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Driveway Development with Derek Plante

By Mike Doyle, Special to Minnesota Hockey, 08/10/15, 8:00AM CDT

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Fans in the State of Hockey who had the chance to watch Derek Plante play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth are likely to remember his dazzling array of puck skills and some of the silkiest hands in college hockey in the early ‘90s. The Cloquet native scored 92 points (36-56=92) as a senior with the Bulldogs. In his four-year collegiate career, Plante racked up 219 points with UMD, which eventually led to a National Hockey League career spanning 450 games.

Now, with a younger generation of hockey enthusiasts, he’s known for imparting his knowledge on some of the nation’s top young talent. Plante just finished a five year tenure, including the 2011 NCAA National Championship, as an assistant coach at his alma mater, and for the second straight year, he’s been selected as the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team. 

“It’s quite the thrill and an honor,” Plante said. “It’s amazing how fast some of these kids can pick stuff up. You only have to ask them once or twice, with their skill level, they figure it out so fast.

“It’s really a lot of fun to coach.”

Keeping Practice and Development Fun

The former NHLer noted how much the players like being on the ice, particularly the Minnesotans on the team, even for practices. He believes enjoying the experience is an important part of getting to that level and beyond.

As a youngster, much like the top players in the nation that he now coaches, Plante was always practicing. However, as a youngster, he didn’t consider it practice.

As a child, he always had a hockey stick in his hands. Whether it was in the basement with a mini-stick and tape ball that he made himself or on the street with rollerblades and an orange plastic ball, Plante was “working” on his skills. 

“I don’t think any of that stuff was planned when I was a kid, it just happened that way,” Plante said with a chuckle. “If you’re told to do something, it’s not as much fun as if you want to do it on your own. If you’re having fun, the more you want to do it. The more you do it, the better you’re going to get.”

While the amount of time spent on skill work is important, Plante adds that it’s important to develop proper practice habits, even when conducting off-ice training. The quality of each rep is paramount.

“I think it goes back to good habits,” Plante said. “If you’re doing things wrong initially, maybe because you’re in a hurry or don’t have the instruction, sometimes it can take longer. Especially when it comes to dryland training like jumps – you can only do so much. If you’re not getting proper knee bend or full extension, then you’re going to get bad habits and not get the most out of the training.

“If you’re taking shortcuts to do more, that’s when the bad habits are made.”

Street Stickhandling

At a young age, Plante learned to stickhandle with his head up by practicing while watching television. Being able to handle the puck with his head up was crucial in his development.

He also emphasizes practicing “quiet hands” (much to the joy of parents around the State of Hockey). The former Bulldog suggests using a hard ball to stickhandle around a couple of tires or cones. Rather than snapping the ball from side to side, cradle it and try to make as little as noise as possible.

“Roll your wrists and keep the ball quiet,” Plante said. “If you have a harder ball and try to make their sticks quiet, it makes them roll their wrists, which is what you want. Roll the wrists and protect that puck. They’ll get comfortable pushing the puck around as opposed to always having to stickhandle.”

As a player becomes more comfortable with the distance between the objects, spread them out. Pay special attention to moving to the backhand side.

“Kids need to work on going to their backhand,” Plante said. “If the kids a lefty, the stick is always on the left side. If they go over center and into the right side, they have a hard time stickhandling over there. It pushes a player to extend and go outside the comfort zone. It makes you go to the backhand and the side you might not be completely comfortable with.”

Simple stickhandling drills and extra practice off the ice helped Plante become a wizard with the puck, although, it was always fun.

“Looking back, I can see why there was an advantage to do that stuff,” Plante said. “But when I was a kid, I was just doing it because it was fun.”

For more ideas visit USA Hockey's age-appropriate dry land training webpage or watch these sample stickhandling drills

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