First Skate
First Skate
Practice Notes
Initial skate for U16A.
High tempo and focused on big ice skating.
Warmup: Squares 2 times, then Hi-Lo (7min)
30 Second Zone Race (how many zones can you clear in 30 seconds) (2 min)
Eagles Looper 2v1 (10 min)
Lavender - Red Blue Blue Red in three groups four times (5 min)
Red Wing with B/C (10 min) (Pennies)
Pioneer 2v2 Rush (10 min) (Pennies)
Lavender - Red Blue Blue Red in three groups four times (5 min)
1v1 puck race (10 min)
30 second zone race redux (2 min)
Hi-Lo
Pucks in all four corners. Players lined up in all four corners.
On whistle, first player on each line skates forward with a puck along the boards. Players who lined up on the left side should go to the FAR blue line (Left-Long); Players on the right side should go to the NEAR blue line (Right-Short). Go across the blue lines to the other wall and turn back towards the net they came from.
Shoot from top of circles. Players that skated the NEAR blue line should stop in front of the net to try to tip or rebound the second shot.
Players return to opposite side line from where they started.
Warm-up drill
Eagles Looper
Simple full ice skate - On WHISTLE: two forwards skate to the far blue line, catch a pass from the next guy in line and skate back to shoot on net. Defenseman skates with them, but pivots to backwards before them and plays D - should be a 2v1. Goes out of both ends.
Red Wing 2 V 1 With Backchecker
Red Wing 2 V 1 With Backchecker from TJ Manastersky, the Head Coach of Brock University, is a drill that practices 2 v 1 rushes with pressure from a backchecker.
Setup
- 2 offensive players line up on the hashmarks. The defender is at the top of the circle, and the backchecker is at the bottom of the circle.
- On the whistle, both sides start a 2 v 1 with a backchecker.
- Stay on your side of the ice until center ice red line.
- Drill is continuous.
Coaching Points
- Defense: D and backchecking forward need to communicate.
- Forwards: Get up ice quickly and look at opportunity to shoot quick after a pass.
Will divvy out pennies in locker room.
All players should rotate through the four positions regardless of the position they play.
Pioneer 2 V 2 Rush
The Pioneer 2 V 2 Rush from TJ Manastersky, the Head Coach of Brock University, practices attacking and defending the rush. It starts as a 1 V 1, and finishes as a 2 V 2.
Setup
- On the 1st whistle, blue passes to red.
- Red must get outside the blue line before attacking the zone 1v1.
- Blue must get angle skating forwards. Play it out until a whistle.
- On the second whistle, 2 things happen:
- the blue player in the other zone passes to the red player. The red player must get outside the blue line before they can attack.
- the players in the first 1 v 1 stop and skate down to the other end of the ice to join their teammates to make it a 2 v 2.
- It becomes a continuous 2v2.
Coaching Points
- Communicate on defense, "get sticky" on backcheck
Coach blows whistle to both start the next group and end the previous group.
1v1 50/50 race
Can be run out of each side, but need a coach to send puck for each group.
On whistle
player from each corner heads straight out to center circle, stops, and skates backward towards nearest dot, facing center the whole time.
Coach tosses a puck lightly in the middle, and both players rush to get it. Whoever gets it can shoot it into closest net; the other is trying to get the puck (if they do, they can shoot it)
Both Ends