The X-Tiles Flooring System Allows you to Build a State of the Art Hockey Training Center, One Piece at a Time!

I was recently introduced to a new hockey dryland tile that I’m really excited about. It’s called the X-Tile, and it’s made by XHockeyProducts (yes, the same company that brought you the X-Passer, and the X-Deviator).

If you’re familiar with XHockeyProducts, you already know they are famous for designing heavy duty, smart, & functional hockey training equipment… and this product is no different!

The X-Tiles are not only an awesome flooring product to give you a slick surface for stickhandling, shooting, and passing, but they’re also a fully integrated, hockey training system that works in tandem with many other products! In this review I’ll be showing you how the X-Tiles work, and sharing my experiences with them.

Unboxing:

My first impression of the X-Tiles was that they are actually a really good weight. You don’t want a product like this to be too flimsy, but at the same time, you don’t want it to be too hard to move around. The X-Tiles are a durable, manageable weight.

Size:

The next thing you’ll notice about the X-Tiles is that they’re huge (2 feet by 2 feet!). I always say “the bigger, the better” when it comes to flooring tiles because you want to have the fewest seems possible.

Assembly:

The X-Tiles are REALLY easy to put together AND take a part. This is a big feature in my opinion because it allows for a degree of portability, and gives you the option to change configurations if you want (a feature I have made use of a few times myself).

The easiest way to put together your X-Tile set-up is to lay it out first to get an idea of where everything is going to sit, then tap it all together with a rubber mallet. In the video above, I put together a 15 tile set-up in about 11 minutes.

Add-ons:

One of the coolest features with the X-Tiles System is that you can add on various pieces of equipment to enhance your experience and work on different skills. Here’s a quick list of add-ons you’ll want to consider:

1. X-Deviator or X-Deviator Mini – hockey stickhandling aid that can be adjusted into multiple configurations
2. X-Tiles Passer – bungee rebounder that snaps into the X-Tiles
3. X-Saucer – awesome device used to work on saucer passes, also built to snap right into your X-Tile set-up
4. X-Tiles Pocket – a “pocket” piece that is designed to hold the X-Deviator in place. Again, built to snap into your X-Tiles set-up

Experience:

As you can see in the video, using the X-Tiles System is A LOT of fun! The tiles are very slick, the seams are very flat, and the pucks slide well on them. The add-ons work really well, and are fully integrated with the tile system. I like the fact that you can easily change configurations or add to your X-Tiles system over time.

The X-Tiles are also pretty “kid proof.” I’ve had my boys using these things every day, and they’ve held up just fine. My kids love it!

Conclusion:

This is definitely a product I stand behind. If you’ve got it in the budget, I’d pick up a few boxes of X-Tiles right up front, along with all the add-ons (check out the Weiss Tech Hockey Package XHockeyProducts has put together). It’s a fantastic training system that is unlike anything else out there. However, the beautiful thing is that you ARE working with a budget, you can just as easily start basic and then keep adding to it piece by piece as you have the funds.

Technorati Tags: Experiences, First Impression, Flooring Product, Flooring System, Flooring Tiles, Hockey Training, Huge 2, Piece At A Time, Portability, Rubber Mallet, Slick Surface, State Of The Art, Stickhandling, Tandem, Tile, Tile Set

Here’s a Fantastic Hockey Warm-up Drill with a Five-Phase Progression!

The 4 Blueline Warm-up is part of the Scott Fukami drill collections available through DrillDraw. If you already own DrillDraw, you should really take a look at these. They’re phenomenal. This drill has 5 phases, or sequences. Here’s what they look like:

PHASE 1:
**Drill starts on the whistle. Both ends at the same time.

On the whistle, (1) skates across the blueline and makes a pass to (2). Return pass to (1) for a shot on the (G).

Stretch Pass : see Seq. # 2.

PHASE 2:
**Drill starts on the whistle. Both ends at the same time.

Stretch Pass :

On the whistle, (1) skates across the blueline and makes a pass to (2). Return pass to (1). (1) makes a pass to (3) and continues to the blueline. (3) makes a stretch pass to (1) on the opposite blueline for a shot on the (G).

Full-circle Stretch Pass : see Seq. # 3.

PHASE 3:
**Drill starts on the whistle. Both ends at the same time.
Full-circle Stretch Pass : (only one side shown)

On the whistle, (1) skates across the blueline and makes a pass to (2). Return pass to (1). (1) makes a pass to (3) and continues full-circle to the opposite blueline. (3) makes a stretch pass to (1) on the opposite blueline for a shot on the (G).

Double Regroup Stretch Pass : see Seq. # 4.

PHASE 4:
**Drill starts on the whistle. Both ends at the same time.

Double Regroup Stretch Pass : (only one side shown)

On the whistle, (1) skates across the blueline and makes a pass to (2). Return pass to (1). (1) makes a pass to (3) and continues full-circle to the opposite blueline. (1) turns to the boards. (3) makes a stretch pass to (1) for a shot on the (G).

PHASE 5:
**Drill starts on the whistle. Both ends at the same time.

