skip navigation

5 Puck Skills That Generate Goals

By Shane Frederick, Special to Minnesota Hockey, 11/29/16, 10:15AM CST

Share

Watch your favorite player, a player you think your game resembles, a player you aspire to be like. As good as that player is with the puck, you might not be seeing the little things they’re doing to be successful. And you’re definitely not seeing what they do before and after the games.

“These guys are doing these little things after practice every day to not only make it to the level of this league but to stay here,” said Darby Hendrickson, an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild.

Good habits and focus are a must.

“I think being sharp is the word,” added Hendrickson. “You have to be sharp every day when you’re getting ready for practice and you’re doing a drill.”

Here are some areas players should focus on to improve their skills with the puck:

Net Front

Learning to play in front of the net is a key to scoring goals as a team. That means both playing around the goal and also taking away the goaltender’s vision of the puck.

“You’re almost being a goalie in front of the goalie,” Hendrickson said. “You really want to get the goalie’s eyes. Sometimes you’re not the guy that directly is going to be rewarded; it could be one of your teammates. It’s just one of those unconditional things. But it’s so hard for goalies, when they have to look around you. It’s really a key thing.”

Wall Play

Gaining or maintaining possession of the puck along the boards is one of the toughest things in hockey. “That’s really just the ability to execute under pressure,” Hendrickson said.

“Have good habits with shoulder checking,” he said. “Learn to protect yourself when defensemen are coming down. Have the ability to use your skates and sticks and execute. Sometimes you have to eat a puck and take a hit. But learning to make those little relays to your wingers or your centerman to get it out of the zone is so important.”

Passing and Catching

NHL players are the best in the world at passing the puck. They’re also the best at receiving it. The ability to make a great pass or catch one that’s not quite on target is “a fundamental 101” that separates the best from the rest.

“If you come watch an NHL practice compared to any other level you see the crispness and the ability to make good, strong, hard passes and the ability to pick up passes that aren’t always on the tape,” he said. “The thing at this level that’s always stressed is to hit the tape and be sharp. But the ability of some of the guys who come into the league now to pick up pucks off their skates is incredible.”

Protecting Pucks

For forwards, puck protection and making tight turns while being defended are vital. When done right, a player can go from having no room to creating enough space to make a play.

“Have the ability to not get bumped off the puck, using your body, having stick strength on the puck when you’re being defended,” he said. “You see some of the guys on our team where they might not be the biggest guys but they have a real elusiveness to pull defensemen or opposing forwards in tight turn, and they get out of pressure and they create space. And it’s so hard to create space in our games with guys as big as (6-foot-9 Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno) Chara.”

Small Ice

Working on small-area situations are important and can complete a good-skating player’s overall repertoire.

“Watch the Sidney Crosbys of the world,” Hendrickson said. “Certainly he’s looked upon as one of the best – just his ability to protect the puck low and move and be agile, it’s so hard for D.”

One way to work on that is to play one-on-one or keepaway games after practice, something, he said, many elite players do for a couple of minutes almost every day.

“I liked playing keepaway,” said Hendrickson, who played for the Maple Leafs, Canucks, Wild and Avalanche from 1994 to 2004. “Just puck protect. I thought it was tiring but it was fun because it was always a little skill and challenge with stick strength. It’s underrated, holding onto the puck and not giving it away. To me doing those types of things translated into the game.”

The Payoff

The more you work on those little things, the more they will become part of your everyday game.

“You don’t even think about it because it comes so naturally, and that’s how you want it,” Hendrickson said. “When those things would click, things you worked on, it will motivate you to keep working and getting better at it.”

Most Popular