On January 27th’s practice, we focused on good practices for the building blocks of becoming a better skater: edgework.

We leveraged a few different skating patterns (dots, tops and bottoms of circles, line skating) and so I’m not going to draw out a “drill” on the whiteboard as per typical sessions, however will break down a few of the skating and stickhandling fundamentals we covered:

1. Inside & Outside Edge Turning Isolation: we broke down basic turns while isolating each edge at a time (the inside and outside edge).
   
   Most adult players find themselves dominant aka. putting most of their weight distribution on the inside edge while making a turn.
   
   Practicing isolating each edge helps work on balance, builds ankle strength, and builds confidence on the outside edge so gradually players feel comfortable with a more even weight distribution (and therefore more efficient and effective turn).
   
2. Inside & Outside Edge Stopping Isolation: similar to turning, we broke down stops & starts, stopping with one foot at a time (inside and outside edge).
   
   Most adult and even advanced/competitive youth players are by far dominant stopping on their inside edge.
   
   Practicing the outside edge stop in isolation helps players better understand the mechanics and eventually feel comfortable with a more even weight distribution (using both blades means a quicker and more efficient stop).
   
   Progression for those less comfortable moving straight into an outside edge stop is to initiate a T-stop (weight on an anchor foot while trying to “find” your outside edge and gradually shave some ice with the other foot; gradually increase weight on the outside edge as you feel more comfortable)
   
3. “Skulling”: or the act of propelling forward by simultaneously kicking out with each heel, which leads into:
   
4. The “Corkscrew”: an increasingly popular skating mechanic by top players in the offensive zone, this consists of stickhandling while skating leveraging the heel-cut (similar to skulling, but one foot at a time).
   
   The corkscrew allows players to simultaneously propel themselves forward, change directions with each stride and leverage a wide stance for puck protection. Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, and Jack Eichel are all notable NHL stars extensively using the corkscrew during games.
   
5. Stickhandling with the wrists instead of the “sweep”: becoming more efficient stickhandlers by incorporating wrist motions and adding spin to the puck, as opposed to using our arms exclusively to sweep the puck back & forth.

Skills Development Option 1: Shooting

Following our work on stickhandling and edgework, we gave players the choice of spending the remainder of the session working on shooting fundamentals, or moving to our game concept (covered in the next section).

While I don’t want to write a novel on shooting (there’s a lot to think about), here’s a link to a blog post I made last year on some tips to think about when you’re working on shooting. There’s also reference to a series of Youtube videos that breaks down some great shooting tips from Coach Jeremy in that blog post. Check it out if you’re interested.

Skills Development Option 2: Criss-Cross & Drop Passing

This is a continuous drill that focuses on criss-crossing outside the blueline, with a drop-pass followed by a 2v0 shot. Important concepts to consider:

1. Player without the puck skates toward the player with the puck (instead of standing and waiting) – sounds simple but is an incredibly difficult but important habit to ingrain; you’d be surprised how prevalent the “stand and wait” strategy is used in all levels of hockey
2. Player without the puck generally skates along the outside path (further away from the net) to help make themselves an option for a drop pass that is not contested by defenders
3. The drop pass is made along the outside path (further away from the net) simulating the need to protect the puck from a defender
4. The drop pass should be relatively stationary for the other player to skate into the puck – it isn’t a tape-to-tape pass
5. The criss-cross is incredibly difficult to defend because the puck could potentially go in either direction and the defender is essentially forced to guess: this means the drop pass can also be faked

The criss-cross and drop pass will also be a focus point for lesson #3 where we’ll emphasize the above points and work on the underlying mechanics and habits we’re trying to build.