Hockey Drill Series – Volume 1: Drill #1
Give a pass, take a pass and shoot:

This one is pretty basic as hockey drills go but it’s one that almost anyone with a synthetic ice surface can work on. You don’t necessarily even need a second person, which I’ll explain in a minute.

So what you are working on in this drill is a combination of your passing and receiving a pass skills, plus shooting. There are several objectives with this hockey drill. The first is to work on the accuracy and timing of giving a pass. You want to get the puck right on the tape of the other player in the drill and ideally they are providing a pass to you with the same objective in mind. If you find that your passes are not very accurate then you can work on that by slowing it down a notch and making sure that you follow through on your pass by pointing at the intended target – which is the other stick.

Before you worry about part two of this “hockey drill”, make sure you are first really comfortable and accurate on making and receiving a pass. Once you have that mastered you can move on to the second part of the drill which is receiving a pass and then shooting the puck at a net or target.

So you make a pass and then receive a pass back, and then shoot. Again, keep it simple to start with. Start out with a wrist shot at your target. Pick various targets, upper right, upper left of the net and so on until you are consistently hitting your target. Call out your target before you shoot and try to mentally keep track of your success.

If you are young and just starting out, don’t worry about using a puck just yet, Use a tennis or hockey ball and work your way up to a puck.

If you are practising by yourself and wish to work on this hockey drill you still can! There is a product out there called  Perfect Passer and you can buy it online. These triangular metal frames use a rubber band to send the puck back to you for passes and one-timers. They work quite well and are designed to be used with pucks.

Again, this is a basic hockey drill you can do with skates on using your home synthetic ice surface. Master this drill and you will be on your way to filling the net at will.

Check out part 2 of passing hockey drills.

Until next time.
SmartRink Synthetic Ice Rink Hockey Drills