If you’re looking to get serious about your hockey game, you’re going to need to find drills to practice off-ice. Synthetic ice training is a great way to strengthen your game. Here are some simple off-ice shooting drills that can help hone your skills to the next level!
Puck Hackey
Description: Bounce a tennis ball on the blade of your stick, trying to keep the ball in the air for as many bounces as you can at a time. Keep track of your numbers and try to beat your previous record!
Skills Developed: Hand-eye-stick coordination, timing, soft-hands
Necessary Gear: Tennis ball or hockey puck
Walk the Dog
Description: Pick up a puck off the ground using your stick and start it at the toe-end of your blade (on the forehand side). Try to move the puck all the way to the butt-end, jumping the puck a couple inches at a time down the blade and stick shaft. Essentially, you’re just barely flipping the puck in the air and you’re catching it a little further down the stick. Repeat until the puck has traveled the length of the stick.
Skills Developed: Hand-eye-stick coordination, soft hands
Necessary Gear: Hockey puck
Baseball Soft Toss
Description: Stand in front of a hockey net and have a partner soft-toss pucks to you. Try to tap the pucks out of the air and into the net. Even though this drill is stolen from baseball, remember, you aren’t taking big baseball swings. Try to tap the puck into the net in the same way you would in a game.
Skills Developed: Hand-eye-stick coordination, tipping pucks, screening, timing
Necessary Gear: Hockey pucks (white pucks for a progression described below) and a hockey net
If you’re looking to find the gear mentioned, as well as tons of other items that let you practice off-ice shooting drills more effectively, then consider Snipers Edge Hockey as a great source. All of their products are excellent for practicing hockey drills, and extremely affordable. Whether you are a full-fledged pro, or a rookie you can benefit from more practice and high-quality hockey training aids.
