An Overview Of Hockey Skills

Oh, boy... As I try to kick off this new CoachChic.com approach, the first question I found myself faced with was the starting place. Hmmmmm... Truly, there are so many things that go into developing a productive player or team. Still, I'm guessing that most folks, before too long, would suggest that I begin here with an overview of hockey skills.

-- Dennis Chighisola

PS: I introduced this new approach in the prior post: "Making Hockey Plans" and in the Coming section.

An Overview Of Hockey Skills

Chuckling to myself for a bit, I've come to the realization that this project is going to be a lot more challenging than I originally thought. Hey, just an overview of hockey skills is going to be a daunting task. Once again, I highly recommend that members at all levels become familiar with my Building Blocks Approach to Offensive skills. Within that short essay, I explain how each of the basic skills are dependent on one another, and I also suggest ideas for building progressions from one skill to the next. Skating I'm sure that most hockey folks immediately think about the skating stride whenever this skill is mentioned. For sure, a smooth, powerful and energy-efficient stride is helpful to playing our game well. However -- or at least in my book, it's hardly a major determining factor in successful play.

I have several really high level posts and videos within this site -- including "The Latest Hockey Skating Advice", "Balance in Hockey’s Forward Skating Stride" and something few will show you: "Analyzing The Hockey Skating Stride". These should act as great guides for coaches, parents and older players to improve this area over the rest of this summer and through the coming season.

Our game is one of transition, which means that it involves constantly switching our roles -- from offense to defense to offense, depending on which team controls the puck. That's why it's also said that our game is one of "reading" and "reacting", with the best players usually recognizing and then executing quickly and effectively as their roles change. And, actually, I think we could use such measures to define our game's best attackers and defenders.

A big part of this area includes readying players to move quickly in all four directions. In other words, they often have to skate efficiently while moving forward and backward. A biggie for me, however, is a player's need to move left and right, either elusively on the attack or in reaction to a tricky enemy attacker.

Just above, I was kinda referring to moving primarily on a straight line -- ahead, backwards, to the left and to the right. Of course, such reactions also involve cross-overs in both directions, and while skating forward and backward. Reading stuff put out by other gurus, I get the impression they believe that power in these turns is supreme. I feel quite a bit differently -- again, because I believe quickness is the biggest need in a transition game.

With all that, members have access to three videos about what I deem as "Must-do" skating drills -- for beginners, intermediates and advanced players. No matter a coach's, parent's or skater's level, I highly recommend becoming familiar with what's contained in all three videos. My reasoning: it's helpful to know the prerequisites of a level as well as where the drills for a lower level are eventually going. For the time being, this one last thought about this area of play... For, handling ones body on skates is the only basic playing skill that is necessary to both attacking and defending. Again, I have to go back to our needs within the transition game, as well as the importance of being able to read and then react quickly. Puckhandling As is mentioned in my Building Blocks Approach, a lot of people cringe that I give puckhandling second billing in any overview of hockey skills. Ironically, I used to get a lot more heat than I do today, mainly because a lot of pro teams have finally told youth folks what I've been saying for years. Then, in case newer members aren't familiar with it, one of my former students and players, Mike Sullivan, gives a pretty good video presentation on the importance of this skill at the NHL level.

I really think we have to view puckhandling through the same eyes as we do skating. In other words, it requires us to keep in mind the challenges of a transition game and the needs to read and react.

It should also necessarily follow that the puck has to move in four different directions as we look to fool and elude enemy defenders. That means a player has to be proficient at dribbling the puck from side to side, and from forward to backward.

Quick hands are a biggie to me, which is why I love using golf balls, so-called Swedish (wooden) stickhandling balls, balloons, and anything else that might be quick moving and unpredictable.

Perhaps very different from the other basic skills is the fact that puck movement can be extremely unpredictable. In fact, I've been saying a lot lately that the best puckhandlers in the world lose the puck constantly; it's just not very noticeable, because they gather the puck right back with super-quick hands.

As an example, a player might toss the puck outward on a deke, that puck hits rough ice and bounces, and the great puckhandler still gathers it right back to execute his next move.

The best exercise I've developed for quick hands and gathering errant pucks is to have my players dribble two or three small balls at the same time (see the bottom of the above linked page for "The Best Puck-drill Ever"). Once they get going, a player can't help but slightly lose control of each ball, thus being forced to quickly reach this way and that way to gather each ball in.

Also like skating, a hockey player has to be able to hug the puck and pull it around both ways in a circle.

I hate to say it but, a lot of foolish catch-phrases get invented for hockey. In some instances, I think coaches just aren't thinking, while in other cases the inventors are just trying to make themselves feel good or sound smart. What I'm talking about right now is advice we hear often to "keep your head up". Naw, a puckcarrier has to move with the head held at near a 45-degree angle, in order to be able to glance out and down, out and down, without having to move the head much. With that, I like the expression, "Keep your eyes up."

Perhaps the best way to wrap up this puckhandling section, however, is to show my video on Incredible Stickhandling. Trust me, that the following drills can be used at home, in an off-ice team setting, and on the ice... https://coachchic2.s3.amazonaws.com/Incred-stickhandling/Incredible%20Stickhandling%201%20Final.flv Passing Next in my overview of hockey skills comes the passing game, which includes both sending and receiving. I don't need to go much into that here, because I have another awesome video that covers everything from A to Z: "Passing Basics". Shooting I probably treat this skill in more depth than any other coach out there. What I'm getting at, is that I don't believe standing prettily and working on ones shot is a useful practice beyond a point.

Ya, beyond a point... Of course, standing nice and balanced is a good way to learn a shooting motion. What's wrong, though, is that hockey isn't played like that. No, the top scorers in our game can pull the trigger while in off-balanced positions, while being mauled by a defender, or even while being down on a knee or two.

That's why, as I continue my overview of hockey skills, I suggest conducting more advanced shooting drills under game-like conditions. (I described more of this in a post called "Moving From A Vacuum To The Hockey Game".)

One of the things I like to do for my attackers is to share with them what the opposing goalie needs to play a shot well. That I cover in a post called "The Most Important Factors in Hockey Shooting".

Here are some great exercises that go hand in hand with my theory of being able to pull the trigger under all sorts of circumstances.

I'm closing this section, maybe abruptly, because the Shooting & Scoring section of this site includes countless posts, pics and videos to help those skills. Finally, I hope members aren't shy, and they aren't nervous about asking for more help on the above four skill topics. I'm here for my members, and I feel better when I'm sure I'm truly helping.