Windmills

Drill:

1. Line players up in opposite corners
2. Place a coach at each wall on the blue lines (4 coaches)
3. Players start by making a pass to the opposite side of the blue and the skate the middle
4. Player receives return pass and passes to the next blue line (again opposite side from where they started)
5. Player receives pass and then skates in on net

Focus:
1. Hard passes
2. Head up play as there is another player coming the other way
3. Receiving and making good passes

Notes:
Replace coaches with players so they can work on their give and go passes.
Thanks to Nino Febbraro for this drill.

Related Drills:
Russian Sucides II (The Admiral II)
Russian Suicides (The Admiral)

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2 on 1 - Pass to D (Half rink)

Drill:

1. On the whistle D1 at the Blue line skates backward toward mid rink and looks for a pass from Forward 1
2. Forward 1 skates with a puck above the circle and passes out to D1 and then continues outside the blue line looking for a return pass
3. D2 skates toward the blue line and will transition and play D when F1 gets the return pass
4. F1 gets the puck and tries to beat D2 one on one
5. F1 has the option to drop the pass to D1 (who should be trailing the play)

Focus:
1. Forward should make a good pass to the Defense
2. Defense works to make a good pass to the Forward entering the zone
3. Defense 2 should work on good positioning and pushing the Forward outside and away from the net

Notes:
You could also run this drill from Center but I like the skating and movement of the drill. There will be times when the only option is to move the puck to a D and then re-enter the zone. This will teach them to keep moving and get open for the return pass.

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2 Man Long Outlet Pass

Drill:

1. On whistle Forward closest to the wall skate out toward the blue line and then across the rink
2. Player with the puck starts skating toward the blue line and looks for the Forward skating along the far blue line and makes pass
3. Player then follows the pass and drives toward the net

Focus:
1. Long outlet passes to the far blue line
2. Lateral movement along the blue line looking for pass
3. Entrance into the zone

Notes:
You can mix this up and add a Defenseman to defend against the long pass

Related Drills:
2 on 1 pass and go 
Shoot and break 

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Skate, Stop and Pass

Drill:

1. Put players in groups of 2 starting at the goal line
2. Player 1 skates 4 strides, stops and looks for a pass from Player 2
3. Player 2 passes back to Player 2, then skates stops and looks for a pass
4. Continue this to the Blue line
5. Repeat all the way back to the goal line
6. Player 1 & 2 Switch positions and repeat drill

Focus:
1. Good quick starts
2. Good Stops and head up looking for a pass
3. Good passes back to their teammate

Notes:
A lot of variations on this drill by changing up the number of strides or placing markers where they need to stop.

Related Drills:
Passing Forward/backward Tandems
Give and Go

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Passing Forward/Backward Tandems

Drill:

1. Put players in 2 man teams
2. Player 1 skates forward while Player 2 is moving backward
3. Players are making passes back and forth as they skate up to the blue line
4. At Blue line, Player 1 skates backward toward Goal line and Player 2 skates forward
5. Players continue to pass back and forth

Focus:
1. Works on skating and passing
2. Keeping head up as you skate to see where to make pass or to receive pass

Notes:
Left side of diagram just shows skating as a team. Right side has passing incorporated into the drill. Depending on the skill level, you can decide where to start.

Related Drills: 
Passing Work Lateral Movement 
Passing Work - Forward/Backward Movement

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Passing Work - Lateral Movement

Drill:

1. Players start by skating across the rink making a receiving passes
2. Once they hit the side, they will backwards skate across the rink making and receiving passes

Focus:
1. Skate with your head up so you can see where you are making the pass or receiving the pass
2. Being able to skate forward or backward and make/receive a pass

Notes:
This is just a good drill for passing and skating and working with your head up. Coaches can always move around so they have to make passes to where they are located.

Related Drills:
Passing Work - Forward/Backward Movement
3 Man Weave

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Passing Work - Forward/Backward Movement

Drill:

1. Arrange cones in the pattern above
2. Player starts at top right and skates with the puck toward the Coach and makes a pass
3. At the next cone, they stop, skate backward and look for a return pass
4. Repeat through all cones

Focus:
1. Skate with your head up so you can see where you are making the pass or receiving the pass
2. Being able to skate forward or backward and make/receive a pass

Notes:
This is just a good drill for passing and skating and working with your head up. Coaches can always move around so they have to make passes to where they are located.

