U8 - 4 Station Practice Plan #2

Torpedo is a great warm up activity for young hockey players. It is most appropriate for U8 & U10 but even U12 players find it fun and engaging. The game gets players warmed up, excited, and raises the excitement level for practice.

How to Play

All the player will throw their sticks down behind the goal line so they are out of the way and line up all the way across the goal line. The coaches will collect as many cones as the can and station themselves along the wall. On the whistle the players will try to skate from one end to the other without getting hit by a "torpedo" (cone). If they get hi they have to take a knee until the game is over. The last player to get hit wins that round.

Here is a simple relay race for a quarter ice station where players work on forward strides and full circle control turns. Have the coaches do a demonstration and allow players a few repetitions before jumping into the relays so that they can work on the fundamentals. The players straight straight out to the tire, do a control turn all the way around (full 360 degrees), and skate forwards back to the goal line.

Coaching Points

• rotate the chest and eyes to where you want to go as you go around the tire.
• trust the outside edge of the inside skate as you go around the tire.
• inside skate should lead slightly out in front of the outside skate.

This is a simple 1 vs 1 game using mini nets and therefore no goalies are required. The only variation with this game is that the coach may have multiple games going on at once. Therefore, players need to be aware of their surroundings and play with their head up. As opposed to a normal 1 on 1 game where you know there is only 1 other player on the ice and therefore you don't need to pay as much attention to your surroundings. It is up to the coach to decide how many games to allow at one time.

Coaching Points

Just let players play and encourage them to compete hard.

Credit: Diagram was produced using Hockey Coach Vision

Set Up

To set up this activity place two or three cones through the center line of the playing area to mark the center line. Split up the players into two teams and place playres from each team on their own side of the playing area. Spread out at least 10 pucks near the back end of each team's side as shown in the diagram.

Objective of the Game

Each team tries to get all the pucks into the other teams half and remove all pucks from their own half. Once they do that their "room is clean" and they win that round.

Rules

• Players have to stay on their own half.
• They have to use passing technique, no shooting pucks in the air.

Why this is a great game

Just sit back and watch players as they figure out ways in which to succeed in this game. Players will be retrieving and making a passing motion non-stop in this game. They will also be reading where the opponents are trying to pass the puck and try to intercept. There really are no coaching points, just let them play.

Credit: The diagram was produced using Hockey Coach Vision

This is a station drill that allows you the goalies to take some shots. The players are able to work on control turns while contolling the puck and shooting. It is great for a 1/4 ice station setup.

Setup

Place two full size nets at each end of the station with a goalie in each net (if available). Three cones should be placed in a staggered manner as shown in the diagram.

Coaching Points

Encourage players to use control turns as they go araound the cones and get their body between the cone and the puck to work on puck protection fundamentals.

Credit: Diagram produced using Hockey Coach Vision.