This drill is completely geared towards skating for both forwards and defense. The forwards are working on their explosion and breakaway speed. Defense are also working on their ability to explode into their backwards skating and then pivot at full speed. This drill does not use goalies so it may be a good idea to have the goalies to the other end and work with a coach.
To set up the drill place a line of forwards in each corner and two lines of defense at both of the inside hash marks as shown in the diagram. If available, get a tire for each line of forwards. The forwards have to start each repetition with one foot on the goal line. The defense have to start with one foot on the bottom of the face off circle.
On the whistle the forwards sprint to the center red line. They need to focus on exploding from standstill and getting even with the defense's shoulder as quickly as possible. If they are pushing tires with their sticks then have them let go of the tires at the top of the circles and then continue to the red line. The tires are just used for extra resistance at the start for the first three to five strides.
The defense start by exploding backwards using a cross-under and get as much power as possible off of their outside edge. They should go into their C-cuts as soon as possible and try to match the speeds of the forwards. If the forwards are not using tires then the defense can start at the face-off dot. Once the forward gets even with their shoulder then they pivot and try to beat the forward to the red line.
