Teaching the Beginner Hockey Player to Shoot

Number one, just because this piece centers around young hockey players doesn’t mean those dealing with older players aren’t going to gain from it.

With that, I recently received a great question via social media.  And, since it seemed something worthy of most parents and coaches of very young kids, I asked the writer if he minded me sharing it with my faithful site members.  (Of course he didn’t mind!)  

Maybe not so surprisingly, you’ll find me thinking out loud here at times.

Let me begin, though, by showing what I received from the above noted questioner… 

“My oldest is 5.5yo, and transitioning from learn-to-skate to learn-to-play. He has the hockey bug something fierce!  Anyways, he skated with the LTP kids the last few weeks of this past season and what I noticed was how good some of their shots were.  Just curious if you have tips on teaching a young kid how to shoot. I have a shooting pad in the basement and he loves going down there with me, I just need help on how to teach him.  I played for 20+ years but have never coached.

Thanks!

J”

I’m going to begin by saying, “Been there, done that!”  And, once I explain myself, you’re going to admit that you have, too!  

What I’m getting at is that we’ve all looked at our youngster and wondered why some kids are able to do things our own can’t —  personally, I’m thinking back to when my son was also maybe 4- or 5-years old.  It’s just a natural thing (isn’t it?), and something I believe we all go through as hockey dads (or moms).  That said, I probably need to suggest that my friend J should relax a little (if I was talking to a younger Coach Chic, I’d probably tell him to, “Take a dawgone pill!” — LOL).  

The problem:  our own youngster just doesn’t have the experience or the time on the ice that all of the more noticeable kids have had.  That’s really it, plain and simple.  The second thing I’d do here is to suggest that any of members who are dealing with the same problem as J should search a long ago post I did on my “Building Blocks Approach to Offensive Skills“. 

Just to give you a quick review of it, though, I suggest that the more advanced skills should be (very systematically) built upon the very basic ones.  That in mind, I put Skating at the base of the skills pyramid, and then I suggest that Puckhandling comes next.  Those two skills in place, a youngster can be both a better passer and pass receiver.  Then, being able to  skate, handle the puck well, and sweep pretty effective passes, it’s easier for a youngster to attack a goal with either a deke or a shot.

Now, I’m not saying that J’s little guy has to wait until he’s mastered all those steps before he’ll be able to shoot a puck.  What I am saying, however, is that he’ll shoot better and better as he improves his stickhandling and passing skills.  Make sense?  

Consequently, I’ll suggest that J have his son fiddle with a ball — a lot, because that’s going to give the youngster a better “feel” for his stick-blade. And, a little diddling with a puck will also give him better feel for that.  

What I’m especially getting at is a sense of sliding the ball or puck away, and then softly cradling it on each catch.  For, that kinda “cupping” of the puck is the start of a good shooting motion.  I’d then approach the passing segment in two phases… 

In one, dad and the little guy can just slide a ball or puck back and forth at a fairly close distance.  Again, feel is important — and  that’s going to be gained with every pass and catch.  Learning to sweep instead of wildly whacking at the ball or puck is what I’d also like to see take place.

Then, let me explain the best of all my passing and shooting drills for young players…   Yes, for a 5-year old, I’d grab a 2.5 pound metal weight from the local sportinggoods store (use a plastic weight on the ice and a metal one off the ice).   With that, J can show his boy how to sweep the weight down the driveway (or other paved area) for a pretty good distance.  J’s son can also do this on his own, sliding the weight as far as he can, and then walking down to its landing spot to just fire it back to the starting point.  Over time, the dad can teach him how to cup the weight, and then how to roll it down the stick-blade from near the heel to it’s mid-point.  That creates a visible spin of the weight (and later the puck), so that it remains flat as it travels over rough ice.

Hoping my later suggestions help, I still feel the need to return to my earliest point, in that we’re all going to constantly see other kids doing things we wish our own could do.  It’s all natural, really, for a hockey parent and a young player.  All kinds of old adages apply here  (“Rome wasn’t built in a day” comes to mind), but patience is what I’m really recommending.  

I’m actually kind of envying J here, though, and really missing the days when my own son — and later my grandson — needed that kind of help with their game.  In other words, while it’s right to want to help our youngsters over given hurdles, don’t be wishing too hard that they quickly get beyond the beginner stages.  Trust me, that you’re going to someday miss those times (as I do now). 

Of course, I hope members will comment below.