On February 17th’s practice, we continued our work on breakouts with the added complexity of some pressure, requiring puck protection on the way out of the zone.

Warm-up Drill 1: Cone skating

We started with some powerskating as a warm-up. Versions covered:

1. Inside edge turns
2. Outside edge turns
3. Tight turns
4. Inside edge stops
5. Outside edge stops
6. Punch turns

Skills Development Drill 2: Puck Protection (While Skating)

In this drill, we practiced skating while protecting the puck. The rear player would apply some gentle pressure around each side of the front player, giving cue to adjust skating, stride (using legs to protect the puck), stickhandling position and occasionally holding the stick with one hand (using the other hand to block out the incoming stick check).

We ran the drill at less than 50% speed. The intent of the drill is not to escape the check nor is it to steal the puck; it is to get used to feeling the presence of another player over the shoulder and being able to react accordingly.

We also practiced skating into the pressure as opposed to away from the pressure. Skating into the pressure helps us maintain proper body position, separating our opponent from the puck. Skating away from the pressure provides an open lane for the opponent to continue checking us.

Skills Development Drill 3: Puck Protection (Stationary Board Battle)

We also practiced some stationary board battles to practice puck protection against the boards. Important tips for board battles:

1. Two hands on the stick at all times. This allows you to brace yourself against the boards if falling (or being pushed from behind) and avoid going face-first.
2. Stay close to the boards for bracing purposes. Avoid being 1 sticklength or more away from the boards in a puck protection battle as a fall could cause injury.
3. If possible, approach the boards from an angle as opposed to directly at them. This could help reduce impact in the event of a fall.

Skills Development Drill 4: Basic Breakouts to 1v1 (with pressure)

We progressed our continuous breakout drill by adding a coach to apply pressure to the player receiving the breakout pass. This requires the recipient to move immediately into puck protection mode to maintain possession of the puck, then to escape in the direction opposite the pressure in order to leave the zone.

We also added an additional obstacle at the blueline to represent an opposing defender trying to hold the blueline, requiring an additional move / deke to successfully escape the zone.

Importantly, players should step a few feet away from the boards while skating out of the defensive zone. This pulls the defender a few feet away to match, giving more options to escape: deke left, deke right, bank puck off boards, etc. (trying to escape right against the boards limits options and makes it easy for the defense to hold the blueline).

Skills Development Drill 5: Winger to Center Breakout

Lastly, we introduced a center to the mix. We only spent a few minutes on this version of the drill at the end of the session. We’ll continue to revisit this as the group gets more comfortable receiving and making the breakout passes.

It went a bit bumpy so we’ll spend some time next practice working on individual skills necessary to help this sequence along.