Advice: Best shooting, stickhandling drills?

sverige

Registered User
Nov 4, 2014
66
2
I know there's a thousand videos on the internet regarding stickhandling and shooting drills, but that's part of the problem, there's too many of them. Right know I work a lot of figure 8's in different combinations, doing them in front of me, to the left, to right and so on. I also work with a stickhandling ball to work on the speed of my hands. I'm uncertain if it's enough though or if I'm missing out on the stickhandling drill of the century.

I haven't shoot so much and my shot does, not surprisingly, suck. I just find it very hard to train my shot, what should I work on? My mechanics, my precision, my velocity? What should a newer hockey player work on?

TL;DR
Best stickhandling and shooting drill for a new hockey player with an enormous drive to improve.
 

Filthy Dangles

Registered User*
Oct 23, 2014
28,353
39,702
For on-ice shooting, I'd recommend a bucket of pucks and a passer (one of those things you pass the puck to and it passes it back to you via spring/slingshot). You can simultaneously work on catching passes, quickly releasing, picking corners, velocity etc. You could also practice winding up for a one timer. Also, the heavy orange pucks can help strengthen your shot a bit, both by forcing better form and increasing strength.

For stick handling, something like this could help you. Look into products like green biscuit and smart hockey pucks for off ice. Just work on cradling the puck around your body, in different patterns etc. Set aside a bunch of pucks and stickhandle through those like in that Patrick Kane Bauer video.

xdeviator-pkg_2.jpg
 

puckpilot

Registered User
Oct 23, 2016
1,228
880
Well, some of this depends on your current skill level, how good your technque is, and what movements you want to develop.

Since, I don't know these things, I'm just going to assume you're very green. So forgive me if some of this is beneath you.

IMHO, one of the first things you should focus on is understanding proper technique. If you aren't using proper technique, then all the best drills in the world aren't going to help because you'll be practising how to do things the wrong way, and it'll be kind of a waste of time.

If you nail the proper technique, a lot of the various drills become just as good as the other. It all depends on what movements you want to develop.

When I'm at the rink, I see some guys working on their shots, stickhandling, etc., and it's blatantly obvious they have no idea what's the proper way to do something. They may eventually get to a point where they can sort of stickhandle and can sort of shoot, at least well enough to putt around and lift the puck. But they'll always be limited by their poor fundamentals.

In contrast, one guy who could barely stand on his skates two years ago, he got some good advice on the basics and just worked on those a lot, man I can't believe how much he's improved. Over just two years, he went from bambi legs, to nasty outside edge slide turns and picking corners with a wicked snapshot.

With that said, here's a video on basic stickhandling technque.



And a video breaking down the basic wrist shot. Every shot is based on the basic movements developed with this shot, so if you can execute this properly, then developing your other shots becomes infinitely easier.



Ok, now that I've beat the drum on the basics. If you've got that down then here are some of my favorite puck handling drills. The forum doesn't let me embed more than 3 videos so the last three are just links.



STICKHANDLING DRILLS FOR HOCKEY PLAYERS

McDavid Magic | Behind The Scenes with Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid Off-Ice Stick Handling Drill - Lateral Stick Handling With Shuffle
 
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aborkie

Registered User
Jul 27, 2018
75
18
As for stickhandling, when I switched to golf balls my stickhandling seemed to improve a lot. I also use a street puck sometimes. I will spray some water on a concrete patio to make the puck move faster. I try to always bend my knees a little. I think above all is to do it every day for muscle memory. Also there is the issue of forward movement, so running or rollerblading with a golf ball is also great.
 

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