12Feb 2011 by Jeremy Weiss 3 Comments
Musical Pucks

Musical Pucks

Fun, Hockey Drills, Individual Skill Drills, Misc. Drills, Skating & Agility, Small Area Games, Team Skill Drills
Musical Pucks is a great game to help youngsters work on crossovers Working on crossovers can be hard and frustrating for many young hockey players. I've found that turning skill development drills into shooting drills or games can make them a lot more fun and motivating to work on. Musical Pucks is a small area game that demonstrates this tactic well. Here's the diagram and explanation: Musical Pucks 1. Put one less puck in the middle than you have players on circle 2. Players cross over until whistle 3. On whistle, each player tries to get a puck - whoever doesn't get one is out 4. Make sure to run it both directions so players practice crossing over both ways. Enjoy!! USE THIS DRILL IN YOUR OWN PRACTICE PLAN:
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12Jan 2011 by Jeremy Weiss No Comments
Warm-up Pass Exchange

Warm-up Pass Exchange

Hockey Drills, Individual Skill Drills, Passing & Timing, Shooting, Skating & Agility, Stickhandling, Warm-Up
The Warm-up Pass Exchange is a great way to start your practice! This is a cool little drill that incorporates a lot of different elements such as puckhandling, forward skating, backward skating, pivots, crossovers, passing, and shooting. It can be run at a quick pace, making for limited "stand-in-line" time. Warm-Up Pass Exchange: 1. Players line up in opposite corners, with pucks 2. Players skate the diagrammed route, pivoting backwards between the blue lines 3. Players exchange pucks in neutral ice, then step in and shoot. Note: make sure to run from both sides so players work on pivoting both directions Enjoy!!
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06Jan 2011 by Jeremy Weiss No Comments
Perpetual Power Turn and Passing Drill

Perpetual Power Turn and Passing Drill

Hockey Drills, Individual Skill Drills, Passing & Timing, Skating & Agility
This power turn and passing drill is a great one for younger to intermediate age groups. Use this drill to work on power turns, passing, and certain timing and support concepts with your youngsters. When done well, it's a quick-paced drill that works on some of the key fundamentals that are important in the game of hockey. Perpetual Power Turn and Passing 1. Run both sides at the same time 2. Drill starts with a “ghost man” (Gh) in each corner. After the first rotation the Gh isn’t needed anymore 3. Players follow the sequence executing power turns and passes as shown 4. After the last turn, the outside man drives wide and shoots 5. Inside man starts the drill going the opposite direction as the wide man Enjoy!! CLICK…
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14Dec 2010 by Jeremy Weiss 2 Comments
On the Dot 3 on 2

On the Dot 3 on 2

1 on 1's, 2 on 2's, 2 on 1's, 3 on 2's, Half Ice Drills, Hockey Drills, Individual Skill Drills, Misc. Drills, Shooting, Skating & Agility, Small Area Games, Team Skill Drills
Here's another great Small Area Game Drill to work 3 on 2's and quick transitions This can be a fantastic drill, depending on the skill level of your players. At best it's a quick-paced, high-intensity, odd-man-rush drill. At worst it can be quite slow, with too much standing around... So, as I've often said, USE YOUR "INFINITE WISDOM" AS COACH to determine whether this drill will be a good fit for your team :) On the Dot 3 on 2 2 on 2 plus 1. Players on dots can pass or shoot, but can't leave the dots. Make it 3 on 3 plus 1 after a while UPDATE: I suggest letting the "dot men" move anywhere within their half, so it becomes a true 3 on 2 in each zone…
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09Nov 2010 by Jeremy Weiss No Comments
Overspeed Agility Drill

Overspeed Agility Drill

Hockey Drills, Individual Skill Drills, Shooting, Skating & Agility
The Overspeed Agility Drill brings in many different skating elements! I've mentioned before that technical skating drills can be boring and monotonous for many youngsters. The problem is that skating ability is SO essential... you HAVE to find ways of developing it! One method I've found to work with youngsters––and older players too :)--is to add a shot at the end of a skating drill. This tactic turns it from a skating drill into a shooting drill, and is much more fun and motivating for the players. Start with no pucks. As your players progress, add a puck, then start making them do 5 push-ups for each time they lose the puck. Players must be able to execute these skating maneuvers at full speed without mishandling the puck. Add more…
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