Face-off Sequence

Face-Off Sequence

This Face-Off Sequence is a great way to nail down your face-off set-ups, no matter which zone you’re in. Here’s the diagram and explanation:

Face-Off Sequence

Run this drill to work on any type of face-off

1. Run a set face-off play with no defenders
2. Run a set face-off play with defenders’ sticks turned upside down
3. Run a set face-off play with defenders’ sticks turned the right way. 5 on 5 controlled scrimmage.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Face Off, Scrimmage, Type 1, Ups

A New Season is on the Horizon

It’s that time of year again when summer passes to fall and hockey begins once again. I’ve been quiet for a while on the site so that I could for the first time in years sit back and enjoy summer with my wife and family. We took a cruise to the Bahamas for eight great days, with stops in Grand Turk, Nassau and the cruise lines private island. On Grand Turk we rented golf carts and just drove around the small island on our own and explored the beautiful beaches. One wild thing about that island was that they have livestock, you know, cows, chickens, roosters, horses and donkeys just walking around the island. I rode past the local college and there were a group of six donkeys just standing in the entrance under a tree. Bizarre.

We rented scooters in Nassau and buzzed around that island for a few hours. Pretty cool driving on the other side of the road, but after a few minutes it was no big deal. Actually in Grand Turk it was the same but that island only has a few thousand residents so the roads were pretty quiet.

I had a first happen to me this summer. I was FIRED from my high school team! What the heck! I’ve never been fired before and bang I’m out. So, I’m sure some of you are interested in the story. We were playing in what is called the Flyers Cup in our area and it is a pretty big deal. We were the #4 seed and expected to do well. Before the game I had seven players break a team rule and I had to discipline them for a part of that game. One assistant coach wanted me to scratch all seven for the game but I decided to just sit them for one period. Now, the majority of them were from our top two offensive lines and our top defenders, so I was taking a big chance but I felt I had to stick to the team rules or I would lose the respect of the younger players, so I sat the offending seven. To my great joy we came out of the first period 0-0 playing the third and fourth lines and defensemen 3 through 6. I was so proud of the reserve players for working so hard to keep us in the game. Unfortunately we lost the game 3-2 once my full team started playing.

That night the president of the club confronted me on my decision to sit the offending seven (that’s my name for them!) and demanded an explanation to my reasoning. I explained my reasoning and the team rule they broke but that didn’t seem to sway him. One of the “offending seven” was his son along with the son of the vice president, the son of the treasurer and the son of next year’s vice president. I guess I don’t do politics very well. After some back and forth the situation seemed to go away, but I was wrong. About six weeks later I got a call from the new president of the club and he fired me. I guess in this day and age of the “entitled” player a coach can no longer set the rules and dole out the punishment for breaking those rules. Not one parent of the “offending seven” said they were disappointed in their son for placing me in the position of having to discipline them. Very unfortunate.

I participated in a coaching clinic where Brent Peterson of the Nashville Predators was a speaker and he spoke at great length about how the Predators had the back of Barry Trotsky when he sat two premier players for Nashville in the playoffs this past season and how it is important that an organization stand behind the coach when such a decision is made. That speech really hit home for me. Oh well, I’ll take off a year from high school hockey and look for a new coaching spot next year. This year I will concentrate even more energy on my 16 AAA team and enjoy the extra free time to spend with my beautiful wife.

I plan to reach out to the college coaches I know and ask for new drills for the upcoming season, but I’ll also do my best to avoid overcrowding the site with too many drills. Even though many of us like to have a few new drills from time to time, one thing I never wanted the site to be was crowded with too many drills, so I’ll post the best of the best.

Two weeks from today my training camp opens and I really am looking forward to being with the team again. Most of the players took part in the summer camps that a buddy of mine was running and I stopped in twice during the camp to see how the boys were doing. It was a great relaxing summer but now it’s time to get back to work and hit the season hard.

I want to take just a minute to thank all the coaches who gave me ideas on how to equip the coaches / team room, it’s just about finished and ready for the upcoming season. Thanks for all the great ideas.

Many of you also follow WeissTech hockey and HockeyShare but if you don’t already give them a look. Jeremy Weiss has been running a terrific series of posts about coaching and HockeyShare always has great skill development information on their site. Both sites can be found in the “Hockey Sites” section of our site.

That’s it for now. I look forward to another year of meeting some of you in person at tournaments and clinics and the rest of you through email. Have a great remainder of the summer and successful upcoming seasons.

 Coach Nielsen

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Penalty Kill Forecheck Angling Drill

Penalty Kill Forecheck Angling Drill

The Penalty Kill Forecheck Angling Drill works really well to teach proper angling technique for F1 & F2 on the PK forecheck. Here’s the diagram and explanation:

Penalty Kill Forecheck Angling Drill

1. Breakout man skates in, and opens up to either side for a breakout pass from the coach
2. F1 and F2 angle to take away the skating lane and passing lanes, respectively
3. If F1 and F2 fail to eliminate the breakout, the breakout man passes to the NZ coach for a give and go, and a shot on net

Note: This drill can be run as a 2/3 ice drill by eliminating the option for a shot on goal. Play would end with the pass back to the NZ coach

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Angling, Breakout, F1, F2, Forecheck, Nz Coach, Skates

2010 Olympics DVD Sets and Books

The image above is the cover shot of Hockey Gold 2010 DVD Vancouver Olympic Games dvd box set. This 5 disc set is the official commemorative dvd box set of the men’s and women’s hockey tournament from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The box set runs for about $50. It is also available on Blu Ray .

