ADM Practice 12
5 minutes free time with puck
10 minutes small area game – scrimmage (players must skate backwards through entire scrimmage. This is a lot harder than it sounds)
6 stations x 7 minutes
Description
Station 1 - Skating - cross overs, transition forward to backward 1/2 way around, transition forward to backward 1/4 way around -
Station 2 - X6 starts with puck and skates laterally toward cone. X5 skates laterally to cone. Players criss cross and then enter the zone 2v1. D needs to try and keep the puck to the outside while protecting against the pass. The focus of this drill is the positioning on a 2v1. The 2v1 is one of the most important skills to develop both offensively and defensively because it can occur at any point on the ice. The more game like situations we put the players in, the quicker they will recognize it in a game. The quicker the recognition, the better the chance they have to execute it.
Station 3 - ringette keep away. Start out with 1v1 keep away with rings. Players turn their sticks over and try to play keep away all over the space. Halfway through, make it 1v1v1. The focus of this drill is body position, positive stick pressure, escape and evade.
Station 4 - shuttle passing with softballs. Players start in 2 lines (one across from the other) X3 skates out and passes to O4 on the fly. If have more than 7 players, divide it into 4 lines. We added a little competition component to it to make this drill a little more interesting and keep the kids focused. If they could execute 5 in a row, the coach would do 5 pushups. 10 in a row, 10 pushups, etc. The focus of this drill is giving a pass on the move and receiving a pass from a moving player. The reason we use the softballs is because they are less forgiving to bad stick position. If the player is too stiff with the stick and does not “catch” the pass by providing a little give, the ball will jump over the stick.
Station 5 - angling. O2 skates with puck down the boards and attacks the net. X1 tires to angle the player off to the boards and gain possession of puck. Battle until coach says next two. O2 becomes the new X1 and X1 goes to back of line up by blueline. The focus of this drill for defense is to learn the first step in responsible checking: angling. You must learn how to take a proper angle on a player to steer them where you want them to go. The focus of the drill for offense is to be able to play through body contact and get off the boards.
Station 6 - agilities over sticks. Up one side of the zone, the players step over sticks (left foot first, right foot first, alternate, lateral) on other side, they try to catch a tennis ball before it hits the ground a second time. The focus of this drill is balance, footwork, and agility on our skates. No matter if you are an experienced player or a beginner, you cannot do this drills too much.
Goalie station - goalie participates in station 2 and 5 twice. then moves to goalie station 1) iron cross (skating) 2) butterfly saves left, right, center The focus of the iron cross is goalie specific skating drills. In order for goalies to be in proper position to make a save, they must be able to get in position. This drill works on forward and backward, and lateral movement. The focus of the butterfly saves drill is to get the goalie used to proper position from the beginning all the way through the save.