Cross, Poke, Shoot

This is a great drill for defensive players.  It seems to be best with Pee Wees and older although possible with Squirts.  It works on footwork, stop and starts, poke checks, puck control, and long shots from the blue line. To set up, place two cones inline with the face off dots as shown in the diagram.  Place two pucks about 2 feet off the boards and slightly in front of the cones.  The player starts with their heels touch the fist cone facing the coach.  The player first side steps to the boards stops, and makes a good poke check with the frist puck along the boards.  The key is to maintain good balance.  Teach the players to not "lunge" at the puck but use good poke checking technique.  The player then sidesteps back towards the cone and transitions to a backwards skate around the cone and back to a side step to poke check the second puck.  Right after the player poke checks the  second puck they receive a pass from the coach and skate backwards while maintaining control of the puck.  When they get even with the near post they take a good hard shot on net.  It is best to have the right handers go on the right hand side of the ice and the left handers on the left hand side of the ice so the players can work on walking the puck to the middle for the shot.