Related Drills:
Passing Work Lateral Movement
3 Man Weave

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2-1 Pass and Go

Drill:

1. Place a group of players at each end and Defensive players in the middle
2. First player leaves and skate hard to the other end and turns around the Cone
3. At the turn, Player in the corner passes and jumps into the run for the 2-0 break.
4. Defense in middle circle works to break up the play
5. 2nd Player in line leaves after the first and skates down to other end and around the cone (they do not join rush, but are setting up the next break-out)
6. Repeat Step 2 and follow through the drill again
Focus:
1. Teach Offensive players to come back to help out and receive pass from man in the corner.
2. Good passing in 2-1
3. Player without puck needs to hustle up to get into the play

Notes:

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2-0 Pass and Go

Drill:

1. Place a group of players at each end
2. First player leaves and skate hard to the other end and turns around the Cone
3. At the turn, Player in the corner passes and jumps into the run for the 2-0 break.
4. 2nd Player in line leaves after the first and skates down to other end and around the cone (they do not join rush, but are setting up the next break-out)
5. Repeat Step 2 and follow thru the drill again
Focus:
1. Teach Offensive players to come back to help out and receive pass from man in the corner.
2. Good passing in 2-0
3. Player without puck needs to hustle up to get into the play

Notes:

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3 Man Weave

Drill:

1. Players start at one end. 1 in each circle and 1 in the middle
2. Middle man passes the puck to one wing and follows the pass.
3. Man receiving the pass skates toward the middle and hits the opposite wing
4. Passer follows Pass, Receive skates toward middle and passes across
5. Players continue until they reach the other end and shoot on goal.

Focus:
1. Good passing
2. Movement both by the passer and receiver
3. This will help them work on moving left to right as they look to pass or are open looking for a pass.

Notes:
This is a take on an old Basketball drill I used to run.

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Pass and Go – 1 on 1 Defense

Drill:

1. Line up 2 players at opposite sides of the blue lines.
2. Player 1 starts skating with a puck and hits Player 2 with a pass who returns it to Player 1
3. Defensive player starts skating up toward middle of rink
4. Player 1 then skates across blue line passing to Player 3 who returns the pass
5. Defense player transitions into backward skating
6. Player 1 and Defense are now in a 1 on 1

Focus:
1. Give and Go passes
2. Defense works on skating and positioning

Drill:
You can adjust to full rink if you have it and run the drill down the wall starting the D at the opposite ends.

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2 on 1 Passing Attack

Drill:

1. Offense 1 and 2 start at mid rink and work on passing the puck back and forth
2. Defense 1 skates up and transitions to backward skating and good positioning
3. Offense works to score
4. Defense works to get puck out of zone

Focus:
1. Solid passing to create space
2. Good positioning to get open once in the Offensive Zone
3. Defense must choose one player to Defend once in the zone

Notes:
Stress how this can/should be used in a game for quick passes to create space and scoring opportunities.

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Behind the net - Positioning

Drill:

1. Offense 1 starts behind the new with the puck.
2. Offense 2 gets positioning in front of the net
3. Offense 3 looks for position in the high slot/circle
4. Offense 1 works to wrap the puck from behind, or get a pass to the O 2 or 3

Focus:
1. Good position by O 2/3
2. Puck movement by O 1
3. Goalie must be aware of player behind the net and react quickly
4. Once D is added, they should focus on keeping O 2 away from net

Notes:
Position is important for all players involved in this drill.

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2-0 Give and Go

Drill:

1. Player 1 starts at the boards
2. Player 2 starts with a puck at center ice and passes to Player 1
3. Player 1 skates into the zone and drops a pass along the boards
4. Player 2 skates to the space Player 1 just left and picks up the puck
5. Player 1 crashes net looking for a pass, Player 2 carries the puck and makes a pass to the middle

Focus:
1. Good pass to start the play
2. Good drop pass to the player following up
3. Good pass to the middle

Notes:
Place a stick or some other obstacle for the player to have to pass over.

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4 on 2 – Puck Movement

Drill:

1. Run this drill as a 4 on 2
2. Puck carrier should look to get the puck into the zone and find an open man
3. Off wing should get good position in front of the net
4. Defense should fall into their position
5. All 4 players should move to correct positions as the puck moves around

Focus:
1. Let your defense focus on good positioning and staying low in the zone
2. Offense should focus on puck movement and finding the open player
3. Both should focus on holding their position and moving to the correct one as the puck move

Notes:
As a variation, require XX number of passes before a shot can be taken or make sure every player touches the puck before they can shoot.

