Hockey Player Path templates, will help you to create common path for practices, drills, coaching and values in your hockey team or club. Define what’s most important in various categories and in different ages, along the hockey player path.
A visualized hockey player path document will create clarity for hockey players, parents and sponsors, it will be clear for everyone one what you strive and stand for.
Youth hockey practices and drills. Hockey practice 2 of 72 during the first hockey season for young hockey players, 7-9 years old.
Youth hockey practice part 1. Hockey skating technique and skills (basic, one foot kicks, stops) and circles (not in the hockey drill / practice drawing)
Youth hockey practice part 2 A. Skating with puck, shot, pick up rebound/new puck, slalom back. B. Skating round the cones. C. Skating round the circles and quick slalom on blue line. D. Stops facing the cone. E. Skate with puck, turns around cones, shot, pick up puck/rebound and turns with puck on the way puck.
Youth hockey practice part 3. A. Passes between cones, shot and rebound. B. Forward and backward skating. C. See above, with puck. D. Skating round the cones. E. Puck on one side body on other, backwards with puck back.
Youth hockey practice part 4. Game in all three zones.
Read more about the first season youth hockey practices and drills here >>
”Individually skilled skaters and creative players, with team spirit”
Use the time during on ice hockey practices with quality. Create opportunity for development and creativity during your hockey practices. Good skaters have time to be creative and find solutions during the hockey game and ”creative mistakes” can be repaired by good skating…
Taylor Hall, Edmonton (NHL), and a 8 year young hockey player.
Hockey drills and practices for goal scoring (shooting) are wanted, because in the end this is what ice hockey is about, scoring more goals than the opposite team. In the eBook Hockey goal scoring drills and practices, you will find both theory and hockey goal scoring practices and drills that can be used on your ice hockey practices.
Read more about the eBook for goal scoring in hockey, practices and drills here >>
Hockey is a fair game, the team scoring most goals will win. This eBook will give you theory and practice in hockey goal scoring skills and knowledge.
Hockey practices and drills for the first hockey season (7-9 years old). Over 60 on ice hockey practices to use and 102 pages describing the first hockey season, for youth hockey players. Read more about the hockey practices and drills for the first season here >>
I will continue with the learnings from the hockey coaching training, I attended during the World Championships in hockey. Next up Denmark…
Per Bäckman the head coach of Denmarks national hockey team and Esben Nedermark GM Danish National Hockey Team started their presentation, with talking about how small sport hockey is in Denmark.
Danish hockey has:
– 4400 registered players
– 16 teams
– 24 indoor rinks
While there are:
– 5000 hockey officials/referees in Toronto
– 296818 licensed football players in Denmark
– 5800 badminton players in Denmark
and 6000 Floorball players
Still Denmark is in the highest division in hockey, I will altough also talk about Norway, they have done an impressive work, with small or similar resources (6700 registred players!
One of the focus areas have been to have short and quick attacks, if you have not scored after 15 seconds you can give the puck to the other team, like the Norwegian national football team manager “Drillo” Olsen once said.
The Danish team have also been working with tactic and the discipline to stick to it, teambuilding, social environment and technical skills (opposite to Norway). What they are not good in regarding the national team coaches, is the physical part, they are too weak. The hard practicing culture is not there…
Regarding the future for Danish hockey, Per Bäckman was quite negative, “we are at the top now, we will not get better, and we will not get more players or rinks, we need to take care of what we have now and try to maintain that.”
In my mind totally wrong attitude, you will always need development and try to recruit new players and develop the game, players and teams (like Norway, coming in later post). When you think you can not develop or are satisfied, you will start your stagnation and to roll down the hill you are climbing and be eliminated in the end!
Danish Hockey a good story (name of the presentation) – They have done a good work, but it will not last for so long, with the attitude I have described above…
“You have totally different view on game system and tactics than Sweden?” “Yes, I can not understand, why you would chase another players on the ice for 60 minutes” /Per Bäckman
During the International Hockey Coaching Conference, we had the opportunity to listen to David T. Smith, the NHL hockey officials health and wellness coach.
The NHL officials Health and Wellness program >>
The program is picked from the NHL officials page >>
In the International Hockey Coaching Education, during the World Championships in Sweden, we had the opportunity to listen to the Swedish National Hockey team coach, before each game.
“We want to play with full puck control / possession towards the offensive zone, and in the offensive zone we try to go straight towards the goal, P1 goes in front of the goal and P2 seeks up the rebound area. We also try to stay in the way of the goalie and steer the shots. Other areas we focus on, are to “win the inside” in 1-1 situations. You can say that, the more skilled hockey players you have the less we talk about how, it’s more about what.”
/Roger Rönnberg, Swedish National Team Coach in ice hockey
In the International Hockey Coaching Training, during the World Championships in Sweden, we also had the opportunity to listen to the Swedish National Hockey team coach, before each game.
