Bob Motzko doesn’t necessary like the term “small-area games.”

“Small-area games is the title that’s been given,” the St. Cloud State University men’s coach said. “What it is, though, is playing hockey.”

Motzko regularly incorporates small-area games into his practices with the Huskies, as well as those with the U.S. Junior National Team, which he led to a gold medal at last year’s World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal, and will coach again this year in Buffalo, New York. He says having them in his practice plans is important in his players’ training and development.

Carefree Development

Cross-ice, half-ice and other small-area games are really no different than the kind of play you might see kids having fun doing on frozen lakes and ponds and outdoor rinks in city parks, Motzko said. Unfortunately, you’re seeing less and less of that kind of carefree play that, he believes, was responsible for developing so much of Minnesota’s “tremendous skill and great talent” over the years.

“Hockey’s become far too regimented,” he said. “It gets over-coached to death.”

The Most Valuable Tool

Small-area games bring the fun and competitive spirit of pickup hockey to the practice rink. And players, whether they realize it or not, end up working on the skills they need to be successful at the highest levels of the game.

“It puts you in situations to learn how to puck protect, to skate, to shoot pucks, to handle pucks, to one-time pucks – playing hockey,” Motzko said. “It’s probably the most valuable tool there is for teaching and developing hockey players.”

Time Is a Luxury

College hockey is played on weekends, usually with Friday- and Saturday-night games.

“We’re a weekend-warrior game,” Motzko said. That leaves, after a rest day, four days a week for practice.

All of that ice time is a luxury when it comes to team and individual development, but players want to compete, too. Small-area games bring that out. Motzko’s favorite is 2-on-2 cross-ice, score in any net with coaches and teammates constantly feeding pucks into the game after goals.

“You find out quickly who’s got offensive instincts,” Motzko said.

Kids Want to Compete

And it doesn’t necessarily feel like practice.

“You can have a practice, and it’s going along fine. Then you throw in a game, and the whole intensity of practice goes to a new level,” Motzko said. “The players start hooting and hollering.

“Kids want to compete. Kids want to get after it.”