The Cut & Drop Warm Up from John Dean helps players practice zone entries and getting on top of the puck in the offensive zone.
Setup
- All players are split up into 4 lines. Two lines in the center ice circle and two lines along opposite blue lines.
- On the whistle, the first player in the center ice lines takes off and works on crossing over to get up ice.
- At the same time, the first player in the lines at the blue lines explode up ice.
- The player with the puck at center ice gives a short quick pass to the player exploding up ice.
- The player with the puck along the boards gets to the middle of the ice and drops a puck just inside the blueline to their teammate that switched with them that is now along the boards.
- The player with the puck now works to gain middle ice inside of the zone to take a shot, all while the player without the puck drives to the front of the net for a screen, deflection or tip.
- After a shot is taken, a coach places a puck in the corner.
- One of the forwards retrieves the puck and quickly finds their teammate, who is supporting them around the face-off dot, for a quick shot on net.
Coaching Points
- Puck carrier works to get middle ice.
- Player without the puck explodes up ice to push the pace.
- Players should keep their sticks on the ice to let their teammate know where they would like their pass to be.
