Youth Hockey Wall Drills: Playing on the Wall for Creative Skill Development

Youth Hockey Wall Drills: Creative Ways to Play the Game

As referenced in some of my other posts, most of the game is played with the puck on the wall. Players are required to do a lot with very little, to utilize a small amount of space, protecting the puck while scanning the ice for teammates until a passing lane opens up.

As the puck carrier, there are a few different ways to approach playing on the wall. There are certain skills players can steal in order to possess pucks longer. Everyone talks about puck possession because intuitively better players have the puck longer and more frequently. This will be more about how to do so.

Let’s dive into some unique examples of creative ways of protecting the puck playing on and off the wall.

First, looking at a new way to protect the puck instead of the traditional cut-back, the “self-pass”. The self-pass is great because as you redirect the puck off the wall, you absorb that contact and it allows you to keep your hands free. It is important to keep your hands free because you don’t want to allow your opponent any opportunity to reach his stick towards your gloves. If the opponent disrupts your gloves, which is connected to your stick, it is likely that it will be enough to disrupt the puck.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, the Colorado (COL) player in the video below demonstrates a key technique taught in youth hockey wall drills: creating a “seal” with his body. A seal occurs when a player rotates around the puck to protect it on one side. Notice how the COL player redirects the puck off the boards at just the right moment so his hands stay free, allowing for a quick change of direction. He even boxes out his hands—a technique many young players miss when turning tightly with the puck on their forehand side.

The reason quick change of direction is crucial is because it creates space, more specifically space between you and your opponent defending you. The more you can change your speed the more effective the direction change will be. Now once you create space between you and your defender, focus on the getting to the space inside the dots.

Here is an example below in the offensive zone of the COL player using a change of speeds and direction change then creating separation inside the dots or the scoring area.

Here is an example below in the neutral zone of the COL player using a change of speed and direction change, making a small play to a teammate.

It can also be beneficial to “cut through your opponents hands”. Cutting through your opponents hands is a great way to establish space, especially when trying to skate off the wall. What you’re doing is taking advantage of space after you have over-extending the opponent by making him reach. How? By speed change, by deception, by body language. Once your opponent reaches and overcommits, he is no longer solid in his athletic posture.

Here is an example below of the COL player getting off the wall and cutting through his opponent’s hands. Notice how far the TBL player is reaching with his upper body and stick.

Here is an example below of what it would look like when you blend the skills together. Watch the COL player create a seal, protecting the puck while he utilizes a self-pass after a full display of direction change in order to finally skate off the wall cutting through the EDM player’s hands.

These skills can be applied in different areas on the ice and are a key part of effective youth hockey wall drills. One example is positioning yourself “underneath the defenseman at the net front.” Being underneath at the net front is important because if a puck gets through—such as on an unblocked shot—you are already in an optimal body position to recover it, whether that means scoring a rebound or winning a loose puck battle behind the net.

Watch below as the COL player recognizes his position underneath his opponent, showing his anticipation for winning a loose puck race. Then after he wins the race, he “invites the pressure” into his space in order to create a seal. That is playing chess not checkers. Inviting pressure is when you wait for your opponent to engage with you in order to use their energy and momentum in your favor. It is almost as if the COL player was waiting for the TBL player to push him in the direction that he wanted to go anyway.

In this next example below the COL player is starting in a great spot underneath at the net front on the strong-side-post, as the puck is released he skates directly in front of his opponent’s path and establishes his body positioning. Watch how he slows-down and invites the pressure as he utilizes a reverse hit along with a self-pass. He does this by, at the last second, slamming on the breaks and shielding the puck off the wall using speed change, making sure to leave the puck and preserve his own space until he can make his play.

You can find plenty of examples of some form of skating, puck maneuvers and inviting pressure. Here below is a COL defenseman using a self-pass on a retrieval and a COL forward entering the zone using a delay to invite pressure.

Those are just some of the different ways that players choose to solve problems. The game will keep changing and evolving, players will keep finding new ways to be creative.

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