Practicing different ice hockey drills is the best way to develop basic skills as a new player. Each drill should educate and improve the skills of a young player new to the sport. As with any sport, practice is the key to becoming a successful player.
Lead Dog
The lead dog drill will help you learn to use both edges of your skates and make faster turns when skating. It will also help you develop speed and control. Set up four cones in a rectangular fashion, with enough space for players to skate around them. Split up the team into two groups. One group will be the lead skaters carrying the puck. The other group will be the players chasing the lead skater. Have one of the lead skaters take off skating around the rectangle with the puck. Once he has a 10- to 15-stride start, let the first chase skater take off after him. His goal is to try and catch up to and tag the lead skater before he reaches the fourth cone. Let each player take a turn and then switch the groups.
Suicides
Suicides is a drill most hockey players dread. But it is useful in improving speed, skating ability and stamina. It will also help you learn to use the edges of your skates for turning and stopping. Line up the players in four lines at the goal line. One at a time, the first player in each line should quickly skate out to the first blue line, stop, change direction and skate back to the goal line. Then, he should circle around the players in his line and quickly skate out to the center line, stop and immediately skate back to the goal line. The next player in line should do the same, and so on. This drill can also be performed while puck handling or skating backward as well.
Snakebites
Snakebites is another drill for learning to use the edges of your skates, change direction and recover from falls. Place four cones staggered on the ice from the goal line to the blue line. Put two on one side and two on the other so the players will be skating in a zig-zag formation from cone to cone up the ice. Line up players at the goal line. One at a time, have each player skate to the first cone, quickly change direction and skate across to the second cone, then quickly change direction and skate across to the third cone before skating across to the fourth cone. At the fourth cone, he should quickly change direction again and circle around the center ice and quickly skate toward the net. He can then get in the back of the line as the next skater begins the drill.
Two on Two
Two on two is a drill that is a little more fun for beginners. It will give you the chance to actually play hockey while still learning some of the basics. Split up four players into two-man teams. Also, place a goalie in the net and let the players play a half-ice game up to seven. Each time a team scores, the other team gets the puck and a chance to go on offense. This drill will give each player a chance to practice both offense and defense in the scoring zone. And it gives your goalie an opportunity to practice in two-on-two situations.
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