U8 - 4 Station Practice Plan #3

This game is inspired by the soccer activity with the same name. Another great warm up activity that will get players excited and ramp up the energy for practice. Players can use pucks or ringettes. In some cases it might be best to only let the advanced players use pucks. This game promotes creativity, awareness, and decision making. It also provide a game that works on their puck control and ability to handle the puck (or ringette) with their head up.

How to Play

The players line up on the goal line with a puck (or ringette) on their stick. Place 3 - 4 coaches or players in the middle (the bulldogs). On the whistle the players will try to skate from one end to the other without getting their puck (or ringette) stolen by the "bulldogs". The "bulldogs" must stay between the blue lines.

Setup

This is a relay race that has two variations using the exact same setup. The players will line up in two lines along the goal line. In front of each line you will have five sticks spaced about 5 feet apart as shown in the diagram. At the end of the sticks place a tire.

Variation #1 - Step Overs

In the first variation the players step over the sticks with one foot, land on that foot, glide to the next stick on the one foot, and then releat for each stick. At the end they do a control turn around the tire and work on forward strides back to the goal line. Once they get to the goal line the next player can go.

Variation #2 - Two Foot Jumps

The second variation has the players glide on two feet and do a two footed jump over every stick.

This is a great small area game for the kids. It encourages creativity and competition while giving all players lots of opportunity for success.

Setup

The setup requires three mini nets and at least 6 players. The nets should be set up in a triangle formation (see diagram). Each player will claim a net and stand in front of it to start. The coach will blow the whistle and throw a puck into the middle of the playing area.

Objective

Players try score a goal in either of the other players nets while protecting goals from being scored on their own net. The coach should try to keep track of how many goals each player scores in each round. They get 1 point for a goal scored on another players net and -1 point for goals allowed on their own net.

Credit: The diagram was produced using Hockey Coach Vision

This is exactly the same game as puck tag but it is geared towards the Mites & Novice age level because it allows the players to use ringettes instead of pucks. The game of puck tag goes like this:

• Every player has a ringette and is skating around the playing area.
• Designate 2 players or coaches to be "IT".
• If a player is tagged they must stand still with one arm holding their stick and one arm up in the air.
• In order to return to the game another player must stickhandle a ringette through their legs.
• Once all of the players are tagged at one time then the round is over.

Why this is a great small area game

The game forces players to control the ringette with their head up and taking inventory of their surroundings. They have to look for opportunities to free their teammates by being aware of where the "IT" are located.

Choose a gate is a station drill that requires players to receive a pass and make a decision. It forces players to handle the puck with their head up and make a decisions based on the action of the coach.

Set Up

Place a net at both ends of the station with goalies (if available) and split the players into two lines, one in each corner. Through the center line of the station there are two sets of gates marked by two cones (gates). The coach has the pucks in between the gates.

The drill starts on the coaches signal. The coach passes the puck to the player as they take a few strides towards the coach. After the coach makes the pass they must skate to one of the gates. The players need to control the puck and control the puck through the other gate. Then they take a shot on net before going to the end of the line.