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Pass to Defense 1 on 1 Play

Drill:

1. Start an Offense at the Goal line and a Defense at the Blue line
2. Forward makes a hard pass to the Defense and then goes to the front of the net and gets in position for a deflection/rebound
3. Defense accepts the pass and slides to open space and then takes a shot
4. After the shot/deflection/rebound, the Offense skates to the opposite corner and picks up a puck and skates up the boards
5. The Defense should slide to the fall wall and then transition into backward skating and get into position
6. Players play out the drill as a 1 on 1

Focus:
1. Players need to focus on a good pass to start the play
2. Offense should work on good positioning in front of the net
3. Defense should work on getting off a good solid shot
4. In the second part of the drill, Offense focuses on puck movement, beating the Defense and getting a good scoring chance
5. Defense should focus on good positioning as well as forcing the player outside
6. Defense should also focus on getting a stick on stick or body on body to take away the play

Notes:
If you only have half a rink, send the Defense closer to the corner and work the 1 on 1 out of the zone.

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Wing Pass 2-0

Drill:

1. Player 1 starts skating and breaks up rink
2. Player 2 skates and then makes the long across rink pass to open things up
3. Player 1 carries the puck in toward the net while Player 2 goes for the net looking for pass/rebound

Focus:
1. Passing is key here to open up the rink
2. Player 1 should focus on the shot or looking to get the pass back to Player 2

Notes:
Add a coach or Defensive player in here after a few rounds to make them work against a player.

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O-Zone Decoy

Drill:

1. Defenseman makes a pass to Center in neutral zone. Both Defensemen setup in the zone for the offensive rush. Their job is to breakup the play and clear the zone.
2. Once Center has puck, C,LW & RW start to enter the zone.
3. Center makes the first pass to either Winger, then the Center bursts directly to the front of the net.
4. The Winger that received the pass should skate further into the zone on his side and 1.) curl up at the middle of the circle and look to pass to the Off-Winger in the high middle slot, then cut to the net or 2.) If he has a lane to the net to skate hard an shoot.
5. The Off-Winger, should setup in the high middle slot looking for a pass from the other winger.
6. The Off-Winger should take the shot and all should look for a tip-in or rebound.

Focus:
1. Defensemen: This practices position discipline. It exercises making decisions on either playing the pass or taking the man.
2. Offensemen: This practices position discipline and teamwork with passes.
This strategy could be implemented during game play.

Notes:
This drill should happen quickly, passes and shots should be quick. This requires good positional knowledge.
It's important that the players without the puck get to the net. This pulls the defensemen away from the player in the high middle slot, given him a clear passing lane or shooting lane.
Mix up the drill by having the Defensive pass go to one of the Wingers. This causes each player to rethink their role in the drill.

As a variation, add a second line in the corner to play a Defensive role. This role should focus on watching the player in front of the net.

Thanks to Ducky Restauri for submitting this drill.

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Pointman Movement

Drill:

1. Have Defensemen line up at the Blueline. Offensemen line up in corner with Pucks
2. OFF passes to DEF
3. DEF passes back to OFF
4. OFF carries puck behind the net. DEF shifts to the high middle slot
5. OFF passes to DEF and gets in front of net
6. DEF takes shot from high slot
7. OFF looks for tip-in/rebound

Focus:
1. Active passing with DEF in the high zone
2. Puck movement
3. Hard, outside shots
4. Presence in front of the net
5. Tip-ins/rebound reaction

Notes:
Drill should be run quickly - Game Speed
Shots should be SlapShots and kept low for tips.

As a variation, add a second line in the corner to play a Defensive role. This role should focus on watching the player in front of the net.

Special thanks to Ducky Restauri for submitting this drill.

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Shoot and Break

Drill:

1. Player 1 will skate around the circle and then look for a pass from Player 2
2. After the shot, Player one breaks up the rink looking for a pass from Player 3
3. Player 1 picks up the pass and takes it on a breakaway
4. Next player starts after first player receives long pass

Focus:
1. Good passes, both the short quick pass and then the long lead pass
2. Player breaking up rink must skate with head turned looking for a pass

Notes:
Have kids rotate thru positions so they can perform all skills.

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