"These drills are great because no matter what your team's systems are, you can easily implement them into any one of these drills."
All drills must have a purpose! Every drill in this article can be used for any team and their systems. This is just a portion of one of our practices at TCU.
One of my favorite drills to get the defensemen thinking more effectively is the Read The Rush drill.
Description: F1 and F2 start the drill on the centerline wall. Forwards on opposite hashmarks and Defense on opposite hash as well. On the whistle forwards(red) pass to their centerline support. F1 and F2 make a give and go pass then choose what rush to join. The defense gap up and must read and react to the rush. This drill can turn into a 3 on 1, 2 on 1 or a 1 on 1.
At TCU, I like the players to get as many reps as possible in 5 on 5 situations. I’m looking for them to find positive patterns in many different game scenarios. This will translate into the game as an automatic habit! During these 5 on 5 drills we discuss and breakdown the systems we have implemented. Here are two drills from our practice; description of the drills is in the videos.
I like to end practices with battle drills. One of my favorites to use is the Wolf Pack drill. It works on net front battles and is a great drill for goalies as well!
Description: Players line up on opposite sides of the goal post. It is a 2 on 2 in the middle. If the puck goes behind the net or past the line of players, then coach will dump a new puck in. Each group battles for at least 45 seconds. You can progress this drill by adding in 3 on 3 or shrinking the space in the middle.
When running any practice the goal is to have a purpose with your drills. It is easy to just grab any drill you find online or watching a pro practice, but if it does not fit your team identity or does not work on your teams systems then you could be wasting valuable ice time. These drills are great because no matter what your team’s systems are, you can easily implement them into any one of these drills!
