Gretzky Deke Drill

Purpose: 

Attackers learn a valuable, respected hockey play and how to best distract
a goalie. Goalies learn how to recover after a fake and reset in the net fast enough to block a shot from any direction. All skaters work on skating skills, reaction times, and clean passing and receiving. 

Setup:

This drill uses two attackers and a goalie. 

How It Works: 

• Attacker 1 is positioned behind the net with the puck. The goalie is in the net, and Attacker 2 is in front of the net, around the middle of the circle.
• Attacker 1 skates quickly to his left, taking the puck with him as if he is going to skate around the net and make a quick corner shot. This should make the goalie lunge to his left in order to block the shot.
• Once the goalie is moving to the left, Attacker 1 cuts back laterally to the right and passes to Attacker 2, who is skating down the ice toward the net. Attacker 2 needs to be to his left of the net so as to pick up the pass properly.
• Once Attacker 2 gets the puck, he should immediately set up for a shot. The goalie, unable to change directions so quickly, will be caught off-guard and will be unable to block a shot to their right.
• When Attackers 1 and 2 have played their respective positions five times through, they should switch places and repeat the drill. This drill can be run on both ends of the ice, with a coach on either end to monitor.
  

Coaching Tips: 

• This drill can be reversed, so that Attacker 1 cuts to the right first, forcing the goalie to also cover the right side of the goal. Skaters should become familiar with both versions of the drill so that they are able to exploit the weaknesses of the goalie they are competing against.
• Coaches should watch to ensure that Attacker 1 is able to stop and restart very cleanly while behind the net. If they dig the skates in too hard, or trip over their feet when switching directions, the goalie will have enough time to reset in the net and defend against a shot.
• Coaches should also watch for clean passes.