Strength on the Hockey Skates

I noted previously in another entry, that I’d at one time noticed a good many of my young players either being tossed around by opponents or losing the battles whenever they had collisions on the ice.

So, I tried to think of ways I could recreate those situations in a practice setting.

The first drill idea I arrived at was something called “Shoulder Bumps”.  In a lead-up drill, I had partners of equal height work in place and lock arms, just so they stayed close together and under control.  That established, I eventually let them unlock the arms, coast slowly, and go a little closer to live with their bumps. The idea, though, was to encourage both partners to help each other learn.

The second drill I used was to pair equally sized and strong kids wrestling.  Understand that I only let a given bout last for about 10-seconds, because it really does take a lot out of them.

What I was trying to accomplish in both drills was to give my kids a chance to search for a strong posture.  This should especially be noticeable in the second, wrestling drill, whereby most of my players quickly learned to spread their skates and lower their butts (or centers of gravity).

By the way…  As you might gather from my video series on “Checking”, controlled versions of these drills wouldn’t be bad for beginners and non-body-checking players.  Hey, collisions and jostles for position happen at every level of our game, beginners to adult rec guys and gals.

Then, I want to point-out to parents that they can use modified versions of these drills (and numerous other ones found on this site) to help their youngsters behind the scenes.  Neither do players have to be on the ice to benefit from these kinds of drills.  All a parent has to do is think a little, and make a few slight adaptations, to help a youngster stay on his or her feet while rivals take the spills.