It's easy to get lazy with full-ice practice drills. Challenge yourself to do more with less; work players harder and get them more puck time.
As coaches, it’s time we rethink how we run full ice practices. Very few drills outside of a scrimmage need to be run on full ice and don’t involve enough players to get reps and puck touches in during the practice time.
And for the love of all of the Hockey Gods, enough flow drills! They might look good, parents usually compliment practice when they are done, but they are lazy and by and large, meaningless drills that teach players very little.
Let me be clear: I use them too. I get it. In fact, we can probably say they have a place in practice. That place, however, is warming up players, and maybe goalies. Beyond that, coaches need to be focused on drills that teach a skill, and simply flowing up and down the ice with nearly no resistance and at a pace that allows for near perfect passing, they learn very little.
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A Time and Place for Everything
Now, before you start marching to my house with pitchforks and torches, I know there is a time and place for a good full ice drill that mimics an in-game scenario or teaches a rush that allows the players to understand what it feels like to use the whole sheet. These should be rotated in when necessary, but don’t think by mastering these players are developing by leaps and bounds. We can do more to develop their skills away from these drills.
In my program, we are lucky to ever get a full ice practice. Most teams get two half ice sheets a week, and a select few in the Tier II division get one full ice sheet and another half.
Because of this, parents often complain and ask for more full ice. Yet, when they finally get it, they become upset the moment practices stop being full ice drills and players are broken into smaller groups.
Yet, our job on the ice is to develop skill, not impress mom and dad. In fact, I tell parents regularly that a good coach can do more with half-ice than a bad coach can do with a full sheet, and I have seen coaches really squander a full sheet time and time again.
But the truth is, station based hockey produces better hockey players.
Most drills on a full sheet use 2-3 players at a time, while the other 15-18 stand in line waiting for their turn. How many times are players touching the puck while waiting in line?
Yet, break that ice into smaller stations, and you have players touching the puck an equivalent of 11 hockey games, in a single practice.
USA Hockey Study
A study by USA Hockey found that on average, Olympic level hockey players possessed the puck an average of 1 minute and 7 seconds a game. A handful of now NHL players, in their youth days, were holding the puck 1 minute and 6 seconds a game.
“Touching the puck for a minute-plus in a game is not really being involved,” two-time Olympian Guy Gosselin told USA Hockey Magazine. “You can get 30 minutes of puck-touch time in a station-based practice. That not only helps build their skills, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Gosselin, who works as the Manager of Player Development for USA Hockey, noted that kids who don’t get puck touches lose interest in the game.
But beyond kids, even at the highest levels of the game, players don’t get better while waiting their turn.
The Pittsburgh Penguins Do It!
This is why NHL coaches are breaking into stations now more than ever. Mike Sullivan, Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, regularly runs practices featuring stations and small area games to get more players involved through the entire window.
He has to, at that level, because his team actually gets fewer practices than they would like given its demanding travel schedule. So when you’re on the ice, make the most of it.
At the younger levels, this is even more important. We have players at the most important stages in their development, and too often, we waste our time putting players in lines to run drills that look pretty, and accomplish little.
I now challenge you, to challenge yourself and your staff. Bring new drills that use only the corner, or only the neutral zone. Shrink the game and push you and your players to do more with their limited practice time.
Need help getting started? Here are the three top techniques I hear need to be taught on full ice, and how they can be done in station based drills or small area games.
Breakout
When breaking the puck out, one of the fundamentals is the initial breakout pass along the boards. With this simple drill, you can work on that pass, and even reverse it into an attack for added measure.
Coach dumps the puck in and 3 players go retrieve it. The first player is the defender who first works with the group to break out, before becoming defense and playing the game as a 2-on-1.
Regroup
When entering the zone isn’t working, we often want our players to pass the puck back and regroup. This sounds like something you need a lot of ice for, but with this drill you can accomplish it on only half a sheet.
The red team starts with the puck and sends a pass behind the net, the defensive player then enters the zone and can pass or skate it in, whatever option they choose. They can then attack the net in a 3-on-2, but if they lose possession, the puck has to be cycled again.
When yellow gets the puck, they pass back, make the D-to-D pass, and then they start their 3-on-2 attack (which is a temporary 3-on-3) as the player cycles back to the top, and can attack the puck carrier. Once they gain possession, the puck carrier moves back behind the net and starts the cycle again.
Power Play
Working on the power play does not require a lot of ice. The concept is simple: move the puck around and create a shooting lane. Use passing and quick movement to do this.
Have 3 forwards line up in a triangle formation outside of the face-off circle, with the net placed on the goal line. A defender is inside the circle, and they cannot leave it. The offensive players on the outside can move around on their side of the circle and should pass the puck around to each other until a clear shooting lane has been determined.
Watch out for players taking bad shots just to score and encourage more passing to find the exact right moment.
One modification we make once the drill is flowing is that once the shot is taken, forwards can crash the net and the defender can leave the circle to help protect the net.
You can also add points: 2 points for a goal, 1 point for a good shot on net, and if the defender inside catches the puck or blocks a shot or pass, they get a point.
Again, not every full ice drill is bad, and there is a time and place for them. But challenge yourself to do more with your ice, make players work harder, get more puck touches, and in the end, you’ll have a lot more fun.
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