Hockey Player Magazine

Tag: Defensemen

  • Canadian 1 on 1 Drills

    Here are two drills I received from my Canadian friends to work on 1 on 1 skills. Typically 1 on 1 drills are run with the defensemen defending the rush, but you can also have the forwards defend the rush to work on their defensive skills, because at some point in a game you will…

  • Drills for Defensemen

    While looking at the stats for views on the site, I noticed a lot of action every day in the Defensemen section. To give you more choices, I’ve added 16 new drills, that my defensive coach runs throughout the season when we split up by group. Hopefully you find these useful in building the skills…

  • Hockey Canada – D Agility Transition

    Got this drill from my friends at Hockey Canada. Worked it at practice last night and it looked good once we got the hang of it. The drill works on supporting the puck with the weakside D as well as transitioning to offense using the forward cutting through the middle. Make sure your D concentrate…

  • Wisconsin Coach Mike Eaves – Russian Paradox Drill

    I really like this drill. It works individual defensive skills along with team defensive skills. The idea is to get the puck out of the zone either by carrying it or passing to a teammate who can carry it. You don’t want the defensive team to just flip the puck out of the zone. The…

  • ACHA Select Team Practice Part II

    The other day I posted a few drills the select team used in the warm-up phase of their practice. Here are a few of the drills they used during the skill assessment portion of the practice over the three days. As I said in the earlier post, the coaches also ran a number of 3×3…

  • Robert Morris Head Coach Derek Schooley Brings Us Another Drill

    Last week Coach Schooley gave us the Raider Passing drill and today he offers us Canadians Reverse 1 on 1. Last night at practice I ran this drill along with a few others that are designed to work on 1 on 1 skills. This drill works on communication between the defensemen as well as defending…

  • Horacek 5 Pass 2 on 1 Drive Drill

    I am always on the lookout for good team oriented drills and last night I watched former NHL player Tony Horacek run this drill with his Midget 16 team. Timing is very important with this drill and it may take a few rotations to get it right but once you do the drill will flow…

  • Offensive Tactics with Chris Campanale

    Recently my team was having some trouble consistently creating offense. We have a lot of talented players but they were getting lazy and falling back on old bad habits. Sometimes a coach needs to bring in a new voice to speak to the team about some of the concepts he is trying to teach. Chris…

  • Cornell University Goalie Drills

    These drills work on some of the fundamental puck handling skills a goaltender needs to be able to master. It is extremely important to have a goaltender that can handle the puck, especially at the older age groups. These drills can be used while working with the defensemen so that both the goaltender and defensemen…

  • Behind the Net Forechecking Drill

    This is a nice drill to help your defensemen develop good habits against a hard forecheck. The defenseman must shoulder check when he is skating to make sure he knows where the forecheck is coming from and which side of the net to exit to make the pass. Try to make sure the defenseman skates…