The Summerside Drill from Coach TJ Manastersky was shared with the IHS Community while he was an Assistant Coach at Union College. TJ is the Current Head Coach at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The drill works on the neutral zone transition, and helps defensemen work on the fundamentals of retrieving pucks so they can move them up to the forwards quickly so the team can re-attack.
Setup
Part # 1:
- Coaches are set up at opposite hash marks with pucks.
- Forwards are across from the coaches in the zone.
- All defenders are in the middle of the ice.
- The drill goes out of both sides.
- On the whistle, the coach will spot a puck around the top of the circle.
- The defenseman from the neutral zone will skate backwards, pivot use some deception and puck up the puck quickly and start heading up ice.
- The forward down the ice skates down and becomes an outlet for the defensemen.
- The defense makes a pass to the forward, the forward will get off of the wall and attack the net. The defenseman gets back in line after the pass.
Part # 2:
- Same setup as above.
- On the whistle the defenseman jumps down the ice and gets down below the coach as an outlet. At the same time a forward jumps out from the corner and works on their timing to be a neutral zone outlet.
- The coach makes a D-to-D pass to the defensemen. The defenseman gets their hips up ice, and hits the forward at full speed, who goes down and attacks the net.
Coaching Points
- Defenders need to scan the ice as they retrieve the puck. They should also practice deception before the curl back up ice. After they get the puck, they should work quickly to get their hips facing up ice so they can be in a good position to make a pass.
- Forwards need to work on their timing to make sure they are a good outlet for their defenseman. After they take a shot on net they always need to stop at the net before returning to the corner.
