The Out of the Corner drill from TJ Manastersky, the Head Coach of Brock University, helps players practice collecting a puck along the boards, protecting it, and cutting the defenders hands while they attack the net.

Setup

• Setup two lines along the boards as shown in the diagram with two players in each corner.
• On the whistle, one player sends a puck into the corner to begin the drill.
• #1 in blue picks up short rim, gets off the wall, initiates contact with defender (#2), cuts back and attacks net, cut hands on defender on way to to net.
• Player 1 goes to end of the line, player 2 becomes the new player along the boards, and a new player from line becomes the new defender. Alternate corners.
• Progression: Players can start from different areas of the ice, like the front of the net as explained in the whiteboard video and showed in the drill demonstration.

Coaching Points

• Offensive player should initiate contact with the defender and work to get off of the boards and cut their hands on the way to the net.
• Defending player should use token pressure to allow the forward to practice cutting hands. Coaches can progress to allow the defender to fully play. In this case make sure to keep your stick on the ice at all times and work to angle and deter the player from getting to the net.

Variations

• Coaches can line up players in different areas of the zone to practice collecting the puck from different areas.
• After players get used to the token pressure from the defender, coaches can progress this drill to be a 1 v 1 battle where the defender is working to take the puck away and skate to the stop of the circles while the forward is trying to score.