in 3 static lines as shown. F1 skates down the boards, passes it to F2. F1 breaks to the net, receives a pass from F2 and shoots on net. F1 curls tightly back up ice as F2 follows. F3 passes to F1 or F2 and breaks out into the NZ. Two D pick up for a 3 v 2 break into the zone. From Keith... However, as I told you at the beginning I am a new coach just starting out! I have been helping coach as an assistant for two years and I am only taking on a team as head coach this coming season! I am going to be coaching the atom kids ages 9 and 10. So, with that said you can expect that my arsenal of plays and drills are very limited and few. My biggest challenge over the last two years was actually trying to teach a lot of the kids what an offside is and position play. What I have found is that you have to keep the fun in the game especially for the young kids. I try and get started by having the kids do their stretches before they go on the ice, this way we do not waste any valuable ice time doing them. Then I try to keep them intrigued by having a 10 minute game of 3 on 3 cross ice with 2 minutes shift. I find that this helps get the blood flowing in them to get warmed up! The kids are skating hard and they must head man the puck at least once a shift. They must also pass the puck three times before taking a shot on the net, I find that this allows ALL the kids to handle the puck and not just the better skilled ones! This is just the warm up part of my practices, if this is not what you want just let me know and I will give you some other drills that we run! Page 20

21 From Ron... I have attached an evaluation of players and goalies that I use as jumping off point for discussions I have with my Atom Competative players. I do this 3 times per year. Once after team selection, once after X-Mas and a final one at the end of the season. The players know them as DPSR's. Maney of my players parents get similar review at their work places and the players like this format especially as it is done one to one and focuses on what is needed for them to grow as a player. The essence of this evaluation is also how I select my team. From Gene... Here is a drill I am getting good positive feed back from. All players line up in one corner. 2 at a time they Backwards skate. 3 times around each of the 5 face off circles. opposite rotation on each dot, Coach's at the centre of the dot emphasize. This drill is about technique not speed Cross Unders are a long powerful stroke of the foot most behind there body. one hand on the stick holding in the hand closest to the dot, Point towards the dot do not drag the stick. This encourages the proper lean towards the dot giving balance and allows speed.. They must change hands on opposite rotation Proper powerful under cuts are encouraged and supported by the 3 rotations and proper lean. This is giving them a chance to isolate the proper muscles for this. A significant increase in there speed going backwards develops. as a follow up once they have mastered this is this progression. Skating the length of the ice backwards starts facing sideways and utilizing 3 under cuts left to start followed by 3 undercuts from the right. Continuing the length of the ice with 3 chops left and 3 right. Remember do the circles till they have this down then straight backwards skating with 3 chops and 3 chops finish up with pucks. My team Is Bantam aged yet it still took 3 or 4 tries at all five dots till the team had it right. Page 21

22 From Ed... I coach a Midget Minor 16U team. Two competition/strength and conditioning drills we run at the end of practice that the boys seem to like are: 1. Center line to center line sprints. We push the net up to the top of the goal crease. All players line up on the center red line on one half of the ice. On the whistle, they sprint around the net to the other center red line. The first player across the line wins and is excused to the dressing room (after helping out the assistant coaches with pucks, water bottles, etc.). We repeat the "race" until the zamboni usually kick us off. The goalies have to do the best 2 out of 3. The other goalie has to go at least two more times. I only use one half of the ice to make them go around the net left then right. 2. The 25 pound relay race. I use two 25 pound weights from a weight set, each one tied off to a large belt. I break the team in two lines. Each player must skate from goal line to goal line, then transfer the weight to the next player in line. The line that loses has to give us 20 push-ups. (The first time up and down the ice is a learning curve.) I never run both of these in the same practice. The problem with no. 2 is that it takes a lot longer to run as you can imagine. In fact, I usually do this once or twice in our preseason and not during the regular season. From Sherri... My Drill is simple but affective for balance and agility. I separate my team into two groups. Pick two circles on the floor and get the kids to skate those circles using left or right foot crossovers depending on which direction they are traveling. Their sticks must be on the inside of the circle, and they must use their sticks to help them maneuver the circle. They use the sticks like a helm. Once the kids are all traveling in sinc (using their center of gravity)- we will switch directions. From Keith... Here's a 3 on 3 drill that really gets our Bantam House League team going, they have to actually discuss tactics with each other. It's a half-ice drill that can be with or without a goalie. To begin 3 pucks are inside the centre ice face-off circle, each team of 3 is against opposite boards at the blue line (or goal line). At the whistle it's the first team to score 2 goals wins and play 2 out of 3, or 3 out of 5. It's great to see the different experiments in offence and defence. Page 22

