Stickhandling Drills

Too many times you take your child to hockey practice and you see the hockey coach standing at center ice scratching him head wondering what hockey drill to do next.

Let see...power skating, stick handling, hockey goalie drills, hockey passing drills, hockey defensive drills, hockey conditioning, what is a hockey coach to do?

Well, the answer is pretty simple really, you just get organized so that you really don't have to worry. 

You see, most coaches come right from work to the rink. A lot of times they just don't have the time to draw up a practice plan for their practice the night before. 

This is why Pass the Puck started 10 years ago. To help coaches with their teams. Today, you can jump on the site and download any drill that you see on the site free of charge. 

All you have to do is just sign up. Yes, if you are looking at this page, you are already a member. But that we would like for you to do is send this page to a friend. Copy and paste anything you would like to send to friends. 

Don't stand on the ice wondering what drill to do next. We have this already set for you. Just go to the link that provides you with our 25 week coaching planner for both full ice and half ice practice plans. 

This way when you are at work, all you have to do is just print it out and take it with you.

 

 

Hello!  There are NO Stanley Cups for Nintendo Wii.  The other day, I was having my Summer day camp here at the ice rink and one of the players that was dropped off was staring at the window as his mom drove off.

When I asked him what the deal was, he started to cry.  He told me in a big booming voice...I don't want to be here!  So when I asked him why he was throwing a tantrum here in my lobby, he said he wanted his mommy to come back and get him so he could go home and play his Wii.  So I told the 16 year old to get down in the dressing and get dressed.

It quickly came to me that the lessions that I was trying to teach him went in one ear and out the other.  Or, It could also be that he was too young to understand logical reasoning.

At this point, I told him that there was no Stanley Cup that he would be able to hold over his head by winning a round of Nintendo Wii. The reason why players that get to hold up the cup is because they have spent hours and hours practicing their craft...hockey, not Wii. 

I told him some day he would get the chance to hold up the cup, if he decided to make a choice between the Cup and the Wii. I told him that he would have to make a commitment to his craft and this meant early mornings, long weekends and an investment in time and money. 

Not everyone who does these things make it to the NHL. Only the ones that stand out from all the rest will make it. You can have great stick handling, powerskating, and passing skills. However, the great skaters are the ones that make it. And I am here to tell you that there are a lot of great skaters that never get the chance or get looked at. 

So in order for you to actually make it...you will have to stand out and stand out from all of the rest. USA Hockey has over 250,000 registered teams. This means that there are about 12 players per team maybe more. If you take the 250,000 times the 12 players, you will have 3,000,000 players all trying to make it to the NHL. 

But we didn't even include Canada, Russia, Finland...etc. in this computation. So what are the odds that you will make it? Trust me when I tell you this. You will have to work extra hard in order for you to make it in the NHL. If it possible? Yes, it just how committed you are to the undertaking. How bad to you really want it? 

You can want it really bad, but are you truly committed! Are you willing to give up the things that you want in order to get the final result? Yeah, only time will tell.

Ok, so how do hockey players become pro's?  What makes a pro hockey player different then a professional...say, painter?  If you take a professional hockey player and have him work several days with a professional painter, the odds are really good that paint will be every where.

So being a professional really has everything to do with this one idea...

"People become professionals because they do things other people won't do!"

So how does this equate to hockey?  Well, the reason why pro player's are where they are in life, is because they were willing to do what little Johnny didn't want to do when they were growing up. Here's an example. 

The hockey coach has all of the kids lined up on the goal line and little Johnny is goofing off. Then when it comes time for the hockey drills, little Johnny can't do them because he wasn't paying attention to what was going on before him. Or, I see and hear this all the time... 

Coach, can we scrimmage? My general response is..."How can you scrimmage if you can't skate!" 

You see, 80% of ice hockey is skating, and 80% of skating is...Balance. This means, that if you want to make it to the pro's, you have to be a better skater then the rest. In fact, you will have to stand out from all the rest. This is how you make it to the pro's. 

But the major problem that you will face is the amount to commitment you will have to do to make it to the pro ranks. Which might mean, you will have to do things other kids won't do! Instead of going to the movies with your friends, you might have to shoot 1500 puck in the backyard. This might mean, that you will have to go to bed early to get ready for practice tomorrow and not stay up later to watch that favorite show you've been dying to see. 

