9 Half-Ice Hockey Drills Every Coach Should Know About

Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 10:22 pm

Half Ice Hockey Drills

With the cost of ice time going up, many teams are sharing practice sessions, especially at the younger age groups. The need for half ice hockey drills continues to grow, and has been a highly requested topic from our readers. So, instead of just doing a video or two, I put together 9 of my favorite half ice hockey drills spanning across all levels of play… beginner to advanced. I’ve also included a printable PDF version as well as the Importable DrillDraw files, if you want to bring all this stuff to the rink with you. You’ll find the links at the bottom of this page.

Here we go!!

Quad Passing:

Players 1 and 2 execute five passes between themselves, after the fifth pass, player 1 does a give and go with player 3, combined with a one-touch pass to player 4. All players rotate as shown.

Cycle Give and Go:

Player from line 1 leaves with the puck and walks up the boards, then cycles back to player from line 2. Player from line 1 drives through the seam for a give and go pass, receives the pass from player 2, then one-touches to player 3 or 2 for a one-timer.

Figure 8 Shooting & Deflection

1. Forwards line up in corner with pucks.
2. Three defensemen across the blue line. Two have pucks, one doesn’t.

3. First forward passes to the defenseman without a puck then skates around the top of the circle and drives the net.

4. Far defenseman times it and fires a low, hard shot that arrives just as the forward gets to the net.

5. Forward deflects the puck then continues down around the other circle.

6. Forward continues up around the top of the circle then drives the net again.

7. Defenseman who received the initial pass times it and fires a low, hard shot that arrives just as the forward gets to the net.

8. Forward deflects the puck then stops in front of the net to screen the goalie and get ready for the third shot.

9. Middle defenseman fires a low, hard shot. Forward deflects it then drives in any rebound.

Perpetual Cycle

Coach dumps a puck in – first player goes into corner and picks up the puck, and cycles it back. A second player follows him in to pick up the cycle. After cycling it back the first player cuts across the top of the circle and drives the net – second player passes out for a one-time shot.

After the pass is made, the first player from the other line dumos it in his corner. The player who just made the pass continues up around the top of the circle, then drives into the corner to pick up the dump. He cycles back, and the player who dumped it in supports to pick up the cycle. Same thing happens again. Drill continues perpetually.

Stop & Start Shooting

Great drill for younger players. Starts and stops with a puck, plus a power turn and a shot. Make sure players face the same way with each stop. Simple, but effective!

Give and Go Shooting

1. first player passes out to point man – then attacks

2. point man bank passes back to next player in line

3. receiver executes a give and go with point man

4. point man shoots

5. player who attacked becomes new point man

Center Line Boundary 2 on 1

Set up a 2 on 1 in each side. Nobody can cross the center line. When the defender gets the puck back, he/she must pass across the line to the forwards on the other side.

Start with 2 on 1, work up to 3 on 2.

Figure 8 Angling

1. Players start facing each other on dot

2. ‘F’ picks up a puck and drives wide

3. ‘D’ skates around cones as shown, then angles

4. ‘F’ has to drive around lower cone before cutting to the net

Variations: (a) take out the cone at hashmarks (b) allow forward to cut inside earlier

Larsen Give and Go

First player leaves hash mark, turns the corner and receives a pass from the next player in line. He then carries the puck around the next cone, and does a give and go with the passer (P) at the red line. After receiving the pass back from ‘P’, he does another give and go with the ‘P’ in the corner, then fires a one-timer on net.

TIP: have your players use the inside mohawk to round the turns!

There you have it!! Hopefully these come in handy for you. As always, here’s a PDF of each of these Half Ice Hockey Drills for you, and I’ve also included the DrillDraw files here as well: 9halficehockeydrills.zip

ENJOY!!