duncanville dragon ice hockey dry land training drills

DUNCANVILLE DRAGON ICE HOCKEY
DRY LAND TRAINING DRILLS
By: Dragon Coach Joe Dancy
This is the birthplace of professional
hockey in North America – Dee
Stadium – in Northern Michigan on
the shores of Lake Superior and
Portage Lake.
The first U.S. professional team to
win the World championship was the
Portage Lake, Michigan, team of
1904 – defeating teams from
Pittsburg and Montreal in this
facility.
Unfortunately the Stanley Cup
was awarded to amateur
champions, not to professional
teams at the time.
Ice was “natural” so the season
was short – refrigeration was
introduced to the rink in the
early 1950’s, and the rink is still
in use today.
Unlike today’s ice surface,
the quality of ice varied due
to the lack of refrigeration
technology – and the
primitive methods of
maintaining the ice.
The first professional
hockey game in North
Texas was played in
Hockey in November of
1941, with the Fort
Worth Rangers playing
the St. Paul Saints to a
2-2 tie.
5,500 fans attended the first
professional game in Texas.
Because of the lack of natural ice and
outdoor rinks in Texas, and the lack of
winter like experienced in Minnesota
and other Northern States when
players can spend hours outdoors
developing their skills, it is extremely
important that players take advantage
of off ice skill development.
Incredibly, I played with the starting wing
for the 1941 Fort Worth Rangers – Joe
Bukovich (pictured) – in Michigan’s Dee
Stadium in the mid-1970’s.)
The following off ice drills might be fun, and productive, in
developing on-ice skills (I use these drills myself to improve on-ice
skills).
SHOOTING – THE SHOOTING PIT
This probably will be the most fun for
the players. Shooting – forehand,
backhand, slap shots, snap shots, flips,
and the like is a skill that can be
developed off ice more effectively than
on ice (unless you live in Minnesota and
have access to an outdoor rink).
Note this is a Wilson baseball backstop,
available at Oshman’s and most
sporting goods stores, tied to the
downspout so it will not move when the
pucks are shot into it. The backstop can
be easily moved behind the garage, or
disassembled, when finished.
This is a shot from inside the shooting pit, er
garage. If the shooting surface is not smooth
you can get a plywood sheet to shoot off of.
If you are concerned about hitting the
neighbor’s vehicles (note Ford Expedition and
Porshe behind our net) or house the net can be
set up in the back yard, with a plywood shooting
surface.
We shoot a bucket of pucks – generally 25
or so – at a time. One bucket practices the
forehand wrist shot, one backhand, one
slap or snapshot.
The backhand is one of the best shots to
develop off ice – many players at this age
try to “skate around” to their forehand.
Good defensemen know this and can take
away the forehand shot and scoring
opportunities.
Note we wear roller blades and hockey
gloves – the roller blades elevate the
shooter so the angle between the blade
of the stick and the cement is identical to
the angle on the ice.
Shooting in tennis shoes is fine – but
when you put skates on it takes a few
shots to get the “feel” for shooting from
the elevated position you have wearing
skates.
The roller blades also make the player
balance and use the identical shooting
motion they will use on the ice.
One useful skill is the ability to “flip” the puck
up off the glass or out of the zone – or over a
goalie that tends to go down quite a bit
(especially at this age). When they can
consistently flip the puck into the top of the net
from both the forehand and backhand they
have this one mastered.
You can set up a shooting pit almost anywhere.
All you need is a net, a backstop, and a
shooting surface.
To develop strength the player can
attach a weight to their shooting stick.
Note Tony Amonte’s “Pro Extreme” velcro
attachable weight on the lower stick. The upper
stick has weights duct taped to the lower shaft.
We can also use weighted pucks – but they tend
to be a bit too heavy for some backstops and
tend to damage the net.
SKATING AND STICKHANDLING DRILLS
One of the most difficult skills to learn is
learning to carry the puck and effectively
stickhandle while skating. In Minnesota kids
can practice for hours in the winter and
develop the balance and coordination
needed to move the puck by opponents.
Since we are ice time constrained here in
Texas, an effective drill is to have the player
use rollerblades and a street hockey puck to
navigate an obstacle course.
Using a puck versus a ball is important in
my opinion – it gives the player the “feel”
they will have when skating and
stickhandling on the ice. A ball is a
substitute if the surface is too rough, but
the puck really makes the player learn to
control their stick and the puck.
Note in this drill the player learns to take
the puck from the forehand to the backhand
and back again, while skating. The balance,
coordination, and movement are very
similar to what they will experience on the ice.
Gloves are not a bad idea here – if the
player falls they will not skin their hands.
And they give the player the feel they will
have on the ice, since gloves restrict the
movement of the hand to an extent.
The stick can be weighted, and a weighted
puck can be used, to develop strength in
the arms and wrist.
This is also an excellent conditioning
exercise, and helps the player develop their
skating stride and ability to quickly turn
with the puck.
Another good eye/hand coordination drill is
bouncing a ball off the stick for as long as it
can be kept in the air. Initially the basic skill
can be developed in tennis shoes, but once
the player masters the ability to keep the
ball off the ground you can add roller
blades.
The player should develop where they can
bounce the ball and skate at the same time,
and once they can keep the ball in the air
skating forward they can try it while skating
backward.
This is also a good drill to teach the kids
how to tip a shot, and gives them a good
feel for how to get the blade in position
to deflect the puck.
Occasionally the player will also knock
the puck out of the air using the
eye/hand coordination learned here.
BACKWARD SKATING – THE FIGURE 8
One of the more difficult skills to teach a
player is the ability to turn sharply when
skating backward – a good asset to
have, especially if you play defense.
A great way to teach that is to have the
player skate a backward figure 8 – so
they have to turn both ways during the
drill.
In most cases a player will feel much
more comfortable turning one way or the
other – but this drill makes the player
improve both the weak and strong sides.
We use pucks instead of cones as course
markers, since cones tend to get kicked around
a bit.
This really works out the muscles in the front
of the leg – after three or so figure 8’s they
should just burn they get so tired.
But the ability to turn quickly to both sides
while skating backwards is very important,
especially when attempting to check an
oncoming forward.
Again, this is an excellent conditioning
drill.
Note also the cross over the players
learn naturally (see picture at right).
The ability to execute this crossover
while turning both ways makes a
player very mobile, and helps them
transition from skating backwards
(defense) to offense.
BACKWARD SKATING – THE BLUE LINE DRILL
One skill that many defensemen lack at
this age level is the ability to transition
forward to backward, and to move
laterally to either side.
In this drill the player approaches the ‘blue
line’ skating forward then transitions to
skating backward – all while carrying the
puck.
The drill teaches the player to keep the
hips low, knees bent, and to transfer
the forward momentum sideways and
ultimately backward.
A great stickhandling drill also – on the
ice the defenseman can carry the puck,
pass, or shoot once they create the
space using these lateral moves.
“There have been many studies of elite
performers – concert violinists, chess
grandmasters, professional ice-skaters,
mathematicians, and so forth-and the
biggest difference researchers find
between them and lesser performers is
the amount of deliberate practice they’ve
accumulated. . . . Indeed, the most
important talent may be the talent for
practice itself.”
The Learning Curve, by A. Gwawande