Before the game against Russia, the team formation or system was discussed. Earlier Sweden have been playing 2-2-1 with defined or static roles, and with the mindset of putting pressure when the timing is correct. Since the statement “when timing is correct” can create confusion, he system has been changed, and the valuing part of “when it’s correct time” has been removed. Today Sweden play 2-2-1, but player 1 in top will always put pressure and the roles are flexible, the most offensive player will take the role of being P1 and the player that puts the pressure imediately, the other forwards will then adjust and take the two other roles P2 and P3.
Evgeny Malkin Russia (NHL Pittsburgh Penguins) vs. Henrik Zetterberg Sweden (NHL Detroit Red Wings)
…Hockey Goalie Trainer or Goal Scoring Coach, Part 4. In hockey, one of the teams in Sweden on elite level (HV 71) has created their own shooting center to improve the goal scoring and shooting skills… This is more common in USA or Canad, but quite unique in Sweden.
Speed shooting, outside Globe Arena, during World Championships in Hockey.
Most of the teams also have special practices for the hockey goalies, during the weeks or months, but this hockey team also have special practices for goal scoring.
During this hockey shooting or goal scoring practice, the rink is divided into two areas, one for the offensive hockey players and one for the defensive players. Each zone has four hockey drills running at the same time.
1. Skating in from the border “Shoot in the middle of the step”
2. Pass from one side, shoot directly at the other post
3. 2 vs. 0 – rebound – Shot from defensive player
4. Goalie freezed in right position, player tries to find the spots to score goal, by looking at the angle of the puck (or eye of the puck).
1. Pass vertically and a shot.
2. Pass from corner to a defensive player skating towards the goal, shot.
3. Pass from the “pocket” (along the border), and shot.
4. A forward in front of the goal hold the stick up from the ice for shot on goal, or on the ice to make the defensive player to shoot for stearing the shot.
So, what if, we would put in as much effort as in training the hockey goalies, to score goals and improve the shooting skills in hockey, we would have really good goal scorers and snipers in many hockey teams. Maybe we should also focus on hockey goal scoring coaches / trainers?
This is the end for this theme, will be starting up a new one…
…Hockey Goalie Trainer or Goal Scoring Coach, Part 3 Looking at goal scoring, shooting skills and hockey practicing focus, you could say that much of the focus is today on, taking rebounds in front of the goal and creating a mask, traffic or wall in front of the hockey goalie to reduce the visibility, when the shot comes.
This will be important in future, but increased training focus will need to be on shooting skills and in scoring goals, with different types of shooting techniques like:
– Wrist shot
– Snap shot
– Slap shot
– Backhand
– Shooting unannounced and in movement sideways
– To be able to shoot with the weight (centre of gravity) on both feets, left or right (the foot that is in front).
“In NHL the shots will not come through if you don’t shoot fast and quick” /Dave Smith, NHL officials health and wellness coach
If you want to see some examples from hockey you can watch Alexander Ovechkin and Phil Kessel. Ovechkin example, start at 00:44, goal scoring skills in practice.
Topic to be continued…
…Hockey Goalie Trainer or Goal Scoring Coach, Part 2. If you look at the Nordic countries in ice hockey most of the teams and hockey players are very skilled when it comes to stick handling and skating, but there is lack of good goal scorers and skilled shooters, why? (of course with some exceptions)
This is simply a result of practicing focus, in USA and Canada a lot effort is put in this area in hockey practices, shooting and goal scoring, while in Sweden and Finland other areas are prioritized.
In the end it doesn’t matter how skilled you are with the puck, what counts is the amount of goals scored in a hockey game.
Of course the first step is to:
1. Create goal scoring opportunities (You need to be a good skater and a stick handler to create these goal scoring opportunities in a hockey game)
2. Score goal
3. Defend your own goal
I think a lot of focus in hockey is already put in area 3. Defend your own goal, and then 1. Create goal scoring opportunities, but what can be improved is, 2. Score goal when you have the chance.
“I will get ready, and perhaps my chance will come” / John Wooden
To be continued…
You can have a Head Coach in hockey, assistant coach, defense coach, goalie trainer and other coaching or support functions around the hockey team, but who is the hockey goal scoring coach or trainer?
This subject was discussed during the International Hockey Coaching Symposium I attended during the World Championships in ice hockey in Sweden / Finland, together with all the Swedish Elite hockey coaches.
Torgny Bendelin, a famous Swedish hockey coach talked about this topic. Hockey on elite level is changing, the game is faster, harder, quicker and the time players have to make their decissions is reduced to a minimum.
In hockey a lot of time has been put in to develop the defensive systems the teams are using both on National and International level and of course a lot of efforts to improve the skills of the goalies, with help from special goalie trainers. The goalies are good in positioning and working with different angles towards the shooter.
Therefore the hockey players need to:
– Shoot quickly or quicker than before
– Shoot with precision
– Shoot hard/fast
– “Hide” the shot
– Shoot unannounced
These are the areas you also need to practice if you want to be a good future goal scorer in hockey.
This topic will continue in later posts…
Have you ever thought about how the hockey coaching role is seen from different perspectives? …Not? I have and these are just my personal thoughts… 🙂
