Hockey Agility Drills

Hockey is a fast-paced sport involving plenty of quick starts and abrupt stops. Correctly managing to stay balanced without falling down, as well as being able to quickly maneuver around the opposition, requires a player to be agile. Agility training addresses those issues by simulating what the athlete may encounter during the course of a game. Whether it's on the ice for practice or dry land training in the off-season, agility training can pay big dividends in increasing a player's effectiveness.

  1. Off-Ice

    • The benefit to off-ice agility training is that it can be practiced nearly anywhere because no skating is involved. One drill sees the player or conditioning coach set up a marker some distance away, and the player runs basic sprints. The benefit of the sprints is their variability; running from the starting point to the end marker works on speed, but adding a series of cones between the markers that the players must weave through adds an element of agility. Perform a series of these sprints, working on improving time with each run. Another sprint variation has the players running past a series of cones set varying distances apart; as the players passes each cone, the coach blows a whistle and the player then slows his pace until the next cone/whistle, where he will then increase or decrease his speed. This works on the start/stop agility used in hockey. Ladders are another way: using a rope ladder, players must hop through each square or alternating squares as dictated by the coach.

    On the Ice

    • Most of the off-ice agility drills can be used on the ice as well by having the player skate instead of sprint. There are some drills, though, that make strict use of the ice surface. One agility drill has players skate back and forth in the neutral zone, from blue line to blue line, using their skate blades to kick a puck to one another, soccer style. Another drill involves surrounding the perimeter of one of the face-off circles with cones. Players must skate around the circle, weaving in and out of the cones; this can be timed, or for more work, a series of sticks can be placed near the circle. Once the player skates her way around the perimeter, she then skates toward the sticks, jumping each stick as she comes across it.

    Goalies

    • Goaltenders can benefit from the above stated drills, but, due to the nature of the position, may require further agility training to better hone their skills. Off-ice routines involving jumping rope will increase foot speed and agility (landing correctly on their feet). Because a majority of the goalie's movement is laterally based (versus forward/backward for forwards and defensemen), off-ice slide boards can be used. These devices mimic the ice surface; the player wears only socks and practices sliding left and right on the board to improve on-ice agility.