Having a strong and solid inside edge is critical for almost every skating maneuver – from turns, to pivots, to stride – the stronger you can become on your edges, the better player you’ll become.
Protecting the puck allows players to maintain puck control under pressure from a defender. In this video, we cover the basic techniques for simple puck control.
Sometimes the best option isn’t to drive straight to the net, but instead to delay and pull back waiting for a new seam to open.…
Defense turns are an essential pivot to learn for both forward and defensemen. A “D turn” is a transition from forward to backward using a 1 or 2 foot stopping technique into a cross-over to change directions.
The stretch pass is a quick pass (usually coming from a defenseman) allowing your team to quickly transition from a regroup to an attack. It’s important for defensemen to learn the skill of making this pass while skating backward.
The final skill development video in this series focuses on defensemen handling the puck at the point and driving to the middle. The drill is very simple, but the techniques used to control the puck are crucial for them in game situations.
In video number 5 of 6 in our summer training series, we’ll take a look at the Double Pivot Drill. The Double Pivot Drill is great for focusing on explosive change of direction and maintaining puck control.
The 4th skill development drill is the Figure 8 Pass & Drive drill. This drill works on passing while in transition, and driving to the net and shooting in stride.
The third video in this series shows a simple, but effective drill used to practice a player’s ability to transition from a stickhandle (or a move) into a drive to the net – in this case, along with a change of direction.
Video number 2 in the summer training series is again simple to run, but difficult to master as there are a lot of skills being worked on at once. This quick skill drill focuses on quick passes, following the play up, and shooting in stride. This drill can be varied lots of ways to fit your needs.