Kim Weiss understands the importance of wall play in hockey. She delivered a thorough and upbeat presentation at TCS Live 2024 in Ann Arbor, Michigan that got her players moving the puck off the wall quickly and more efficiently.

For Weiss, the three habits of elite wall play include a focus on shoulder checking and scanning, getting the first touch of the puck, and including deception in a player’s next move off the boards. 

To get going Weiss puts her players through a simple drill of collecting the puck off the wall with no pressure while focusing on shoulder checking. She added a deception turn before picking up the puck and passing it off to the next player in line. The next phase in Weiss’ drills is to add a little bit of pressure as a player picks up the puck on the boards. This allows her players to get comfortable with using the three habits that make for elite wall play while having a defender on them. This also helps her players read and react to where the pressure is coming from and creates a more game like situation. 

After getting her players comfortable incorporating the three habits, Weiss transitions to a full zone drill that starts in the corner. A great deal of wall play occurs when trying to break the puck out of the zone. Developing drills that put players in a situation where they have to quickly pick the puck off the wall and make a breakout pass into transition is a detail of the game that needs to be more enforced in practice settings. 

Another drill Weiss uses is quick wall battles in a small area game environment. While also getting the competitiveness level up, small area drills in the corners of the ice get her players to utilize the three emphasized wall play habits. Players have to constantly assess where to open up the ice and what their next move is after they get off the wall. Gaining the fundamentals of how to effectively pick pucks off the wall and get moving is something that Weiss believes is fundamental for success in the sport and something that can be enforced more and encouraged through various practice drills. 

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:40 Elite wall play habits
• 4:20 Habit warm up drill
• 7:15 Adding pressure
• 9:15 Wall rim 1v1 Drill
• 13:55 QK 1x1 +1 Drill
• 20:00 3v2 Small Area Game