Stick to the puck

There is only one puck on the ice during a game, and there are ten players who want it, and two that don’t. Figure that one out. So, if all you do is scrimmage and play games, then there won’t be too many people touching the puck for very long. You need real practice. Everyone needs to get real good skating with a puck. Passing is great and so is shooting, but I want to see players move quickly and intelligently with the puck. Sometimes you need to hang on to the puck for a while. How many times have you seen a player hold up the puck waiting for a teammate to get on side? If you can’t handle the puck you’re probably going to lose it to the other team if they’re any good poke checking. Move around an obstacle. Don’t always be too eager to bounce the puck off the boards to nobody if you could make a good move around the opposition. You might just be throwing it away when you could have taken it to the goal. Good puck handlers can stickhandle and maneuver very fast. You slow down or hang the puck outside, you lose it. Protect the puck with your body, and your ability to handle the puck with one or two hands. Practice stick handling as much as you can. Get out a tennis ball and practice. You shouldn’t only use your stick during practice and games. When you get home find some place where you can practice stick handling. It doesn’t take that much room. It’s all in the wrist, but it takes practice to get real good. Lacrosse players know the importance of practicing stick handling. They even work on tricks with their sticks just for fun. If you practice stick handling with a hockey stick as much as most lacrosse players do with their sticks you’ll be amazing. Trust me on this one. Just don’t spin your stick up in the air in the house. That doesn’t work out too good.