It’s that time of the year again. Families and players are reaching out asking about tryouts and they feel teams are already settled, and they have very few options.

If they’ve attended tryouts, they complain coaches aren’t even watching, or the tryouts just look like a performance before the teams are announced. 

And this is real. As coaches we do so much pre scouting and getting commitments that by the time we show up to the rink, we know who the team is for the most part. 

Yet, we fail to acknowledge how unfair this is for the players and families who may not be in that inner circle now, or didn’t realize the politics of attending all of your skates leading up to tryouts and instead prepared to show up ready to skate and impress.

This isn’t to say there is not justification in doing a lot of pre scouting and getting commitments, we all need to know we will have players ready to play and can’t show up to tryouts hoping it all works out.

That said, we can do more to allow players to come and impress us and prove us wrong.

We can’t do that, however, if we only run show tryouts and not the real thing. 

To do this, I propose two main drills to allow players to showcase not simply talent, but work ethic, which should be a huge component of any coach picking a team. 

Cross Ice Passing Warm Up

To warm up players and goalies, get pucks involved right away and don’t bother will boring skating drills. You will have lots of time to evaluate skating throughout the process.

Pucks are in the same corner, across the ice, with all kids in line in two corners. Four kids will go to faceoff dots just inside the blueline.

First player in each corner will make a pass from the goal line to the blueline, and immediately start skating to the faceoff dot, stopping there.

The player receiving the pass will turn and pass to the player on the faceoff dot diagonally from them, and then immediately skate to take that faceoff dot.

The third player, receiving the second pass then skates the puck into the zone and takes a shot on net.

Both sides run together.

There is nothing overly fancy happening here, but there are some key elements to watch for.

• Which players start skating and make passes in motion?

• How are their stops and starts?

• How is their passing and receiving?

• Watch their skating.

• How is their shot?

• Who looks for a shot and who just goes for the fancy deke?

What you get is kids skating, and a few uncomplicated visuals to pick up on habits, IQ, and work ethic. This is a drill you can coast through and still get it done. Look for those who don’t. 

3 on 3 Goal Line Battle

This runs as two half ice stations, so have an assistant coach, or someone you trust, to give additional feedback. Run these as you move back and forth evaluating and encouraging players.

Coach on each side dumps the puck into the corner and sends three kids from each side. To gain offensive possession, the player with the puck must move the puck behind the goal line and back out, either by skating it or passing it. If the defending team gains possession, they must move it behind the goal line and out to activate the offense.

Whistles are blown every 30-45 seconds to bring in the next six skaters.

What are you looking for? Apart from once again looking at skating and effort, keep an eye out for:

• Players that are not afraid to get right into the battle and fight for a 50/50 puck.

• Watch players without the puck and how they utilize all the free space to support their teammate. 

• Vision, which players get the puck and start to look around for better options versus players who get the puck and only hold onto it.

And of course, you can see plenty more. You can listen for talkers, leaders, and just watch how much they fight for pucks.

After those two drills? Scrimmage them.

Now you can watch players in a game-like situation. Time the shifts and do forced changes, don’t allow players to stay out as long as they want.

And if the scrimmage is getting dull or not working? I have some advice on running effective scrimmages as well.

And in the end, pay attention. Watch players and let lesser known, or even those you may have previously written off, have the chance to impress you. Don’t be afraid to offer spots to the kids who come out and work to impress.