Off Season Practice..

Believe it or not a tennis ball is the same diameter as a hockey puck. This makes for perfect stickhandling improvements when you're home and away from the rink for a few months. Take some time out of your day about 3 times a week to really work on stickhandling, whether it's the basics or advanced. Here are a few drills that can help you improve..

Balance work..

A key to any successful hockey player is good balance and positioning. Whether you're throwing the body or taking a hit you need to have strong balance to support your weight so you don't get thrown the other way! Here is an example of balance training on a bosu ball.

With this you can work on double leg or single leg balance by simply balancing alone or with weights. In the top photo this guy exemplifies great balance by sticking his free leg out to touch the cone and back in again. A more advanced way to train is shown in the second photo where the guy works his balance in a complete body drill by incorporating a swiss ball.

 

Shoot the puck harder in two weeks..

One of the deadliest weapons you could have as a player is a hard shot. No matter if you're a D-man or any type of forward (Sniper, Playmaker, Grinder), it's a crowd favorite to see someone who can really bring it. Here's a great trick I learned back in my junior high hockey days.. The wrist roller. You can buy one at your local sports stores such as Dick's or Modell's or you can make your own like the picture on the top has shown. What this does, if you look at the bottom picture, is it builds forearm muscles which are the key to a swift, firm shot. You simply roll the weight from the bottom, up and then send it slowly back down keeping tension on your forearms at all times. Repeat until failure. Give this a try in the off-season 3 times a week and you'll see a major difference come September.

 

Away from the rink? No problem.

If you can't make it to the rink whenever you want, or the ice just isn't open for free, have no fear. Plexiglass is the new way to shoot pucks at home.

With this piece of equipment it allows you to shoot pucks with your own stick that you use on the ice without any issues. If you're shooting on tar or cement the blade of the stick is slowly going to deteriorate to nothing. With Plexiglass you can shoot for hours on end and nothing will happen to the blade because of it's smooth surface that also gives you the feel of the ice when shooting. An inexpensive trick to becoming a more accurate shooter in the off-season summer months.

Off-season Training

When it comes to the off-season there's two things to work on. Getting stronger and toning your skills. Granted if you're younger then I'd say stick with the basics; Body weight workouts such as pushups, chin-ups, body weight squats, etc.. Once you hit roughly 7th grade, it's time to start hitting the big boy weights, and these guys here at EPS know exactly how.

One of the best strength & conditioning specialists on the east coast, Owner Brian McDonough has a resume your kids want to be a part of. Out of Foxboro, MA EPS offers personal training towards players in the South Shore Kings organization. On top of helping these hockey players, they offer an extensive coverage of all other sports and workouts deemed best for those particular athletes. Check out there website for prices and convenience.

The Iron Cross.

Done on the ice, on one of the 5 circles. You start at the bottom of the circle and sprint to the center dot. Stop, crisscross your legs to the left hash marks and then all the way back to the right hash marks. This teaches good balance and proper form when doing cross overs to gain speed. Again, crisscross back to the center dot and sprint to the top of the circle, pivot, and skate backwards to the center dot. From there repeat the cross overs and when retreating to the center circle, pivot again, and back skate to the original bottom part. Here's a better example.

This drill teaches foot speed, balance, and proper form overall.

New stickhandling trick..

One of the simplest yet effective tricks I learned throughout high school to improve my puck control game in all situations of the ice.

If your family uses paper towels this trick is extremely effective. Put the end of the roll on the hockey stick through the top knob, (the hole will always be big enough) whether it is a 50 flex or 102, it'll always work. Holding onto the roll with your top hand, perform stickhandling movements such as simply stickhandling back and forth to complex 1-2 dekes. With this the roll allows your top hand to slide up and down the shaft of the stick therefore making it difficult to maintain control of the stick. Give this small tip a try to really elevate your game.