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8 Creative Offensive Skills

By Mike Doyle, Special to Minnesota Hockey, 01/31/17, 11:45AM CST

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After an NHLer scores a highlight-reel goal, fans might be left wondering, “How did he do that?”

The short answer: practice.

Most of the highly skilled maneuvers you’ll see during a college or professional game might look improvised, but are often born out of repetition. It takes years of practice to perform some of the skilled tricks that the best in the world make look easy.

For USA Hockey National Coach-in-Chief Mike MacMillan, next-level skills take a combination of practice and a little something extra.

“You have to have some level of confidence to be able to do them,” MacMillan said. “That confidence needs to start at a young age.”

MacMillan, who is also an assistant coach at Hamline University, said these types of skills used to be developed on the outdoor rink. Now, with the American Development Model, coaches can teach and work them into practice.

“Now, we’re transferring [skill development] and adding the confidence factor into station-based drills in small areas,” MacMillan said. “You can add all these skill elements into station-based practices. With small-area games you’re recreating the outdoor rink.”

So here are eight creative skills players can work on in practice or on their own, along with a rating system based on difficulty to execute during a game (5 pucks being hardest and 1 puck the easiest). 

1. Deflections and redirects

Go to an NHL practice and afterwards you’ll usually see players standing in front of the net tipping shots from the point. This is an individual skill that can be easily practiced between two players during free time.

MacMillan says that coaches can implement this skill into a practice plan, “We try to encourage coaches to use multiple shot drills in practice, so a player comes down and takes a shot to warm up the goalie, and then stand in front of the goalie and try to tip or deflect the next shot.”

2. Spin-o-rama

The move that Denis Savard made famous in the 80s is a whirling wonder when performed in open ice. But, this move can be utilized all over the ice, especially in corners as a puck protection escape move.

Players today are visual learners, so it’s important to teach them the concept. MacMillan said that using video clips is a good way to create that understanding. He adds it can be practiced either alone or in a formal setting without resistance of a defender. “One of the things I like to do in a station-based practice is kind of a junk drill, where you throw out a bunch of stuff in an area and that player has to be creative. Part of that creativity can include spinning away from an object.” 

3. Indirect and/or area passing

Indirect, bouncing the puck off the boards, and area passing, putting the puck into a spot where his or her teammate can skate into it, is a concept that has to be taught and understood before it can be practiced. Setting up objects, like cones or sticks, to pass around is a good start to teaching how to use the boards or pass with touch.

“It’s becoming a big part of the game right now,” MacMillan said. “That’s something coaches need to show some video and talk about it off-ice as well as on-ice.”

The hardest thing about learning these types of passes isn’t the skill itself, but grasping the notion along with quickly judging the correct angle and speed.

“The concept takes a lot of thought and some education of the players because we’re so into puck possession that we sometimes forget the area pass can be real successful if used correctly.”

4. Saucer pass

The ideal saucer pass will roll from the heel to the toe of a player’s stick, elevate with a tight rotation and land back onto the ice flat.

“It’s something players try on their own, whether it’s in practice or warm-ups, I think it makes them a better passer in general because it creates good passing technique,” MacMillan said. “Combining the speed of the game, the skill and timing, and putting those things together makes it very difficult for a player to do in a game situation.”

5. Controlling the puck with skates

There are all types of situations when a player will need to use his or her skates to play the puck: an errant pass, a scrum along the boards or losing control of it when motoring down the ice.

“There are fun things you can do with young kids in a small area, where you take their sticks away and make them use their feet to move the puck to a teammate – that gives them confidence to do it,” MacMillan said.

Additionally, players don’t necessarily need to be on their skates to get better foot coordination.

“The concept can be taken off the ice when stickhandling with a ball and getting comfortable putting it into their feet and back to their blade,” MacMillan added. 

6. Toe-drag

Maybe the most controversial next-level skill on our list, the toe-drag is beloved by fans as much as it’s distained by coaches.

“For a kid to be able to do it, they have to practice it alone, repeatedly,” MacMillan said. “At the upper levels, it is extremely hard and can be dangerous because defensemen that are good are going to play the body not the puck.”

In the open ice, if defended correctly it’s a fairly easy move to defend, but there are times, like pulling the puck out of a scrum or changing the release point of a shot, when it can be practically used and dangerously effective. 

7. Shielding the puck with one hand on the stick

“It’s a lost art. Players don’t do it much any more,” MacMillan said. “They did it because we used to play in the park. A lefty used to keep his bottom [left] hand on the stick and protect it with his right.

One of the reasons this skill is becoming less utilized might be because defensive play is so much stronger in today’s game. However, puck protection is an integral part of the game, and learning how to play with one hand on your stick gives players an option when fighting through checkers.

While this next-level skill might be as much determination as technique, MacMillan believes, “It’s important and to be an all-around player you’ve got to be able to protect the puck.” 

8. Goalies playing the puck

Goaltenders should be focusing on stick skills as well.

“With our goalies we do isolation drills to build their confidence,” MacMillan said. “When the coach is up on the blue line, you fire the puck around the boards. There are three elements on your most basic move: going back and getting it; stopping it the correct way; and placing it for the defenseman.”    

Like all next-level skills, time and repetition is how goaltenders can become like a third defenseman.  

“There’s no reason the goalie can’t start a drill by playing the puck,” MacMillan said. “Sometimes they’re forgotten. The only reason goalies can’t do it is because it’s not practiced.” 

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