Creating space and solid decision-making without the puck increases a player's chances of scoring.
Many hockey drills, be it for team play or individual skill development, focus heavily on what to do with the puck, but if you look at a hockey game and each player, they spend a great deal more time on the ice without the puck than with it.
What they do without the puck in many cases better defines how great of a hockey player they are than when they have it.
“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky
So to teach play without the puck, you need drills that encourage players to think about where they can be to get open, but also, in turn, the puck carrier needs to think about how they can help create time and space for those players.
One way to do that, as the puck carrier, is to get the defenders to follow you, abandoning their offensive counter part giving them time and space to put themselves in a position to better control the puck or score a goal.
In a recent game, we saw a wonderful example of this from one of our “shoot first” type players. This player is very talented with the puck and has an amazing shot. But in this game, their decision with the puck, which is reinforced on a regular bases with a drill we run, showed their overall talent by showing us they can think of the game much more broadly than taking the first shot they see.
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In this video, you will see the forward grab the puck and head towards the net. If on the bench you had asked me to wager if that player was about to shoot, you’d be a little richer than you are right now.
Yet, what we saw was him drag the defender who had their stick in his lane behind the net, creating a little separation, but then you also see the three more players follow him. That’s now four of their five players chasing the puck carrier.
With one quick pivot our forward was able to find a quick passing lane right into the area of our waiting winger ready to jump onto that puck with a quick shot and a goal.
The video, and the image, show the foresight to think about how to create a better opportunity, with the puck carrier thinking about his linemates and allowing them time to find space, and on the flip side, you see four defenders who are not thinking about their game without the puck and are all focused solely on the puck carrier.
To teach this, we use a simple drill to create space if necessary.
The two players begin along the wall and it starts with a good hard cross-ice pass. Both players then circle the dot and enter the zone.
You will see on the first pass, the coach playing defense offers no resistance, and the two players can make an easy pass and get a shot on net.
When the second two go, the coach makes the decision on this one to change up the forwards options and chooses a player to pressure. He can choose either making the puck carrier make a decision.
In this example, he pressured the puck carrier like we saw in the game footage above, so the carrier then took it behind the net rather than make a bad pass or a bad shot.
At this point, it’s up to the player without the puck to pick the best place to go and receive that pass.
The coach, on each go, should mix it up so the kids don’t know what is coming and can even apply varying degrees of pressure to create multiple player options.
In another drill, which we also use for teaching zone entry, 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.
One of the few stipulations we place on this drill is we want to get the puck deep in the zone. After that, we need the puck carrier and other forwards to get creative.
While the winger enters into a chase, using good edge and control work to free themselves from the defender, our other winger finds a spot in the slot, while the other defender chooses to cover the low playing center.
A quick pass to the open winger and we have a scoring chance. Had the second defender covered the high slot, we have a center open low.
Finally, we love the Lausanne 2 on 2 drill from Portland Winterhawks coach Mike Johnston.
This drill creates a 2 on 2 battle which creates the necessity of the forwards to get creative because they can’t just assume they will outnumber the defenders, so they have to find a way to move around and get the puck to draw the defenders away.
In this example of the drill, you will see the second forward goes behind the net. They know they can’t score from there, but they can better help the other forward get open as the defenders are then focused on where the puck is going, allowing the forward to move quickly to an open spot.
These drills force decision making on all players involved, not just the person carrying the puck and forces players to decide what kind of support their teammates need to be helpful and successful.
Once players begin to realize the importance of getting open and finding space, the more the game begins to click.
Oftentimes it’s the goal scorers on your team who will struggle the most with this. They have that shoot first mentality that becomes harder and harder to sustain as they age up and play in more competitive divisions.
The key is, showing them how creating space and their decisions without the puck actually increase their chances of scoring and make them an even more valuable player.
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