Mohawk Turn Stretch Pass : (only one side shown)

On the whistle, (1) skates across the blueline and makes a pass to (2). Return pass to (1). (1) makes a pass to (3) and makes a mohawk turn to the boards. (3) makes a cross-ice pass to (2). (2) makes a stretch pass to (1) on the opposite blueline for a shot on the (G).

Enjoy!!

CLICK HERE for a PDF of the 4 Blueline Warm-up Drill

Technorati Tags: 3 Phase, Collections, Fukami, Full Circle, Hockey Drill, Mohawk, Phase 1, Phase 4, Phase 5, Seq, Sequences, Skates, Time Stretch, Whistle

The Extreme Passing Kit is a Great Way to Incorporate Passing into your Off-Ice Workouts

Passing is a skill that most players don’t think about working on away from the rink. The main reason they don’t think to work on passing is pretty obvious: because you need a partner to pass to, and to receive passes from… Unless, of course, you have the Extreme Passing Kit.

Overview:
The Extreme Passing Kit is a really cool skill pad & passing rebounder combo, that will let you work on multiple skills such as regular passes, touch passes, and one-time shots.

The Extreme Passing Kit comes in two different models, the One-Timer Model (which you see in this video), and the Bungee Cord Model. The only difference between the two is that the rebounder is removable in the One-Timer Model, and can be mounted onto another shooting pad, or even your dryland flooring tiles. This feature gives you a little more flexibility than you have with the Bungee Cord Model.

On the Bungee Cord Model, the rebounding bungee is mounted right onto the skill pad, making the unit completely self contained (which has it’s benefits as well, in my opinion).

Both models use the 4×8′ roll-up shooting pad (huge!), which is light weight, durable, and portable. You can easily roll it up for storage when you aren’t using it, or pack it in the car to bring it to a new dryland training location.

My Experience:
The Extreme Passing Kit comes already rolled up for you. When I first unboxed mine, it had retained the shape of being rolled up (which is to be expected), and I had to sort of “pry” it open and “reverse roll” it a bit on the ends to keep it from rolling back up on me. I let it sit out on my driveway in the hot sun for about an hour, and it flattened right out.

Once the shooting pad had flattened out, I mounted the rebounder to one end (it just clamps on), and went to town!

One thing you’ll notice about the Extreme Passing Kit is that it works really well with pretty much any type of puck. I’ve used mine with regular black pucks, FlyPucks, and Green Biscuits, all of which slide really well, and stay flat off the rebounder. In fact, the pucks stayed flat enough that I was actually able to work some one-touch passes as well (which actually surprised me a little).

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the Extreme Passing Kit is definitely a worthwhile product to add to your Home Hockey Training Center. It is well built, versatile, portable, and the surface area of the skill pad is big enough to use it for shooting, stickhandling, or passing.

Technorati Tags: Buddies, Bungee Cord, Clamps, Coach, Coache, Conclusion, Defenseman, Defensive Stance, Dimensional Model, Dryland Training, Flexibility, Flooring Tiles, Hassle, Hot Sun, Incorporate, Kit Overview, Models, Puck, Real Player, Realistic Experience, Self Contained, Shape, Skates, Storage, Time Shots, Timer, Token Resistance, Training Tool, Triangle, Triangles, Workouts

Finally… A High-Quality Hockey Drill Diagramming Software for Mac Users!

I’m sure you know by now, I’m a BIG DrillDraw fanboy. I’ve been using it for years now, and I really like it. The one drawback to DrillDraw is that it is only available for Windows, which interferes with the fact that I’m also an Apple fanboy, who does most of his work on a Mac.

Over the past few years I’ve had a lot of folks ask if I knew of a decent drill diagramming alternative for Mac users, and up until now I haven’t had a good answer… but those days are over now!

My good friend, Kevin Muller from HockeyShare has just released a CROSS-PLATFORM, drill diagramming software that you can use with any operating system. In fact, the software is web-based, which means you can access your drills, and use the software from ANY computer too!

On top of that, he’s integrated the software into his existing database of hockey drills, so you can share YOUR drills, access OTHER coaches’ shared drills, and even import shared drills from other coaches straight into your own practice plan. The concept is incredible!

CLICK HERE to set up your free account at HockeyShare
CLICK HERE to check out the Drill Diagrammer “demo model”
CLICK HERE to take a look at HockeyShare’s huge drill database

Enjoy!

Jeremy

Technorati Tags: Apple, Cross Platform, Demo Model, Diagramming Software, Drawback, Drill Database, Friend Kevin, Good Answer, Good Friend, High Quality, Hockey Drill, Hockey Drills, Integrated Software, Mac Users, Operating System, Quality Hockey, Quality Software, Software For Mac, Software Mac, Web Based

Here’s Another One of my Favorite Hockey Passing Drills

I love this hockey passing drill because it just flows well––especially when you have the right group of players for it. At it’s best, this is a quick-paced, “tic-tac-toe” type of drill. However, if you have the wrong group of players, this drill will grind to a halt pretty quickly. So, just make sure your players are advanced enough before attempting this one!

Enjoy!!

CLICK HERE for a PDF of the Spice Figure 8 Passing Drill

Technorati Tags: Burkhart, Figure 8, Hockey Drill, Hockey Drills, Love, Passing Drills, Pdf, Spice, Tic Tac Toe, Wrong Group