Simple Drills to Improve Your Shot (On & Off The Ice)

By: Dwayne Blais

Professional Hockey Skills Coach Dwayne Blais explains tools and drills that will help improve your shot. These setups can be practiced on and off of the ice. As Dwayne mentions in the video above, it is important to focus on proper technique when you are shooting pucks. High quality practice attempts is much better than shooting as many pucks as possible.

Tips to Improve Your Shot

1. Puck Close To Your Body: Make sure the puck is close to your body so you can generate force and flex with your stick.
2. Good Hand Position On Stick: Make sure that your hands are not too tight together and not too far apart. Keeping your hands hip-width apart is a good distance for a wrist shot.
3. Hands Away From Body: Hands should also be away from body and not tight up against your chest.
4. Push Down With Bottom Hand: Use your bottom hand to generate force on your sick. 

Drills To Improve Your Shot (Shown In Video)

1. Shoot Puck Around Stick: as Dwayne shows in the video above, players can practice taking shots around a stick. This can be done on ice, off-ice and on roller blades. Start slow to dial in the movement and work on getting better as time goes on.
2. Shoot In Between 2 Objects: shooting in between 2 sticks (like it is shown in the video) will help players be able to practice shooting the puck close to their body and with proper technique. It will feel weird at first, but the goal of this setup is to help players shoot with proper foot and hand technique. It also prevents players from dragging the puck far away from their body, which will make it harder to shoot quickly and reduce their shot power. 

As players get comfortable with the proper shooting technique, players can increase their skating speed, which will make it more challenging. Dwayne also has excellent videos that break down the wrist shot, snap shot, slap shot, and more.