Ice Hockey Drills

Ice hockey, the sport, is surely not a cake walk. Oh yes - it is ice walk, done with the help of skates! On top of it, you have to play hockey doing that ice walk! Jokes apart though, ice hockey is a tough game. Consequently, the conditioning drills have to be impeccable and they should be more or less covering all the aspects of game play in ice hockey. Putting across some drills, which will aid the amateurs and youngsters in sharpening their skills.

Ice Hockey Drills for Beginners

Power Take Off
This is a drill which will help and condition skaters to get powerful starts on skates. The drill involves a player pulling the other towards the red line. Player 2 then holds player 1 by his jersey, followed by player 1 taking 5 or 6 strides or until he is at the red line with a gliding stop. Each player should be pulled before he switches places and pulls.

What's a Circle in Russian?
Okay, did you see red? Never mind, the name of the drill is 'Russian circles'. Here, the players are supposed to skate in a single file, around the 5 face-off circles with a puck.

It's Fishy
Ever observed the movement of fish in a fish tank? The way they do rounds from one end of the tank to the other, seems to have inspired this drill. So what the players do in this drill is that they begin at one end of the rink. A player then skates full speed to the blue line, pivots and skates to the other red line. What he does next is skates behind the net, skates backward up to the second blue line, pivots and finally skates full speed to the starting position. This drill is great for building endurance and tuning pivot positioning.

Figure it Eight
To do this drill, first the coach will have to place 4 cones on the back face-off dots. Now the players have to skate in a pattern resembling the number 8 around the goal, outside the cones. After passing the goal they have to sprint, pass the cones and skate to the other end.

Ice Cone
To do this, first the players need to be divided in 2 teams. Then they have to be stationed at opposite corners of the rink. The coach then has to a set a cone on the blue line. One player from each team skates to the cone, does a hard stop, pivots, eventually skating back to the original position. Drills like these do wonders for improving the skating speed and technique of the players.

Let's get a little professional now and check out how it is for the forwards.

Ice Hockey Drills for Forwards

Round the Dot Shot
A drill meant for helping the forwards keep their feet moving all the time, catch the pass, and get off the shot in a stride. Here, run two or three at once out of a single corner and then change corners. Initially have all the players shoot with their forehand. This will lead the players to adjust in case they receive the puck on their off hand. Likewise, let the players then shoot with their backhand and adjust if they get the ball on the other side.

Cycle Down Low
This drill will make the player well acquainted with cycling down low in the offensive zone. As the drill is for forwards, they should be in high slots, to be in a good position in case there is a turnover. The drill goes like this. Once the coach blows the whistle, the next player receiving the puck has to pass it to the player in the high slot. Meanwhile the other 2 players crash the net for a rebound. The quicker and faster this is done, the more difficult it is going to be for the defense of the opposing team.

There are a few more, but then, these are good enough for now! Last, but not the least, all these ice hockey drills are meant to carve a better player out of average players and make the best even better!

That's it! This is where I sign off!