Ice Hockey Drills Now over 280 animated hockey drills!

Defending from an attack behind the net can be a tough play for defensive players.  This hockey drill is set up for defense to work on these situations.  Forwards form a line below the goal line about even with the dots and facing the net.  The defense should line up in front of the net a couple of feet in front of the crease with their heels pointed to the net.  The forwards start the drill by carrying the puck behind the net.  Once they reach the far post their goal is to try and get to the front of the net for a scoring chance.

This is a tough hockey drill for defense and more often than not they will get beat. The emphasis of this drill is to work on recovering and still being able to fend off the forward by pivoting and sprinting to the near post.  A lot of young players, when they get beat to the outside,  will try and pressure the forward on the outside rather than try and regain position by pivoting and skating towards the post.  The forwards will start with the puck at, or just inside the red line.

This drill is an extension of the previous drill, Neutral Zone Warm Up.  The drill is set up the same way but now two lines of forwards are placed on the top of the offensive zone face off circle (as shown).  After the defense makes a give & go with the passer along the boards they control the puck and make a pass to the next forward in line.  The forward receives the puck and then attacks that Defense one on one back the other way.  Defense are at a disadvantage and will often get beat to the outside.

This drill replicates a situtation in the neutral zone where the defense goes back to retrieve a loose puck.  The forwards come back to provide support by moving inside out while facing the puck.  F2 times their break to provide support to F1 through the neutral zone. F1 makes a pass to F2 and then F2 goes in for a shot. F1, after making the pass skates along the blue line to receive a pass from F2's line. F1 then attacks D1 back towards the other net.

This is a 1 on 1 drill in which forwards will work on retrieving and controlling the puck when it is rung around the boards.  Set up with all the defense in the middle except for the player who is ready to go, that player starts along the boards at center ice.  There should be two lines of forwards at each face off dot with pucks.  On the whistle one of the forwards steps out with a puck and rings it around the boards to the other forward. Alternate sides on each repetition.

Great 1 on 1 drill here!  Emphasis for forwards is overspeed, feet should not stop moving throughtout this drill.  For defense the emphasis is on footwork, gap control, and holding the blue line.

This is a good 1 on 1 battle drill.  Think about using this drill towards the end of practice for conditioning as players tend to push themselves more when competition is introduced.  To set up place four lines on the blue line as shown in the diagram. Place a coach in the center of the ice on each blue line with a bunch of pucks.

This is a demanding drill for defensmen. Defensmen need to focus on bringing the puck around the net inside the faceoff dots and square up to the center ice before making the pass to the forward. Once they make the pass they need to judge their speed to make a play on the oncoming forward. The goal is to make the play at the Blue line.

This is an ice hockey drill intended to help defense work on their gap control.  The defensive player starts without the puck skating backwards.  They receive a pass from the next defensive player in line and pivot forwards as they go around the cone.  They give the puck back to the player they received the pass from and then get it back one more time before going around the cones again.  This time they skate with the puck towards center ice and give a pass to the forward who is j

I highly recommend viewing the animation as this diagram gets pretty messy.  Very similar to the previous drill, 2 on 0 Flow, but there is one more element that is added after the defense takes a shot from the point.  The reason for this added wrinkle is that many times the shot is taken from the point and either blocked or re-directed to the opponents, who make a quick counter-attack.  The defense need to take a shot and be prepared to manage their gap and take on that quick counter a

This drill will challenge even your best defensive players. To start the drill, a defense and forward step out to the blue line. The Forward on the outside a few feet off the boards, and the defense just inside the faceoff dot.  The coach has the pucks along the boards at the red line. On the whistle, bith players skate to the red line and stop.

This is a 1 on1 that puts the defensive player in a disadvantage and challenges them to keep the forward from scoring.  The defense start on their knees behind the net without pucks.  The forwards start at the hash marks along the boards with pucks.  On the whistle, F1 attacks the net while D1 comes out to challenge.  The forwards must stay lower than the face off dots.