3-man weave skating drill – Hockey Resource

The 3-man weave is a good drill to practice in order to learn to head-man the puck. It also emphasizes skating, passing (to both sides), using the entire width of the ice surface and being aware of where other players on your team are located.

Three players start lined up on the goal line (one at each side and one in the middle). The middle player starts with a puck. All three players start skating towards the other end. The middle player passes the puck to one of the other players and then skates to that side of the ice. The player receiving the pass head-mans the puck to the player on the opposite side, he then skates to that side of the ice. The players then continue passing the puck from one side of the ice to the other while always passing it to the man furthest in front. (Players will tend to slow down when carrying the puck)

At first this drill seems confusing and may take a few tries to get it right. A tip to tell the players so they remember where to skate after passing the puck is “Follow your pass”.  Ensure players are not “off-side” at any of the lines (both blue lines and the red line) to ensure they are always head-manning the puck. Players should be skating and accelerating as fast as they can while performing the drill correctly. 

Variations:

• You may let the players shoot on net (3-0) at the end of the drill.
• Some coaches like to have the players return to their starting point (while skating near the boards so they don’t get in the way of other players)
• Players may tend to close in instead of using the whole width of the ice, if this happens you may designate passing lanes with cones that the players must be in to receive/make a pass.