SweetHands is a Really Useful Hockey Stickhandling Aid that Can Be Utilized in Many Different Ways!

If you’ve been following along with our Home Hockey Training Center course, you probably know by now that versatility is one of the biggest selling points for me when it comes to selecting hockey training products. I like products that will give me multiple uses, and that can be combined with other products to make an even more creative “work space.” SweetHands definitely fits that criteria!

Features and Benefits
Here are a few of the SweetHands features I thought were noteworthy:

1. Durable product that can be used on or off the ice.
2. Comes with two end pieces and six middle pieces, so you can use it as one 8′ set-up, two 4′ set-ups, or any combo in between.
3. Lightweight (less than 9 lbs), and since the pieces come apart, it’s really easy to bring it to the rink with you.
4. Comes with a drill book and a 29 min DVD, which gives you plenty of ideas on different ways to use the product.
5. Can be used in a wide variety of ways, in combination with lots of other products… just be creative!

My Experience
Setting up your SweetHands is easy. The pieces just snap together, and you’re up and running in seconds. I liked being able to choose how many pieces to include in my set-up. As you see in the video, I messed around with a few different combinations to work on different aspects of stickhandling.

I also like how durable this product is. I had seen some durability demos on other videos (kids stepping on the SweetHands “crossbars” with skates), but I wasn’t planning on actually putting hat to the test… However, my rambunctious 4-year-old thought otherwise. I caught him walking tightrope style across the SweetHands unit, AND jumping up onto the crossbars like plyo jumps, and trying to land and balance on them! I’m happy to report, the SweetHands held up to the abuse just fine.

Sweethands is a pleasure to use. It works really well, and does exactly what it was designed to do. As I was making the video, I kept thinking how much better a stickhandler I would be if I would have had some of these tools available to me as a kid!

Conclusion
I had a lot of fun putting this post together. SweetHands is a great product, with lots of versatility, and the capability of making you a better hockey player if you use it consistently. It’s lightweight, portable, and easy to put together and take a part.

The drill book and DVD are two added bonuses that are VERY worthwhile! In fact, if it were sold separately (which it’s not), I’d recommend picking up the DVD even if you didn’t get the SweetHands unit itself, it’s that good! I definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to improve their stickhandling off the ice!

Technorati Tags: Agility, Athlete, Balls, Bounce, Boxer, Carpet, Combinations, Conclusion, Creative Work, Crossbars, Drill Book, Durability, Durable Product, Forearm Strength, Hockey Training, Home Hockey, Inexpensive Tool, Many Different Ways, Optimal Level, Pavement, Pleasure, Puck, Raw Strength, Reaction Speed, Rubber Flooring, Skates, Skill Requirements, Squats, Sweethands, Training Tools, Ups, Versatile Product, Versatility, Work Space

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.

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!!

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Technorati Tags: Age Groups, Amp, Defenseman, Defensemen, Figure 8, Forward Passes, Forwards, Half Ice Hockey Drills, Hockey Coach, Ice Hockey Drills, Leaves, Line 1, Perpetual Cycle, Player 1, Practice Sessions, Printable Pdf Version, Puck, Rebound, Seam, Skates, Timer

I know… it’s not really a “Drill or Skill,” but I had to post this!

We took our little boy (Tyler) skating for the first time this week. He’s 19 months old, so his feet are still pretty small. The only skates we could find that were small enough were the “bob” skates that have the two blades. At first he looked like Bambi out there… but then he learned to bend his knees… by the end he could take a few steps on his own before falling. The best part of all… after we finished, he wanted to go back on the ice for more! It was a proud moment for me

We got it all on tape – enjoy!

Technorati Tags: 19 Months, Bambi, ice skating, Knees, Proud Moment, Skates, toddler skating