5 Reasons why Hockey is one of the Best Sports of all time!

VIDEO: Watch for these killer trick shots!

The biggest issue that you’ll face is being out played with fancy stick handling that sometimes can make you look like a fool.

Here are 5 tips to playing defense in hockey:

1.  Always try to stay between the forward and the net keeping your hockey stick out in front of you. Don’t watch the puck, keep your eyes on the opponent’s hips instead and always try to force them to the outside. Anticipate the pass.

2.  Control the Gap. The “gap” is the space between you and the oncoming forward. A gap too big will allow the forward to cut to the inside, too narrow and he can get around you if you miss the check. Allow about 2 stick lengths for the gap. Keep your stick close to your body, tricking the forward into thinking the gap is larger than it is.

3.  One of the most critical aspects of playing defence is controlling the front of the net. Most goals are scored from this, the slot area. Keep your body between the player in the slot and the goal. Face the play and try to tie up his stick by keeping your stick over top of his. All the time this struggle is going on be sure not to screen your goalie.

4.  Keep your stick on the ice and use your feet. Your stick is doing you no good if you are carrying it too high. It takes too much time to bring it into play to intercept a pass or break up a rush. Also, your feet can be used as a second or third stick. Use them to move the puck along the boards or to make a pass when your stick is tied up. Practice playing soccer to become more adept with your feet.

5.  As a defenseman you won’t be able to prevent every shot on net but it is your job to prevent or limit the quality chances. Your opponent is the greatest threat when positioned between the face-off circles. Force them to the outside away from this area and try to get them to their backhand (their weak) side. Once they are in a side lane their chance for a quality shot is greatly reduced.

Never look at the puck directly because when you look at the puck and the speed that the opposing player is stick handling it can somewhat hypnotize you into following the movements and once the opposing player changes any of the speed of movements and direction, you will be caught and tricked.

Sprint and Shoot

This is a great on-ice drill that will give coaches a good feel for which of his players has the strongest skating skills and those who could use more practice.

Begin with players on the boards in the corner and have them sprint one by one to the second of two cones, pivot and skate backwards to the first cone, do a cross-over turn, sprint to second cone, make a cross-over turn, pick-up the puck on the blue line and shoot no deeper than top of the circle. Follow-up the shot for the rebound. After five minutes, move the line to the other side of the cone and repeat drill.

The drill starts with the players positioned on the corner boards and cones are set up at the other end of the ice. From the boards each player sprints down the ice to the second cone, pivots and skates backwards to the first cone.

Montreal: This is one of the best ice hockey drills for the whole team. This drill trains the player to starts at the far blue line from the goalie, passing diagonally to the player waiting at the front of the line there. Then same player passes it back to the first player and he passes to the player at the blue line, this passes again to first player. This process repeats until all pucks are in the net.

Breakout 3-on-3: In this type the coach dumps the puck into the corner. One is picking up the puck, passing behind the net to d-man and breaks out the forward, the defensemen retreats. The defensemen try to stop the three attacking forwards from scoring. This repeats till that end.

Breakout 2-on-2:This is same as breakout 3-on 3 only with two forwards instead of three; this is also very powerful drill.

Hockey sticks are traditionally made of wood with the first versions being made from hornbeam trees. As this type of wood became hard to find other hardwood trees were used and ash became a very popular wood. Ash wood tended to be heavier then other wood but they were very durable. It was possible for a player to go his entire career without breaking an ash ice hockey stick.

The ice hockey stick has not undergone many improvements. Perhaps the biggest improvement was laminated hockey sticks in the 1940s, in which layers of wood were glued together to create a more flexible version. The lamination techniques soon began to incorporate fiberglass and other synthetic materials as coatings. Then in the 1960s the blade was curved which changed how player could shot the puck on the ice.

Top athletes, especially outstanding track stars, recognize the importance of leg power and do something about it. They use a principle of training known as over-load. And you can use your own form of it, too.

Here are some methods of over- loading:

1. Drive yourself all out as long as you are on the ice during scrimmage. Do not just coast around the rink on skates; they will do most of the work for you if you let them.

2. Skate in short, hard bursts, gradually building up the number of lengths of ice you can do successively.

3. Get a buddy to let you push him up and down the ice. You are over-loading by the amount he weighs.

4. In testing yourself at top speed, keep up a continual refrain in your mind: “I can go faster yet!” Be sure to warm up well before any all-out test.