"Oh, it just hockey practice and practice is generally boring, so it's ok to stay up late."

When the hockey coach has you doing dry land hockey conditioning, do you do each drill like it should be done, or do you just go through the motion? Do you do what little Johnny is doing, just getting by not paying attention. Or, do you actually give it all you have, each and every time? 

"Practice like you play" 

Which means, if you practice great, you play great. If you practice like you don't care because you are tired, because you stayed up too late the night before, then you are on your way to a great career in the men's beer league in your local town. 

Then you will be sitting on the bench "kibitzing" to each other about how life was when you were young and that you could have been a star, but it didn't happen for you because of one reason or another, all a while making excuses about this and that. 

How do players become professional hockey players? They stop making excuses and did things that other don't want to do...plan and simple! 

Lets get back to the "Standing out" portion of this rant. To stand out from all of the rest of the players that are trying to make it into the NHL is simply one thing. Are you ready? 

Skating, Skating, Skating! 

This is how you stand out from the rest. Because skating is 80% of hockey, everyone in the free world is trying to work on their stickhandling, their checking, their shooting. Yes these things are important. But skating, is what will make you stand out from the rest. 

Trust me when I tell you this. If you can skate forward, and spin 360 in the air to miss a check, land back on your feet and still have possession of the puck when you land, you are on your way to greatness. 

Yes it can be done...I have seen it and now this player is playing in the NHL. Do you think this players learned this over night? Ah...no! This player did things most players don't want to do. 

I have players right now, that don't want to do 360 spins in the air because they think it's turning them into figure skaters. Some will do it, other will not because they say it's stupid! 

So which one do you think will be the pro? The one that takes the risk and does it, or the one that is afraid to look funny in front of his friends because he has an image to up hold? 

"Do what others are not willing to do, this is how you make it!"

This is my favorite law...The Law of Attraction.

Lets do a quick review.  In our last entry, we talked about the Law of Cause and Effect, which states:  "What you give, is what you get!"

Now, the second part of natures law is...
"What ever you get back, you get 10 folds over!"

Ah, what a great law...wow, 10 folds over.  Wait!  Is this good or bad?  Lets check it out.

Lets look at this with respects to your hockey team mates.  So you're in the dressing room and you guys are fooling around.  Both of you guys have on your hockey gloves and you are both participating in a friendly game of "locker punching."

Just when you are thinking this is really fun, your team mate hits you while your head is turned. 

Now, what do you think you are going to do? Hit him while his head is turned? Yeah, probably not. Chances are really good, is that you will hit him harder then he hit you and you will probably hit him ten times as much as he hit you. Why? 

You see it pretty simple. When people feel that they have been wronged, they dont' get even...they get ahead. Even would mean an eye for an eye. But for most people they don't want to get even. They want more because they felt wronged. So they will give it back, more then you gave it. 

You see, this is a great law of nature. So you see, if you give love, chances are really good that you will get it back 10 folds over. Ok, so how do we apply this to your game? 

Why do you think pro hockey players are where they are in live, because it was given to them? Nope! No, because they did things no one else wanted to do. Hockey conditioning comes in all forms...physically, mentally, and spritually. 

You have to become the best hockey player you can be which means a lot of practice. It takes 10,000 hours of practice for anyone to be really great at what they do. Some of the finest professionals practice twice a day, 7 days a week. 

Let look at this for a second. 

10,000 hours! If you practice 1 hour a week, that's 10,000 weeks or 129 years to get really good. However, most of us don't have 129 years. We would like to get this done within your life time. 

So, if you want to be the greatest hockey player ever, with great power skating, stick handling, and great agility, you will have to go to hockey practice more than 1 time a week. In fact, you would probably have to do hockey practice at least 5 or 6 times a week, maybe sometimes twice a day. 

You can't become a great hockey player by sitting at home on the couch playing video games. You will need to invest 10,000 hours to become a professional hockey player. 

Yeah, what you give is what you get, what you get, is 10 folds over. If you give a little you get a little, if you give a lot you get a lot...same law! 

Do you want to make it where hockey is a career and you get paid an insane amount of money to do it? Then invest the time in your hockey skill development, in your hockey skating, in hockey intruction and you will get 10 folds back. 

The third part of the law is...the law of Give and Return:

"How you get it doesn't mean you get it back the same way you gave it!"

You though this last law was tough...just you wait until you read this next one.