Three Secrets to Better Passing
By Kim McCullough
Success in girls' hockey is all about quick and effective puck movement. We all know that the puck always moves faster than a player can skate.
To be an effective passer, you must be able to:
- Give the right pass at the right time
- Receive passes effectively
- Give and take passes at game speed and under pressure
Players must learn how to give an effective pass when moving on both their forehand and backhand. First, they must understand when it's the right time to make the pass. I always tell my players to make the pass when you can, and not when you have to. Too often players hang onto the puck too long and end up in a position where they can no longer make an effective pass. Once you know when to make the pass, you have to determine how strong to make it. How frustrating is it to watch a perfect breakout ruined by a wobbly pass or to get called for icing because a short pass in the neutral zone was way too hard? There are times when it makes sense to make a hard tape-to-tape pass. And there are many times when it is more effective to make an indirect pass off the boards or to simply chip the puck into space so that your teammate can skate into it. This is a difficult concept to learn, takes years of practice to perfect and requires a high-level understanding of the game between both the passer and the receiver.
It is equally important that players understand how to take a pass effectively. There is nothing more frustrating for a coach that to see one of your players get a great pass given to them and to see them flub it resulting in a turnover. Players must learn how to control any pass that comes within one stick length of them in any direction. Of course we'd all prefer to receive perfect passes on our tape every time - but that doesn't happen.
Effective pass reception is all about adjusting your body and stick so as to give the best possible target to the passer and to give yourself the greatest chance to receive the puck with your feet moving and head up. The general rule of thumb is that you want to position the blade of your stick so that it is perpendicular to the path that the pass is traveling on. That way, you are giving the biggest target possible to the passer and giving yourself the greatest chance of success for receiving it with soft hands. It is also important with pass reception to have your hands positioned away from your body (not tight to your hips) in the same way we discussed previously with stickhandling. When your hands are out in front of you, it is much easier to adjust the position of your stick and much easier to cushion the puck when you receive it.
I was a very good passer back when I played and I developed that skill through playing a lot of pickup hockey. When you are out on the ice with an assortment of players with varying skill levels, and no team systems, making effective passes can be a huge challenge. You learn very quickly how to be creative and how to give the passer and receiver the greatest chance of success. One of the hardest concepts to teach and master for young players is learning how to create and find open space so that they are a good passing option. When your team has a set system, this is a little bit easier to do. But when you are out playing pickup hockey, you've got to figure it out without any sort of system in place. So moving into open space and calling for the puck become that much more critical in this more free-flowing type of game. It was out on the outdoor rink where I learned how to pass effectively by finding open space as the receiver and moving the puck into open space (and away from pressure) as the passer.
Passing is a two way street. It doesn't matter if the passer makes a terrific pass if the receiver isn't ready. And it makes no difference if the receiver is in the perfect position if they get a bad pass. Passing is the only individual skill that really transfers over into more of a team concept.And for that reason, players must take tremendous pride in how they give and receive passes in order to help their team succeed.