Drills and small area games designed to help your team use their surroundings.

Today’s players have skill sets far above even the most skilled players from 10 years ago. Their puck handling ability is off the charts. However, with time and money spent on specialized individual training, one skill that has dissipated is the ability to make proper pass decisions.

Even at the pro level, players try to force direct passes when they could be using their environment and executing area or indirect passes. Back in the days of protractors in elementary schools and ‘shooting stick’ at the local pool hall, players were more comfortable moving pucks off the boards or into space. Being cognizant of what hand the player shoots to determine what area to move the puck seems, at times, to be a lost art. Putting pucks into good areas can improve your ability to receive pucks and maintain possession, as opposed to puck touches on uncontrolled entries.

Learning to move the puck effectively and efficiently can add fluidity to your team’s game and help to improve your overall team speed and possession time. In this article, I have put together some drills and small area games to help your team use their surroundings, whether it is using the boards and/or anticipating potential plays and moving pucks into space. 

Drills

Bank Pass Drill

• 1st skater swings out and around blueline dot 
• 1st skater regroups at the dot and one-touch passes puck back to 2nd player and swings to the boards (keep a lane off the wall) 
• 2nd player swings out and makes indirect pass off the wall for 1st player to pick up and shoot at the far end 
• Drill is continuous and repeats like an assembly line drill

Indirect Warm-Up Drill #2

• All four corners start at the same time
• On the whistle, skaters from opposite corners step out and bank a pass under the net to a player on the opposite side and take outside lane x-ice
• 2nd player takes mid-ice and makes indirect pass off wall to first player and attacks 2v0
• Entries include off pad, shot-tip, drop, take D skates, etc.

Breakout Chip/Chip

• 5-Player unit breaks out with chip to slash
• Attack the NZ with a chip to slash
• Delay w/ entry options
• Coach spots a second puck and line must perform an OZ movement

Small Area Games

3 Amigos Game

• 3v3 in zone
• On possession team must get puck indirect to the D then go to the net
• D can shoot or pass to the offensive team
• Every change of possession must have an indirect pass to the point

Points Race

• Teams play 3v3 in one zone
• For every clean pass through the tires, your team gets one point
• Encourages movement, support, anticipation
• You may need to make a pass or two to get into position to get a point

Bank Pass Game

• Coach spots puck in zone and two teams play 3v3
• Team must complete bank pass before attempting to score on EITHER net
• Use the nets and tire to make a bank pass
• Use your environment (ie: boards), find support and be deceptive