This hockey practice plan for advanced players focuses on passing and stickhandling with strength and accuracy and skating with speed and power. We’ll introduce a variety of fun drills to help develop passing, stickhandling and skating fundamentals and apply those skills to game situations.
PHASE 1 - Warm Up (0:00-0:10)
Free Play (10 minutes) - Players can shoot pucks, skate and work on other skills.
PHASE 2 - Pass and Follow Drill (0:10-0:20)
1. A coach blows his whistle or says “Go” to start.
2. First player passes the puck across the ice to the opposite player
3. First player then follows his pass and will take the position of the player receiving the pass.
4. Player receiving the pass then passes across the ice to the next player and follows the pass.
5. Drill continues in this pattern.
6. After the last player has gone, the pattern is reversed and players pass back the other way.
7. Run drill for 5-8 minutes.
PHASE 3 - Station Passing (0:20-0:40)
1. A coach blows his whistle or says “Go” to start.
2. Players at each station perform a specific passing drill.
3. Station 1 – players one-touch pass to each other.
4. Station 2 – Players pass and follow.
5. Station 3 – Players pass the puck while on their knees.
6. Station 4 – Players execute backhand passes.
7. Station 5 – Players play “monkey in the middle” with a player in the middle of the circle trying to intercept the pass.
8. Run the drill for 2-5 minutes and then have players rotate stations.
9. Continue until players have been at all five stations.
PHASE 4 - Down and Back Drill (0:40-0:55)
1. A coach blows his whistle or says “Go” to start.
2. Two players pass the puck back and forth as they skate down the middle of the ice.
3. At the faceoff circles, players turn and go back along the boards making long passes across the ice to each other.
4. When first two players reach goal line, next two players go.
5. Finished players go to back of the opposite line.
6. Run the drill for 10-15 minutes.
PHASE 5 - Semi-Circle Shooting Drill (0:55-0:70)
1. Coach blows his whistle or says “Go” to start the drill.
2. Players shoot in succession going from one side to the other.
3. When all players have shot once the drill is over.
PHASE 6 - Knock Away Drill (0:70-0:90)
1. Coach blows whistle or says, “Go.”
2. Players attempt to skate around and maintain control of their puck while attempting to knock other players’ pucks away with their stick.
3. If a player’s puck is knocked away, he is out and must go outside one of the blue lines.
4. Drill continues until only one player is left.
PHASE 7 - Full Team Two Puck Drill (0:90-1:10)
1. Coach blows his whistle and puts two pucks on the ice.
2. First puck scored counts as 1 point, second puck scored counts as two points.
3. When both pucks have been scored, coach puts two more pucks into play.
4. First team to score 10 points wins.
For more drills and practice plans like this, download our complete
Essential Hockey Stickhandling Drills eBook