Below is a collection of ice hockey drills that are certain to be helpful to coaches, parents and players. I learned these drills during my years playing hockey competitively. A list of goalie specific drills with what skills are being worked & the shooter requirement is also available. Team specific drills are also listed here.
- Double 2v2 with cross Drill – Hockey Resource
This drill is intended to practice 2v2 situations for both offense and defense. It is also a good conditioning drill for defensemen. Have the forwards line up in each corner… Read more: Double 2v2 with cross Drill – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Position Recovery – Hockey Resource
This drill will help the goaltender recover, recognize and react from situations where they are out of position. Have the goaltender start in their crease laying on their back (alternate… Read more: Goalie Drill – Position Recovery – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Screen Shot – Hockey Resource
This drill will prepare the goaltender for situations where he is screened by another player. A shooter is positionned at the top of the slot with a second shooter screening… Read more: Goalie Drill – Screen Shot – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Low Glove Blocker – Hockey Resource
This drill will practice the goaltender’s basic puck stopping skills and preparing for high rebounds after a low shot. It will also practice stopping high shots when the goaltender is… Read more: Goalie Drill – Low Glove Blocker – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Shuffle random shot – Hockey Resource
This drill is used to practise goaltender reaction time, shuffling and proper positioning. Spread multiple pucks in a line near the top of the circles. A shooter starts at one… Read more: Goalie Drill – Shuffle random shot – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Freeze Pucks – Hockey Resource
This drill will help the goaltender with their reaction time and using proper technique to freeze and protect the puck. Lay out some pucks in no particular order around the… Read more: Goalie Drill – Freeze Pucks – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Wrap around + Walk in – Hockey Resource
This drill is intended to practise positioning for wrap arounds or walk-ins from behind the net. The goaltender will have to be in the proper position to stop the wrap… Read more: Goalie Drill – Wrap around + Walk in – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – poke check one timer pass – Hockey Resource
This drill will help the goaltender with his poke checks, desperate saves as well as passing. Set up five pucks around the crease as shown below ( one at the… Read more: Goalie Drill – poke check one timer pass – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Cone to cone skating – Hockey Resource
This drill practices goalie lateral mobility (t-pushes, shuffling), hybrid slides, butterfly slides and getting up using the correct leg for the situation. While the core mobility can be covered with the… Read more: Goalie Drill – Cone to cone skating – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Basic Skating – Hockey Resource
This drill will help goaltenders improve their skating skills. Forward and backward telescoping, shuffling and t-pushes. It is a very good drill to learn or improve the basic skating skills… Read more: Goalie Drill – Basic Skating – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – One Timer – Hockey Resource
This drill helps goaltenders practice stopping one-timers with the pass coming from the corner of the defensive zone. A shooter starts in the corner with a puck, the goaltender is… Read more: Goalie Drill – One Timer – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Stopping the puck behind the net – Hockey Resource
This drill will help goaltenders stop a puck that has been dumped in the zone along the boards. It also practises the case where the opposing team regains control of… Read more: Goalie Drill – Stopping the puck behind the net – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Shuffle Shot Breakaway – Hockey Resource
In this drill, the goalie practises the basics, stopping shots, shuffling, t-pushes and facing breakaways. The goalie starts at one of his posts and t-pushes out to face a shot… Read more: Goalie Drill – Shuffle Shot Breakaway – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – The Desperation save – Hockey Resource
This drill is intended to practice both the hybrid slide and force the goalie to make a desperate save. Although such a save does not occur often in games it… Read more: Goalie Drill – The Desperation save – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Butterfly slide – Hockey Resource
This drill is designed to practise the butterfly slide by using one-timers. It is similar to what a goaltender might encounter in a game situation. The goaltender starts facing X1 which… Read more: Goalie Drill – Butterfly slide – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Butterfly slide and Hybrid slide – Hockey Resource
This drill is designed to practice both the butterfly slide and the hybrid slide. The goaltender starts facing X1. X1 passes the puck to X2 which immediately passes it to X3 for a… Read more: Goalie Drill – Butterfly slide and Hybrid slide – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – One timer and butterfly slide – Hockey Resource
This drill is designed to practise one-timers and butterfly slides. This simulates a one-timer followed by a rebound in a game situation. The goalie starts on one of his posts.… Read more: Goalie Drill – One timer and butterfly slide – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Warmup – All Players shoot – Hockey Resource
This is a good warmup drill for practises or games. It consists of multiple rapid shots being fired towards the goaltender with some movement. (A variation on this drill that… Read more: Goalie Drill – Warmup – All Players shoot – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Hybrid Slide & Stopping puck behind net – Hockey Resource
This drill is designed for goaltenders to practice their hybrid slide as well as stopping the puck behind the net. The goalie starts from one post and pushes across to… Read more: Goalie Drill – Hybrid Slide & Stopping puck behind net – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Static Shot Redirect – Hockey Resource
This simple shot redirection goalie drill is extremely helpful for ice hockey goaltenders to manage rebound control. The drill helps the goaltender use correct technique and timing in order to… Read more: Goalie Drill – Static Shot Redirect – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Rebound Clearing – Hockey Resource
This goalie drill focuses on clearing pucks out of the crease/zone using their stick after a bad rebound or when the puck is near the goaltender. It can also be… Read more: Goalie Drill – Rebound Clearing – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Puck Clearing – Hockey Resource
This drill will help the goalie improve his puck handling and judgement skills in situations where he must clear the puck out of the zone. Place multiple pucks in the… Read more: Goalie Drill – Puck Clearing – Hockey Resource - Goalie Drill – Skating in the Circle – Hockey Resource
This drill is aimed at improving goaltender proficiency with telescoping (forward and backward) and shuffling. The drill can also be modified to practise the hybrid slide and t-pushes. The goalie… Read more: Goalie Drill – Skating in the Circle – Hockey Resource - Circles Skating Drill – Hockey Resource
This drill is designed to practice turning, cross-overs and acceleration. The drill is most effective on weak to moderate skaters as the turn radius is too large to be effective… Read more: Circles Skating Drill – Hockey Resource - Goalie Skating Drill – The Triangle – Hockey Resource
This warmup drill is good to practice the T-push and shuffle. It can also be modified to practice the hybrid slide. This drill is a very good way to practice… Read more: Goalie Skating Drill – The Triangle – Hockey Resource - Goalie Skating Drill – The Box – Hockey Resource
This is one of the first drills that a goaltender should learn. It is a great warmup drill for goaltenders and can even be done during play stoppages to keep… Read more: Goalie Skating Drill – The Box – Hockey Resource - Goalie Skating Drill – Across the Crease – Hockey Resource
This goalie skating drill can be used as a warmup or to strengthen skating skills (T-push mobility technique). It also practices stopping with the correct leg when moving across the… Read more: Goalie Skating Drill – Across the Crease – Hockey Resource - The Horseshoe drill – Hockey Resource
This drill is very simple and most often used pre-game to warm up the players and goaltender. It features some skating, passing and shooting. Players are evenly divided in both… Read more: The Horseshoe drill – Hockey Resource - 3-Man Horseshoe Drill – Hockey Resource
This drill is good as a warm-up during a practice or to make the players use their different shots (wrist shot and slap shot). It combines some skating with shooting. … Read more: 3-Man Horseshoe Drill – Hockey Resource - 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… Read more: 3-man weave skating drill – Hockey Resource - The Lines skating drill – Hockey Resource
The lines drill is a basic skating drill used at every level of play and often used in conditioning camps, it works on skating speed, acceleration, stopping and endurance. Two… Read more: The Lines skating drill – Hockey Resource