23 From Eric... As coach of a Mite 1 team, I like to stress the importance of using the boards as an extra player. I have noticed that a lot of times the defensive player will stand still (at least at this age) when the puck carrier is coming towards him. Having the momentum of skating forward and using the boards to "pass to yourself", the offensive player can maneuver around the defensive player. Of course head manning the puck to your center is ideal, but the boards is an option. Line up the players in a corner with a puck. Have the coach or another player stand 5 feet from the boards, half way between corner and blueline facing corner and oncoming player. Also have another player in slot ready to break out with puck carrier. The goal is to have the puck carrier make a decision either to head man the puck or use boards. The coach can use his stick to sweep at player forcing him one way or the other. Options include having another coach roaming the blueline taking the boards or the center away forcing the puck carrier to decide what to do with puck. I'm sure its been done but it is a good thinking drill for the kids as well as practicing puck speed and passing. From Dan... I am coaching 9/10 years this season so am not as seasoned as most on your list. For my age group I have a intro to defensive coverage 'thing' that I do. When explaining to this age group defensive zone coverage I draw (on my board) a line from the middle of the blueline straight through the net to the end boards. I then draw a line across the ice from hash marks to hash marks on the side boards. The idea here is to have the kids visualize 4 zones and help them to understand where LW, RW, LD and RD are responsible for the puck and/or covering their man (they move within their 'square' depending on puck placement). This helps them learn not to chase the puck all over the ice and to best position themselves in passing lanes. For the Centre I draw a semi-circle one corner to the other corner arcing across the slot. This gives the C a range of responsiblity and puck support and stops him from running out to the pointmen. Sorry, it's longwinded in words but very effective on a dry erase board... Page 23

24 From Walt... A back checking drill I use at all of my practices. Start with 2 lines at each goal. First 2 players start passing the puck up the ice. They take a shot on goal and the group on the end they just shot on start. The 2 players that just took the shot must touch the goal posts and back check up the ice. We keep it going back and forth. Great for passing, back checking and skating. From Mike... This drill is called the high low drill: Divide your kids into four equal lines one in each corner.place three cones equal spaced along each blue line.opposite corners are the high groups and the other corners are the low groups.on the whistle each corner skates with a puck up the side boards toward their set of three cones.the two low groups each hit the first set of cones on there immediate blue line,weave thru these and go in and take a shot on the goalie and switch to the other line in their end.the two high groups, also starting at the same time,skate past the first set of cones at there immediate blue line and continue up the ice over the center red line to the far blue line and weave thru this set of three cones and skate back towards their starting end taking a shot on the goalie and again switching lines.i know it sounds confusing but trust me it works well and also looks pretty cool.we also change the designation of the high and low groups after a while and sometimes will add a give and go with a coach. From Rick... Point shot, back door, deflection drill. Players in one corner. Cones on three dots. Close off sides, Center and far opposite off sides dots. Three players leave at once, third player is a d-man. As the first two players turn around a cone they get a pass from player still in line. First (low cone) player takes shot and gets in front for deflection of second player shot. After second player shot one player stays in front other slides off to back door. D-man comes around far cone, comes to blue line and stops. Receives a pass from a coach in the other corner, stops puck and either shoots on net where player in front goes for deflection or makes a hard low pass to back door player. Play is not over until all rebound opportunities are done. This drill is good for getting your forwards to work the back door, work the deflection, and stay in the play for rebounds. Also good for getting the d-man to work on hard low shot. --\\-- Page 24