On-Ice Skating Drills

I will soon sound like a broken record, but the most important thing to focus on while on the ice is goalie specific skating movements. I have a drill you should do before every practice that does not require pucks. This drill can be done using pucks, but players always steal them so it is easier to do the drills without them.

Below I have instructions on how to do the drill. For clarification, there is a picture below the instructions with numbers representing what to square up to next. Remember, act as if you are squaring up to the puck, not the shooter, and keep that point in the center of your body as if it were a puck.

Progression 1

1. Use the red line as your center point.

2. Shuffle to the right and square up to where the right blue line meets the far boards.

3. T-push to your left and square up to where the left blue line meets the far boards.

4. T-push to your right and square up to the neutral zone face-off dot closest to you and the right blue line.

5. T-push to your left and square up to the neutral zone face-off dot closest to you and the left blue line.

6. T-push to your right and square up to the red line as your center point and repeat.

T-push 4 and 5 are very far pushes. Make sure you are leading with your head (looking before rotating), then arms (without swinging your arms back and forth), then pivot by gathering your feet (making your pushing skate parallel to where you want to end up), and exploding to that next point. Once completed 3 times switch directions (so 1-3, 3-2, 2-5, and 5-4). If this does not make perfect sense watch the video on my on-ice drills page or ask me the next time we are on the ice together.

Progression 2

Follow the same pattern, but this time butterfly at every point and recover to your feet and push to the next point in line.

Progression 3

Follow the same pattern, start on your feet.

1. Butterfly slide from point 1 to 2. Recover to your feet.

2. Butterfly slide from point 2 to 3. Recover to your feet.

3. Butterfly slide from point 3 to 4. Recover to your feet.

4. Butterfly slide from point 4 to 5. Recover to your feet.

5. Butterfly slide from point 5 to 1. Recover to your feet.

Progression 4

Follow the same pattern, starting in the butterfly.

1. Lateral adjust from point 1 to 2. Control your body and stop at point 2.

2. Lateral adjust from point 2 to 3. Control your body and stop at point 3.

3. Lateral adjust from point 3 to 4. Control your body and stop at point 4.

4. Lateral adjust from point 4 to 5. Control your body and stop at point 5.

5. Lateral adjust from point 5 to 6. Control your body and stop at point 6.

Again, if this does not make sense watch the video on my on-ice drills page and it should answer any questions you have. If not please reach out to me.

These are very simple to set up skating drills that can be done anytime you are on the ice and I highly recommend you do them before every practice. At the very least, do a couple of them while the rest of the team is skating around and shooting on the nets. Focus on doing the little things correctly because over time these movements will become muscle memory which will allow you to stop thinking about skating and start focusing on stopping the puck more!

Thanks for reading!