How To Build Your Own Box Hockey Game
I don’t use these pages to sell things to my members, and that’s not my purpose in this posting.
That said, I did have to show you the video above, mainly because there’s some important stuff in it I’d like you to know.
That accomplished, let’s have a conversation about a game you may or may not have heard about…
Although that game — box hockey — may be new to you, you should have just discovered that it’s actually been around for about 100-years. Only recently has there seemed to be a re-emergence, maybe because several companies have decided to mass produce nice looking game-boards like the one shown in that video.
As for me, I stumbled across the game some 25 or so years ago — and I can’t for the life of me remember how that came about.
Anyway, at a time when my hockey schools were booming around the New England area and beyond, I carried a trailer full of unique training equipment to each venue. I had wild off-ice gear, equipment to run two different video stations, and even a ton of on-ice stuff that I’ll occasionally try to show my members.
Better than a couple of decades ago, then, I built my own box hockey game that we used in an outdoor station. And, let me tell you, kids of all ages fought to get their turns on that.
My kids’ enthusiasm for that game wasn’t the only thing I noticed, however. No… For, what I saw each day were kids really battling — I mean REALLY battling — to move the puck up the box hockey surface. And I’d stand back to be really fascinated by how much that game encouraged aggressiveness. (Actually, my grandson was only a young Mite when we began using that gadget a lot, and I now have to wonder how much that had to do with him being so aggressive for the puck through his older youth, high school, prep and college years.)
As an aside here… You can imagine how many questions I get from hockey parents and coaches over the course of any given week. What you really need to know, though, is how helpless some moms and dads sound when it comes to dealing with their kids’ lack of aggressiveness. I mean, I feel badly for them — partly because they usually live too far away for me to personally help, and partly because the only thing that would really help is if a coach ran some drills that specifically encourage the youngster at that. Even with all the troubleshooting I’ve done for such things, I can’t for the life of me think of a drill that can be done at home to help that area of a kid’s game.
Hopefully, you can picture how excited I was when I connected with the people at HBox. I mean, I knew that game would help anyone who wanted to instill a hunger for the puck in their youngster. And now, I am able to point them right to the gadget that will help get that done.
As yet another aside… My homemade box hockey board was busted a few years ago by some workers who had access to my equipment storage room — grrrrrrrrrrrrr!.
Just before moving to Florida, however, I received a new H-Box version, and I was itching to use it. I’d just picked my new AA Mite team for the next year, and I was just beginning to design plans for our off-season and beyond. And I was thinking, just how difficult my little guys would be to deal with, IF they all got lots of work at that box hockey game. I’m talking about all of my kids here, too, top of the roster to the bottom, being willing to fight you tooth and nails for the puck. Oh, and I’m also thinking something else… I know it’s always difficult to get everyone to practice on time. However, if they had the incentive to play box hockey before each on-ice practice, I have a feeling my little guys would have been driving their parents nuts to get them to the rink rather early!
Okay, I said from the start that I’m not trying to sell you anything. So instead, what I am suggesting is that you do as I once did, and make a box hockey game of your own. One sheet of plywood would probably do it. And, there aren’t any dimensions that are critical, other than to make sure the puck fits through the various holes — in the dividers, and in the end goals.
I actually built mine with only a picture in my head. This is a different age now, though, with the Internet offering numerous diagrams and plans to build a box hockey game. The one up top will surely do. If I had it to do over again, though, I might go for the one below, that doesn’t require a base.
Then, this update…
While I was going to send you a link to the H-Box company, in the event you’d rather purchase one than build it, the owner of that company contacted me the other day to say he was retiring. What he also wanted to say was that he hoped to sell the company, and he’d be interested in hearing from any potential buyers. So, just let me know, and I’ll connect you to that owner.
