Basic Drill for Picking Up The Puck Off the Boards

Last week in our Coach's Chalk Talk, we discussed the proper way to pick up the puck on the boards. This drill, is the best way to start it off - it's simple and quick, and it allows players to get the hang of moving with the puck.

We set up 2 lines of players in one end facing the back boards, each player has a puck. (Indicated by A's and B's on the diagram) As A begins to curl around the boards, B throws the puck around the boards where A picks it up. Once A has picked up the pass and is on his way down the ice, B will curl to receive a pass from the next player in line A around the boards - and on and on.

Start out slow, picking the puck off the boards is a tough thing to learn. As time goes on, you can add a pinching defenseman at each point. As the players advance, you can move the lines out so that the players are curling higher out.

When everyone has gone down for a shot - reverse the drill and come back the other way.

1. Start slow - the point is to get used to moving with the puck and picking it up off the boards.

2. Ensure that when you reverse the drill - and come back the other way - that players stay on the same side of the ice so that they get work on curling and picking up the puck both on the backhand and forehand.

3. Have players shoot on goal from the boards, about the top of the circle to work the goaltender from side to side. You can put a pylon out there to mark the point of the shot. To further work the goaltender on subsequent runs of the drill, place a pylon at the bottom of each circle and have the players curl out from the corner for a shot on net.