Developing skills like stationary passing and shooting are essential for players of all ages, however they rarely take place in isolation during games. At The Coaches Site’s coaching conference at St. Andrew’s College, NHL Skills Coach Scott Jones demonstrated this as he built a drill progression on creating offence through handoffs and exchanges.
Jones’ presentation pushed players to take their foundational skills further by working together to set up scoring opportunities. In this short video, you’ll see integrations of passing, skating, shooting, timing and communication and how players can add layers to their offensive game, while keeping possession of the puck.
The session also shows the importance of a drill’s key teaching points and when coaches should step in and guide their players through real-time lessons. When the players struggled to time their passes and maintain flow, Jones didn’t panic. He stopped the drill, emphasised the importance of body positioning and the skaters were off and running - which is what coaching is all about.
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