Reply To: How many drills?

[Tom Molloy]

Tony it sounds like you have quite a few drills. I would do some detail things like stick on the puck, angling,. At that age do skating technique about ten minutes each practice. The team play drills sound that you do sound ok.

My goal is always
A.I.M.
Activity – 80%
Instruction – 10%
Maintenance – 10% (moving around to another station etc.)

In my skills class we allow the players to shoot on their own, or some other activity the first ten minutes while we skate around and give individual feedback. 20 minutes is spent on individual or team skills and the last 30 minutes on SAG or full ice games and transition games.

My U18 team usually starts with a skating and balance warm up while carrying a puck and usually finish with a shot and then we do something with passing and shooting. this takes the first 15 minutes.
We spend about 15 minutes doing technique and often the forwards are wiith me, D and G's with my asst. coaches.
The rest of practice is spent in competition using transition games, SAG's, full ice games and we always end with some sort of shootout or contest.

I keep track of who wins and loses and the losers have to do some skating or push ups and if no one wins then all must do something.

I think that every practice should have a theme that all of the drills and games revolve around. and progress through the 4 game playing roles and the three game situations.

Game Situations:
0-loose puck
1-offense
2-defense

4 Game Playing Roles
1-player with the puck
2-players supporting the puck carrier
3-player checking the puck carrier.
4-players covering away from the puck in combined zone-man to man.

You need to teach the skills involved in all three situations and all 4 game playing roles if you want to develop Complete Players. It is also important to use transition games and games so the players learn how to smoothly move from one role to the other. i.e. chase a loose puck – Potential players in role 1-3 battle for it while players in role 2-4. You get the puck so you are in role 1 and then pass it (you aren't in role 1 anymore but now in role 2) you break for a pass but the opponent in role 4 intercepts and now is in role 1 and you are closest so you are in role 3. He passes and now you are in role 4 and cover him.

In a 60 min. stop time game your team gets the puck between 180-200 times and the other team the same. So you are constantly changing roles. The puck is loose about 30% of the time in hockey, much more than in other sports. So learning to battle for loose pucks and learning how to read away from the puck is critical.

This is why using drills where players work on role 1 and role 3 in a 1-1 or all 4 roles in a 2-2 isn't good enough because they don't have to make any reads, no game sense is taught.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'