Also available ($60 or $80 for Blu-Ray) is XXI 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games [5 Disc Blu-Ray Box Set] reliving all the sports and events of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Here’s the cover shot:

Original Six Dynasties: Detroit Red Wings by Bob Duff

Notable hockey historian/author Bob Duff debuts a promising new series with Original Six Dynasties: The Detroit Red Wings

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

Lindsay. Abel. Howe. Sawchuk. Decades later, the names still resonate with Detroit Red Wings fans. The Wings were the dominant American-based team of the NHL’s so-called Original Six era, when teams played each other 14 times a season, and rivalries were bitter. Often referred to as the New York Yankees of hockey, Wings GM Jack Adams would have none of it. “The Yankees,” he said, “are the Red Wings of baseball.”

Next Goal Wins! by Liam Maguire

Fun, always surprising and a hockey lover’s treasure chest of the little-known facts that shaped the game, you cannot Google the stuff that Liam Maguire shares in this entertaining little book. About 30% updated, revised and renewed from Liam’s 2001 trivia collection, What’s the Score?, First Goal Wins! includes a foreword by Wayne Gretzky. Liam has scoured the depths of the NHL archives and stats to put together many of these questions and answers, which you can’t get from just looking up your favourite player on Wikipedia. What sets his take on hockey trivia apart from the many pretenders out there is the magical connections he builds between the numbers, the players and the game’s history. Besides the straight goods, you always get the ultimate “And did you know…?”

Tales From The Toronto Maple Leafs Locker Room by David Shoalts

The Sports Publishing “Locker Room” franchise is now set to include Tales from the Toronto Maple Leafs Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Maple Leafs Stories Ever Told.


Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

These books tend to be kind of hit and miss. Fans of each particular team will always be interested, but otherwise the books tend to be pretty formulaic. But the publishers tried to correct that with the Leafs edition by enlisting veteran writer David Shoalts.


The glory years for the Toronto Maple Leafs four Stanley Cups in the 1960s may be distant memories, but what the team lacks in recent accomplishments is made up for by their history, which is rich in drama, pathos, and, most of all, humor. 


Figures connected to the Maple Leafs from the 1950s to the present offer their best stories, including some new takes on the team s legends. Players, coaches, broadcasters, and team executives come together to share a long list of funny anecdotes about their time with the Leafs.


Bobby Baun recalls the unprecedented moment in the 1964 Stanley Cup finals when he slammed a game-winning goal into the net while skating on a broken leg. Bob Haggert, a former Leafs trainer, shares his memories of Conn Smythe, the unyielding military man who founded the team. Also telling tales is Jim McKenny, defenseman-turned-forward-turned broadcaster, whose sense of humor is as deft as his skating. Joe Bowen, long the voice of the Maple Leafs on radio and television, is along for the ride, as are Bob McGill, Glenn Healy, Walter Gretzky, and so many more.


Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

Full Speed Power Play Passing Sequence

Full Speed Power Play Passing Sequence

I use the Full Speed Power Play Passing Sequence to simulate the patterns and passing lanes players will see in game situations. The idea for this drill is to instill the mindset of “Set-up, Attack, Rebound, then back to Set-up.” All executed at top speed. Here’s the diagram and explanation:

Full Speed Power Play Passing Sequence

1. Player’s line up in proper position for your team’s power play set-up (in this case it’s the “hybrid” set-up)
2. Place cones in positions where the opposing defenders will likely be
3. Work through your attack options, in order from highest probability to lowest
4. Focus on running through “set-up, attack, rebound, and back to set-up,” with crisp passes, always executing at full speed

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Crisp, Full Speed, Game Situations, Mindset, Place Cones, Play Set, Power Play, Power Player, Probability, Proper Position, Rebound, S Line, Sequence 1, Speed Power, Top Speed

IHD is 2 years old

2 years ago I set out to build a place to store my drills as I was just finishing up my first year of coaching. Now, it’s turned into a great project that keeps growing beyond my own original ideas. Over the last year, my viewership grew tremendously thanks to Twitter, Facebook and several new features of the site. So what are those you ask?
1. I’ve added a LinkedIn page as well to share some of the resources.
2. We’ve added downloadable Blank rinks for you to draw up your own drills.
3. The first ever IHD Newsletter was sent out last month To start receiving those, sign up here.

So what’s coming? Besides the normal drills, skills and articles, the plan is for a few things.
1. I’d like to get into video demos of the drills. Instead of just presenting the drills to you, I’d like to talk you through them.
2. I’d also like to start to run some contests to encourage you all to submit your drills. I’m working on building some partnerships but if anyone out there has some connections in the industry, I’d love to hear from you.

So what can you do?
1. Keep visiting the site.
2. Provide your feedback on the drills and articles. And participate on the Twitter and Facebook conversations.
3. Submit some drills of your own. Even if it’s a drill drawn up on a napkin, submit it and we will use it.

Denny Russell
 
Get your game inline!

Swedish 5-Pass & Shot

Swedish 5-Pass & Shot

The Swedish 5-Pass & Shot drill is a great way to work on some of the passing and skating patterns used in regroups. This is a more advanced drill, so make sure you have the right group for it before giving it a try. Here’s the diagram:

Swedish 5-Pass & Shot

1. On whistle, first player from each diagonal line leaves without a puck (only one line shown here to keep the diagram simple)
2. First player skates across the blue line, receives a pass from the second player of the opposite line, then touch-passes it back
3. After passing it back, he or she loops around the top of the center-ice circle, receives a pass from the same line he or shee left from, then touch-passes it back
4. After the second touch pass, player loops out wide, opens up as an outlet pass, receives another pass from the same line he/she left from, and attacks 1 on 0

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Center Ice, Diagonal Line, Puck, Second Touch, Shot 1, Skates