1-1 Sprints (Half Rink)

Drill:
1. On whistle, Defense starts skating backward and Offense carries the puck in the zone
2. Offense tries to beat the D down the wall
3. Defense tries to cut off O and steal the puck

Focus:
1. Defense needs to realize when to make move and push player outside
2. Offense needs to read defense and make play accordingly.
- If D goes toward the wall, cut it inside.
- If D leaves outside open, use speed to get around.

Notes:
This is a good drill to help the Defense better understand when they are going to get beat and transition from backward to forward quickly enough to not allow the player to go around them.

Related Drills:
1 on1 Sprints (Half Rink) 
1 on 1 Half Rink 

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1 on 1 Sprints

Drill:

1. Line up 1 D at the blue line
2. Line up 1 F at the top of the circle
3. On the whistle, D breaks backwards, F skates forward with the puck trying to beat the D

Focus:
1. Forwards concentrate on beating the D
2. Defense works on quick backward starts and then transitioning when the time is right so they don’t get beat

Notes:
Good full length drill to get the kids skating.

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

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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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Russian Suicides II (The Admiral II)

Drill:

1. Player 1 skates to the other end around the cone
2. Player 2 in other corner passes to Player 1 and then backchecks
3. After Player 1 shoots, Player 2 skates around the other cone and drill continues

Focus:
1. Hard skating
2. Stickhandling and shooting
3. Quick transition from Offense to Defense
4. Chasing down a player from behind

Notes:
This is a great drill to get the kids going on a slow night. It really focuses on skating, stickhandling and shooting as quickly as possible.

Related Drills:
Russian Suicides
Windmills

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Skate 8 and Deflect

Drill:

1. Line 3 Defenseman up at the points (D location is based on skill level of players and how far they can shoot.
2. Forward passes puck to point man and skates around first circle and then stops in front of net looking for a deflection from the D shooting from the top of the circle he just skated around.
3. Forward now skates toward the corner, picks up a puck and passes it to the point man. He continues around the circle to the front of the net again looking for a deflection
4. Last he moves toward the middle of the net looking for a deflection from the last Defenseman.

Focus:
1. Puck movement to the Point man.
2. Getting to the front of the net and looking for deflections/rebounds.

Notes:
I found a variation of this drill on another site and will give credit if I can locate it again.

Related Drills:
Drop and go
Skate and tip

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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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Iron Cross

Drill:

1. Players start at the bottom of the circle and skate to the top
2. Then they skate backward to the side of the circle
3. Next they do side-steps to the other side of the circle
4. Then backwards to the bottom of the other circle
5. Skate to other circle and repeat

Focus:

1. Skating footwork and speed
2. Focuses on movement in all directions which will only help them in their game
   
   

Notes:

This will improve their footwork and speed over time.

If you have the full rink, use all 5 circles.

Related Drills:
Backward to Forward Transitions 
Footwork - Directional skating 

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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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Footwork - Directional Skating

Drill:

1. 3-4 players at a time
2. They start by cross-over stepping to the side while facing the goal.
3. Then backwards skate and stop
4. Cross-over skate to the other side (again while facing the goal).
5. Then forward and stop
6. Repeat until you change direction.

Focus:
1. Good starts and stops
2. Keeping Shoulders square to the goal while skating laterally
3. Quick bursts for starts

Notes:
If no cones, just have the coach whistle and point a new direction.

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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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Half-rink Back-checking

Drill:

1. Player 1 starts with the puck and skates up around the closest cone
2. Player 2 has to skate around the top cone and chase down the player with the puck

Focus:
1. Player with the puck should focus on speed, stickhandling and protecting the puck
2. Backchecking player should focus on getting their stick under the other players stick or creating a disruption

Notes:
This is a great drill for a competition during practice. Gives the kids something to play for as they don’t want to get chased down.

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Pass it low and go

Drill:

1. Player 1 starts backward skating to blue line with puck
2. Stops at cone and passes to Player 2 in line
3. Player 1 crashes the net looking for a return pass from Player 2
4. Player 2 starts their backward skating after they make the pass

Focus:
1. Skating backward while carrying the puck
2. Good hard passes to the corner
3. Crashing the net looking for a pass, deflection or tip

Notes:
Run from each side to keep the drill going quicker

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Pass, Sk8 and Go

Drill:

1. Line 2 players up at the blue line on each dot
2. Player 1 makes a long pass out to the blue line and skates an 8 around the 2 players
3. The 2 players at the blue line each pass back and forth
4. Pass is then made into player 1 breaking down the middle

Focus:
1. Hard Pass out to the point
2. Point players work on moving the puck laterally across the ice (as Defenseman should be able to do)
3. Player 1 then looks for a return pass as they are streaking down the middle

Notes:
The sk8 play on words is because player 1 is essentially skating an 8 around the Point men and I couldn’t come up with a better name.

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Start Stop Races

Drill:

1. Split players into 2 even teams
2. On whistle, first player picks up a puck and skates to first cone.
3. Picks up the puck on the cone and sets the puck they were carrying on the cone
4. This continues thru each cone
5. Next player starts when first player stops at last cone and sets the puck down

Focus:
1. Hard stops
2. Direction change
3. Quick starts

Notes:
My players are over skating plays and I need to teach them to stop quickly and change directions. Because they have to pick up a puck and place the puck on the cone, they can’t loop around . The race will make them go faster.

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Pass and Crash

Drill:
1. Player 1 starts backward skating to blue line with puck
2. Stops at cone and passes to next player in line
3. Player 1 crashes the net looking for a pass from behind the net
4. Player 2 starts their backward skating once they receive the pass

Focus:
1. Skating backward while carrying the puck
2. Good hard passes to the corner
3. Crashing the net looking for a pass, deflection or tip

Notes:
Replace the coach with a player to make the passes from behind the net
Switch to other side to get used to working this from both sides

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Backward to Forward Transitions

Drill:

1. Players start facing the wall and backward skate to the top of circle
2. Transition to forward to the bottom of the circle
3. Repeat at each circle, always facing the same wall
4. Mid circle face other direction and complete circles facing other wall

Focus:
1. Transitioning between forward and backward going both direction
2. Focusing on one wall will make them be able to transition both ways.

Notes:
This can be done half rink with full skating circles

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Skate, Pass, Shoot

Drill:
1. Players start at blue line and skate laterally toward the wall
2. Next, they skate down the wall and pick up a puck and skate around the cone
3. Once around the cone, make a pass to the blue line to the Coach (C)

Next variation:
1. After #3, skate around the cone and look for a return pass
2. Shoot on net
3. Replace coach as the passer

Focus:
1. Lateral skating
2. Picking up a loose puck and skating/moving it along
3. Making good clearing passes
4. Shooting on net

Notes:
You can have them carry pucks behind the net and then make passes to the opposite wall. This will make them focus on having their head up as the cross behind the net.

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Stickhandling through the cones

Drill:

1. Line up players on each side of the rink (or net if you only have a half rink)
2. Players must pick up the puck and skate thru the cones
Note: have one set of cones in a straight line and the other spread apart
3. After completing the cones, skate in on the goalie and shoot.

Focus:
1. Builds stickhandling skills
2. Work on getting faster each time
3. Wide cones will focus on carrying the puck around tight turns

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