The most important aspect of hockey except scoring, is skating. Knowing hockey skating drills is very important for anyone who might want to try out the game of hockey. Here are some hockey skating drills that you can use to better the technique of your skaters.
Power start drill
This hockey skating drill will teach skaters how to have fast powerful starts. The drill is to have a player pull another to the red line. Player 2 holds player 1 by the jersey. Player 1 takes 5-6 strides or until he reaches the red line to come to a gliding stop. Each player that is being pulled should do this 5-6 times before switching places.
4-minute skating drill
First, you must divide all players in groups of 3 players each. Each player will skate from the blue line to the middle red line and back again twice with full speed. The next players repeat what player 1 did, and this goes on for 4 minutes.
4 stop drill
Players form a line at one end of the rink. Player 1 takes off clockwise and skates to each of the four face- off marks, power stops, looks up and waves at the coach. After all four marks are hit, player one skates back in line behind the rest as player 2 takes off and so on. The drill is repeated 4-5 time without stopping.
Piranha pivot
Starting at one end of the rink, Player 1 skates full speed to the blue line, then pivots and skates backwards to the second blue line, pivots again and skates to the other red line and goes behind the net, pivots again, skates backwards until the second blue line, pivots again to reach the end of the rink where he started.
Russian circles
Players skate in a single file around the 5 face-off circles with a puck.
Skate figure 8
You must place four cones on the back face-off dots. Players must skate in a figure 8 pattern around the goal outside the cones. Once they pass the goal, they must sprint, pass the cones and skate to the other end.
Snow cone drill
Players are divided into two groups and are put in opposing corners. A cone is put at the blue line. Both teams must skate to the blue line with a hard stop, pivot and skate backwards to the starting point.
The dots
Separate the players to make two groups and put them on opposite sides. At the same time, make them skate to the dots in a zig zag manner so that they will cross each others path. They will make a full stop at each dot until they reach the other end of the rink.
Chasing the wind
The players will line up side by side on the blue line. When the coach blows the whistle, they will skate the second blue line and stop. The coach will blow his whistle again and the players will skate to the red line in the middle. The coach will blow the whistle again and the players will skate to the blue line where they started. This is good for cardio, starting, and stopping. As minutes pass, the coach will make the players go faster by decreasing the stop time at each line.
The hockey skating drills found the above are On good for beginners and more advanced player. Coaches and players must always remember that you can not reach the net to score if you do not first know how to skate.