By now, members know I don't miss an opportunity to uncover fresh hockey drill ideas. I'll borrow them from anywhere, too, and any sport, especially the other "transition sports" -- like soccer, lacrosse, and basketball.
-- Dennis Chighisola
Fresh Hockey Drill Ideas
As members also know, I frequently express mixed emotions about YouTube.com. Sad to say, I see some so-called hockey gurus there who share more wrong information than good stuff (that's not an opinion, but purely science). At the same time, if one knows what he's doing, some real gems can be found, even from other sport coaches. The latter was the case when I stumbled upon a basketball video called "Kohler Drills for Offensive Skills", with a young lady b-ball coach leading the way. To be honest, I have no idea the value of her drills from a basketball perspective, but I'll tell members that enough of them have inspired some awesome hockey drill ideas for me. With that, have a look at the rather long video below, see if you arrive at any fresh new ideas, and I'll share my own thoughts on the other side...
To preface these drills, I've already pictured different ways I'd setup some of them on the ice, and I might even use different kinds of setups, to either end with a shot on-goal or not. In some dribbling drills, I might have two groups running in one end zone, and another two working at the far end. With enough players, two more stations could run in neutral ice.
In the first drill, two players dribble while approaching each other -- something that is very much game related for us hockey folks. If you noticed, the coach every so often changed the skills being used, and the directions players would move with the ball.
I don't know if we want to have players dribble between the legs before a cut, but I'll bet we could think of something new for our hockey players to do as a further progression to the original setup.
On what the coach referred to as a "retreat dribble", I can see a skater suddenly shifting the puck out to one side and putting the other hand out -- against the other player -- to protect the puck. As yet another progression in that setup, I might have the players execute spinaramas, to one side for awhile and then towards the other.
Can you think of other ways a player has to confront a defender? I surely can. Actually, one idea that came to mind quickly is for a player to kick the puck out to one side a few times through, and then kick it out to the other side for awhile.
When the coach brings her players to the baseline to work on spacing, I might suggest that a hockey coach consider using this setup for both spacing and puck support. In other words, the player without a puck has to constantly move to get open in support of the puckhandler. The rink being much larger than a basketball court, I'll suggest that three pairs could work the ice at one time.
We might not be able to do a "two ball handling" drill, but then... I and some of my advanced players were capable of dribbling one puck on our stick while carrying another puck in the skates. If I had to get more imaginative, I might have a player dribble one puck on the ice while also keeping a baseball sized balloon in the air at the same time. Or, maybe a player could just try carrying two pucks on the ice at the same time.
When the basketball players went to three lines of separate attackers, I thought the skills our hockey players worked on in the first two segments would fit well here, too. For awhile, a hockey coach could designate that an attacker execute a spinarama towards the outside from the two outer lines, with the guy in the middle doing a different attack move. Players could shoot quickly on a goalie-less net, and then go to a different line.
I'm at a loss when she moved to that "Dive" drill. I (or you) might think of something later, and that's okay. As an afterthought, though, maybe the player starting without a puck could move through a similar lead up movement, and then move to the middle for a shot off the pass. In that case, it would help to put all righty shooters on the left side, and all lefties in the right-side line.
The next drill -- featuring one-against-one battles in the key -- is right up our alley. In that one, a player would carry a puck around one pylon as a defender circles the other pylon and tries to stop the puckcarrier. It's really game related for our hockey players, and it helps build toughness and hunger on both sides of the puck. On this one, I think we could actually have a goaler in the net.
The drill -- where the coach feeds to one of two players -- is a lot like a hockey small area game. Again, it's very much game related, as she passes to one player -- who becomes the attacker, which makes the other player realize he's suddenly on defense.
The next drill isn't much different, but the players are spread a bit more, with a give and go between the offensive player and the coach. Again, it's hockey related, and very easily converted to the ice.
In a drill the coach calls "sharp cuts", it's just another one where players rehearse some movement, make a pass, with the receiver taking a quick shot. Again, it's something that could easily be copied for doing on the ice. Even in the way she suggested using a manager to play defense, we could supply a passive defender on each drill.
There are a couple of drills in the middle of this video that didn't spart any fresh hockey drill ideas. At the same time, as I watched them, I thought back to times I've seen pretty good high school players miss scoring opportunities because the pass to an open shooter was too far off the mark. I mean, a guy was all set to blast one into an open net, and then the pass arrived in a location that prevented the shooter from making a bang-bang play. For that reason, we coaches have to constantly remind our players to make passes right in a potential shooter's wheel house.
In what I believe the coach called a "flash cut", I think the 2 on 1 she setup would be excellent for hockey players. Deep in the zone, one player dishes the puck off, and then moves to shake a defender and get a quality shot.
I love the next drill sequence, with three players and two balls. Actually, something very similar could be done by hockey players with a goaltender in net. About the only things that have to be done differently: 1) a bunch of extra pucks would have to be available, because some shots should go in the net; and 2) I'd limit the drill in either time or number of goals, because a goaler would likely die of exhaustion if things run too long.
Actually, I think the next variation -- where the coach is calling for her players to "Rip!" -- would be ideal for defensemen (stationed a little further from the net). They would receive a pass, move laterally, and then fire a slapshot on goal. Where the b-ballers are faking on an imaginary defender, each of our hockey pointmen could execute a fake slapshot before regrouping and taking the real shot.
I think on the drill where the players are shooting over the coach's head, our hockey shooters could be using a coach as a screen for a shot off to one side.
On the one where the coach asks her students to "Pin", I think we could do something similar. Have a puckcarrier move into a defender, then find an open teammate for the shot. Where puck support is so important to our game nowadays, I think this one will encourage that in the open man.
On her "push pass" drill, it's much the same as the last drill, except our puckcarrier won't back in.
The next drill is another variation of the previous two, with the passer feeding the open man going behind the defender ("backdoor", as the coach calls it).
Passing from what the coach refers to as "Death Valley" is yet another drill that could be created for our hockey attackers to work against a coach or passive defender. I'd have the eventual shooter going to the net, though.
I love the last drill, called "Shotgun", because it's a lot like the fast break we'd like our hockey teams to make... I think we could arrange this one in several different player combinations, but the main thing is to go for speed with long passes. There could be a shot on-goal at the end of each fast break, while we might want to think about a way to introduce a new puck for the start of each break -- maybe with a coach or backup goaler doing it.
Okay, I hope everyone noticed that the lady coach didn't often use a whistle. No, the kids were obviously told ahead of time to enter the drill area as soon as the other players exited.
I actually love drill formats like she used, because there are a lot of players moving. Oh, they get adequate rest periods when completing a drill, but they're right back to work shortly, and not idle for too long.
LOL! Did you catch the coach telling her players something to the effect that she likes to work a drill for about 5-minutes, and not beat it to death? Beautiful! With that, she was also telling them that she wanted full intensity for that brief time.
The coach constantly reminded her players to call for the ball, and we have to stay on our players to call for the puck.
When the coach mentioned that b-ball people focus a lot on ballhandling nowadays, I was thinking about that talk Mike Sullivan gave in a recent post. Much of what he and his employers at that time, the Blackhawks, concerned themselves with involved smart puckhandling.
Then, I'm chuckling to myself as I think about that coach, because my old students and players would tell you that I chattered throughout an on-ice session, just as she does. That's what a good coach does, I think, as part of his or her "artful" approach to coaching. You might also notice how kind she is in correcting players.
In closing, I'm going to suggest that the serious coach or hockey parent would go back to that video numerous times in search of fresh hockey drill ideas -- now, and maybe days or weeks later. Personally, I swear that I get a new idea every time I watch a given drill.
