One of the keys to winning is effective north-south puck movement. The quicker the puck moves out of your defensive zone, the greater the opportunity your team has to move through the neutral zone and create offence.
Hockey insiders have huge appreciation for puck-moving defencemen.
Teams can have the most talented forwards in the world but if their defence cannot or will not get them the puck, tape-to-tape, their offensive abilities go for naught.
Every practice should work on “up” passes by the defencemen to the forwards in motion. This Stretch/Swing Pass drill not only allows defencemen to work on their north/south passing, but is also great for early practice goalie warm-up:
Forwards line up behind opposite bluelines along the boards.
Defencemen split up between opposite corners with pucks and coaches.
On the coach’s whistle, coaches in both corners spot a puck for a defenseman starting at the top of the circle who then backs up quickly to pick up the puck, skate forward and make a pass to the forward who receives the stretch pass and then skates in for a shot on goal.
After making the first pass, this same defenseman skates back for a second puck placed by the coach. He picks up the puck, skates across the top of the circles and passes to the second forward, swinging through the neutral zone, who skates and takes an outside shot.
The same defenseman follows his 2nd pass up the ice, stops at the blue line, receives a pass from the coach and takes a point-shot on net.
Of course these exact movements also happen from the opposite corner at the same time.
Ryan Walter played 15 seasons in the NHL and is now a coach with the Vancouver Canucks. Join Ryan in July 2009 on his Leadership/Coaching Cruise – find out more at www.leadershipcruise.com and sign up for Ryan’s free Leadership e-newsletter at www.ryanwalter.com |