Passing STRENGTH!

A lack of passing strength isn’t only common to defensemen but, it’s with my younger blueliners that problem usually jumps right out at me…

Before going on, let me suggest that very firm, flat passes are best for advancing the puck out of our own zone. And, from my point of view, I’d rather an extra hard pass go for icing than to have a soft pass get intercepted.

Now, one of the problems I’d seen with my D’s passing comes about when they’re in an unbalanced posture. In other words, they have the strength to pass firmly with the feet spread and planted, but they get nothing on their passes if they have to send them while balanced on one skate, or while having to lean in one direction or another. The difficulty stems from some youngsters not yet having learned to get leverage through their stick-blades.

So I have my defensemen work in pairs — off-ice and on-ice — passing light weights over a fair distance. And it’s that resistance against their sticks that forces them to search for a way to generate more force into their passes.

I had the above (very old) video clip handy, and it shows a pair of my High School Prep guys from long ago passing a 5-pound weight. These guys didn’t need this drill, but they only volunteered to demonstrate for us. Actually, this is only the first phase of training against resistance — or when I’m getting my kids used to sending the weight along with some good force and a spin (to keep the pass flat). Oh, and if I worked with Mites or other smaller players, 2 1/2-pound weights would probably be the best.

Then, once players have gotten a feel for that, I make the drill a little tougher… What I do is have them pass while kneeling on one or both knees, or I even have them pass while sitting down. And, even more game-like, I’ll have them pass while wobbling on one leg or the other.

The idea of those drills is to take away their ability to use their legs. Or, said another way, they’re forced to generate power with just their core muscles and their upper body. Understand that the idea of these drills isn’t to actually make my players stronger; no, the idea is to teach them how to generate substantial force through their sticks while in some unbalanced postures.

PS: This form of drilling originated with my observations about young defensemen. However, it wasn’t long before I started having all of my players — including my goaltenders — enhancing their stick-strength in this way.