How many times have you heard “just get the puck to the net” when discussing a team's lack of scoring ability? Too many?
It sounds like good advice, you can’t score if the puck isn’t going to the net, but you also can’t score just by getting the puck there.
We want the puck to get to the net, but how? How can we teach players to create opportunities to get good pucks to the net, rather than just hoping for the best but often creating frozen pucks or turnovers?
Drills created with Hockey Coach Vision.
Creating Goals off the Rush
In this drill, you have three forwards going in against two defenders. The center passes to a winger of their choice and all three enter the zone with the defense having to decide which players to cover.
The winger carrying the puck needs to get that puck deep. They have the option to dump it in behind the net, but we strongly discourage that play. Instead, we’d prefer they skate it down low and turn upwards, finding a play to make.
We want the center to drive the net, and the weak side winger to find space in the slot.
With only two defenders, this creates an opportunity for at least one player to be open. The puck carrier will almost always be covered, so one of the other two forwards needs to find space.
When the forwards run this fast enough, they can create a pretty immediate pass and shot.
Played out in a game, it can look a lot like this.
Create Space in a Battle
Yet, not all goals come off rushes and many result in tight battles in front of the net. However, just gettin the puck to the net doesn’t always give you the results you want and the smarter choice is to move away from the net and create an opportunity.
This station based drill confines players to a smaller area and they have to work a little harder to find space.
The rules here are simple. Defenders are trying to clear the puck out or take away the chances of forwards getting the ability to score. However, forwards cannot score until they bring the puck behind the goal line and back out again.
This means forwards need to work together to first gain the ability to score, then find space to do so.
An adjustment you can make to this drill is to have a third defender waiting, and if the defense clears the puck to them, it creates a 3-on-3 goal line battle.
Because of the tighter area, it’s not always beneficial to just toss a puck as close to the net as you can, but rather, move it away from the crowd.
In this clip, you see the puck get to the net and a tight battle ensues. However, the weak side winger notices this and backs away from the net just a little to find room away from the defenders to get a shot off.
These habits of knowing where to go, and how to find small pockets of empty ice create a lot more scoring chances than simply getting the puck to the net.
Knowing how to do so with lots of room, or no room at all, will help players adapt to many different situations that allow them to bury pucks and maybe string together a few wins.
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