SODA POP HOCKEY

Lately I have come across too many hockey practices where there is more standing around by players and coaches than I would consider productive. Long lines for formulated drills limit each player’s skill development time and usually negatively impact attention spans of some players. There should be less focus on making pretty drills and more on the driving force behind the skills you wish to work on within the drill. I see a lot of coaches referring back to their book of hockey’s greatest drills, and less focus on keeping the players involved and moving. It is more difficult to keep large numbers of players moving and involved in the practice than it looks. Having some quality assistant coaches working with smaller groups of players makes life a lot easier on the ice. A couple years ago I was working with a team that needed a lot of basic skill work. They were big and could hit, but skating and puck skills needed a lot of work. With limited ice time you have to be very selective about how you make use of your practice time. I did not want to completely abandon all basic systems and positioning work to focus solely on core skills, so I started using what I call SODA POP drills. “Simple Open-ice Drive Acceleration and Pressure On Puck” drills. We break our systems down into small components and work on the mechanics and skills it takes to execute each part. The players first have to learn each step as a simple drill and then we slowly increase the tempo and intensity. We then build on each step adding a little bit of complexity until we finally can put all the pieces together. Often this requires a great deal of work on the simple mechanics of skating, stick handling, passing, and shooting. For this reason we need to bring the basic skills up a few notches as well as the speed and finesse of the skill. A team that can’t skate or handle the puck can know all the greatest systems in the world, but may get crushed by a team that can out play them with skill and teamwork. If we work on something simple like dumping and chasing the puck, then every moment executing that simple action must be done well and to maximum effect. A weak shot and slow hustle to the puck won’t fly. Players need to be able to send the puck hard and fast into the corner and then move quickly down or off the ice. Nothing can be done poorly or the whole action becomes an advantage to the other team. In every drill we pressure the puck and in every drill we try to use as much of the ice as possible. We always look for the open ice and move the puck and/or players around the other team as quickly as possible. It more or less boils down to moving the puck quickly around your opponent when you control the puck. These are things you can blend into many simple drills. You can add the ice mileage to the drill to kick up the endurance factor; decrease the allowed time to make a few passes and/or score to increase speed and intensity. You still need to keep the basic skill focus simple where the players are less concerned with memorizing convoluted instructions and more on winning the races and controlling the puck. A player who is worried about messing up a drill will be more likely to hesitate than to be proactive and win the battles for the puck. So it’s really simple. Figure out what it is you need to have your players work on (often this comes from what you see during your games) and break it down into simple steps. Focus on the skills it takes to execute those steps and slowly teach the players how to put it all together while maintaining a high level of intensity and control. Let the players make a few mistakes, then correct them, but don’t let players worry too much about making a few mistakes now and then. It is normal and is part of the learning process. Not every drill has to be pretty, most good ones are not. Focus on what you are trying to accomplish for the team, and not on how it looks. Don’t just do the drill a few times. Do them often until your players are very comfortable with them. Don’t just do them at one practice and forget about them. Revisit them often throughout the season. Figure out which ones work the best for your team and add them to your regular practice plans. Not everything works for all teams or all practices. Each team is different as is each season. If something isn’t working – figure out why. If it turns out to be a total waste of time – move on to a different approach. Keep the team interested in what they are doing and don’t forget to keep the practices fun and competitive for all players. Most importantly, keep the players moving. Anyone can stand around.