Five Purposeful Drills to Fix Specific Hockey Skills

The best hockey drills target the mistake you want to fix: push-and-glide for slipping strides, wide figure eights for uneven turns, wide puck pulls for lost control, cushion-and-return for bouncing passes, and sweep-shot targets for erratic shooting. Pick one and establish control before adding speed or power.

Choose the mistake you want to fix; the tool gives you a drill and a progression check.

Pick one drill for focused practice, or combine the five into a roughly 20-minute on-ice routine: three minutes of easy skating, three minutes per drill, and two minutes total for recovery and setup. These setups adapt the teaching points in Hockey Canada’s U9 coaching guide; the timings are a suggested starting point, not a tested training prescription.

You need a stick, a few pucks, an approved shooting area and, for passing, a partner. Wear the session’s required protective equipment, keep routes clear and practise away from the boards. You should already be able to stop reliably; otherwise, start with the beginner skating progression.

1. Push And Glide Separates Propulsion From Balance

Purpose: Find a push that moves you forward without losing control of the supporting skate.

Setup: Use a clear, straight lane with room to stop.

1. Take a few easy strides, then glide on two skates with knees bent.
2. Place your weight over one skate and briefly lift the other.
3. Return to two feet before you wobble. Repeat on the other side.
4. Next, angle the pushing skate outward and add one deliberate push down and out. Recover the pushing skate low beneath you, and glide again.

Hockey Canada’s teaching guide uses both one-foot glides and isolated pushing exercises. For forward skating at speed, it describes a lateral thrust and recovery beneath the body’s centre of gravity—not simply kicking straight backward. See its skating teaching points, pages 7–9.

Why it works: Your skate pushes against the ice, and the ice pushes back in the opposite direction. That is Newton’s third law. The blade’s orientation lets that reaction have a forward component. Moving your leg quickly is not enough if the edge slips instead of transmitting force.

Progression check: Hold a short, straight glide on either foot without hopping or twisting. Add consecutive strides only when that feels controlled.

2. Wide Figure Eights Build Controlled Turns

Purpose: Build controlled turns in both directions.

Setup: Choose two ice markings or low, rink-approved markers far enough apart to make broad loops.

Skate a slow figure eight without a puck. Glide through each curve with bent knees, the inside skate slightly ahead, a slight lean into the curve and your head looking along the exit. Begin with wide turns; do not try to hug the markers.

Hockey Canada’s glide-turn guidance describes leading with the inside skate, bending the knees and leaning inward. It also recommends practising both ways. See its turning guidance, pages 11–12.

Why it works: Turning requires an inward force. At the same radius, doubling speed requires four times as much inward force; at the same speed, halving the radius doubles it. These are consequences of the centripetal-force relationship.

Progression check: Follow a similar curve left and right without an emergency braking scrape. If you cannot, slow down or widen the curve. Once controlled, increase speed slightly or tighten the path—not both at once.

3. Wide Puck Pulls Control The Reversal

Purpose: Move the puck across your body without chasing it.

Setup: Stand in a balanced hockey stance with one puck and room on both sides.

Move the puck slowly from forehand to backhand, then back again. Keep your hands free of your torso and roll the wrists to cup the blade on each side. Start narrow, then widen the movement while keeping your feet planted. Gradually add brief looks ahead rather than forcing yourself never to look down.

These cues follow Hockey Canada’s puckhandling guidance, pages 19–20, which emphasizes smooth, quiet control.

Why it works: To reverse the puck’s sideways motion, the blade must first slow it, then accelerate it the other way. Cup and guide it through that change rather than batting it away and catching up.

Progression check: Count controlled reversals before the puck escapes your comfortable reach. Progress to a slow glide only when you can repeat the stationary movement smoothly.

4. Cushion And Return Keeps Passes Within Reach

Purpose: Keep an incoming pass close enough for the next play.

Setup: Face a partner about 4–6 metres away in a clear lane. Start with gentle, flat passes.

Present the blade on the ice. As the puck arrives, let the blade move a little with it instead of holding the stick rigid. Settle the puck, then sweep it back. Practise forehand and backhand reception.

Hockey Canada explicitly recommends allowing some give at contact to cushion a pass; see pages 22–24.

Why it works: Stopping the puck requires changing its momentum. Spreading that change over more time reduces the average force for the same momentum change—the impulse–momentum principle. The practical cue is a small, controlled give, not a large retreat of the stick.

Progression check: Count clean receptions out of ten. Increase pass speed only when the puck consistently stays within reach.

5. Sweep-Shot Targets Establish Direction Before Power

Purpose: Produce a repeatable shot instead of an uncontrolled hard one.

Setup: Use a designated shooting lane and net. Choose a low target area. Keep the shooting lane and the area behind the net clear; retrieve pucks only after everyone sharing that lane has stopped shooting.

Take five comfortable forehand sweep shots from the same position. Bring the puck to the side of your body, transfer weight from the rear leg toward the front, and sweep through toward the target. Repeat on the backhand at reduced effort.

Hockey Canada’s shooting guidance, pages 25–27 emphasizes accuracy and describes this weight transfer.

Why it works: The blade’s force during contact changes the puck’s momentum. Direction matters as well as magnitude. The follow-through cannot steer a puck that has already left the blade; use it as a cue to continue the motion through release.

Progression check: Record target hits out of five. Add effort only while preserving accuracy, then try the same shot from a slow glide. For a separate drill focused on loading the shaft, see slap-shot physics.