Coach

[Expertise]

I need some suggestions.

I have a very good hockey team this year, but.

We can't freakin score.

We have outplayed, by a country mile, everyone we have faced this year, but we couldn't put the puck in the fucking ocean.

We are spending between 70 and 80 percent of the game in the offensive zone but we can't seem to put it away.

eg. Against the same team we have out shot them 72-13 (yes I said 72) and 51-16 and the scores have been 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.

I can teach them how to get the puck there and they do it it to a "T" but it is very difficult to teach them how to score.

Short of spending half of our practice time doing "shoot out" I am at a loss.

Any ideas (Bantam AA age/level)

 

[R Nitelight]

Expertise

Bring in a ringer.


I'm sorry. Everything I know about Youth Sports I've learned from the movies. That's what they'd do.

 

[MADDOG]

I think you answered your own question. Spend half of the practice doing shoot outs. And drills which work on putting that puck away. Don't neglect the rest of the game, but practice really does make perfect. Make it second nature.

MADDOG

 

[Expertise]

Somebody get Emilio Estevez on the horn right frggin' now.
I'll give you Mighty Ducks you bastards.

I am not sure who was more pathetic as a hockey player/coach. Estevez, Rob Lowe or Patrick Swazey.

C'mon Coach my maple syrup loving con frere, dazzle me with a simple solution.

 

[Expertise]

MadDog the burdens of limited amounts of ice time. Shoot Out/Show Down is not a particularly effective use of ice time but it may come to that.

We devote 50% of our practice time to conditioning alone.

I think it is partially a result of kids only participating in "organized" sport. The little ,yet oh so important, skills used to be developed on back yard rinks and ponds. Kids just don't do that kind of thing anymore.

 

[Guest]

Adrenelin rush

 

[Roll-One]

I don't know if this will help you, but i'll give it a shot.( no pun intended)

I've coached alot of kids in baseball and basketball over the years, and have enjoyed all the time i have spent with them.

I had this one team in basketball, in practice, they could shoot like a pro team, but in a game , they could hardly hit the back board. I was kind of in the same shape you was, very confused about it.

I finally figured out (with alittle help from my father) that it was a mental thing. The kids got shook when it was time to make a shot. They were trying to hard to score, the more they missed the more frustrated they would get, and of course, it would work on them mentally.

I had to get the kids to relax and have fun, build there confidence up in a game situation.

It took awhile to accomplish this, it took alot of work and patients on my part.

Just a thought...hope it helps ya

 

[Expertise]

Hey Indy

They are all pretty skilled in most areas and they are getting "quality" chances. They just seem to have "hands of stone"

It'll come i'm sure but right now we are just making opposing goaltenders look awfully good.

2 goals on 70 plus shots scares the snot out of me. There would have been at least 20 scoring opportunities amongst those.

 

[Expertise]

Coach your back on so I wanted to put this where you would see it.

 

[coach]

Expertise not much you can teach the kids when your facing a hot goalie.

But if its just not scoring they may be just hesitating and waiting for that perfect opening to score. But if thats what it is they are loosing the perfect chance and giving the goalie that extra second to set up!

There is one practise I like to use to get them away from that. You know the horseshoe drill? Well set two cones out from the goalie almost all the way out to the blue line.
Have one player on one side go out around the offside faceoff and come in between the cones. ( he is now coming straight in on the goalie) As so as he goes through the cones the player on the other side passes to him and he shoots as soon as he gets it. Now I know this is a common drill but theres a twist. Once they have done this for a bit move the cones in about three feet towards the goalie and do again, then after a bit move the cones in again. and keep doing this.
The concept is that as the cones get closer to the goalie they have less time to think about setting up the shot and just shooting. when the cones are about two feet away from the net they have to just shoot on the fly.

Give it a try I've had some geat success with it. Good luck.

 

[coach]

And if your thinking these guys are bantam age guys and this drill sounds juvenile its not. its work for junior A teams. It all comes down to timing. This drill just advances there time a bit.

 

[Guest]

Great advice coach!

 

[RonG]

An analogy from Soccer coaching: Kids tend to fixate on the goalie and hit them with the ball. In my junior hockey days, kids did the same thing with the puck. I would assume that with 72 shots, a whole bunch of them are hitting the blocker.

So, what I do in soccer is take the goal and use crepe paper (like you would use for a party) and partition the goal into rectangles on each side and scrimmage, only scoring goals when the ball goes between the crepe paper and the post and not counting anything hit dead center. This forces kids to go far post and near post and not aim for the goalie. By the way, my travel soccer team this fall went undefeated and outscored our opponents 95-8.

 

[vegasmale]

Hockey Team Not Scoring

Coach......spending all the time in the offensive zone and not scoring.....bottom line shoot the damn puck and go to the net. Teach your kids to shoot first and ask question later. Rebounds are the name of the game in the NHL and in any other hockey league. When they shoot the puck make them keep in on the ice or no more that 1 foot off the ice. It will go off a skate, a leg, a post whatever.. Shoot the puck. They are trying to beat the goalie...not going to happen much at that level because their shots are that hard or accurate.. Put your kids with the bests hands in front of the net and teach them to get the rebound.

Put a bar horizontally across your net at practice 1 foot off the ice. Have individual competetions without a goalie. Any player missing the net or above the bar is eliminated. Do it by rounds. Make it fun don't scream don't yell. End every practice by crowning the king of the low shot. The kids will love it. Whoever wins get to blow the whistle during conditioning. Your kids will do everything they can. During a game congratulate them on doing what they ae supposed to do every time they shoot low let them know they did a good job. I guarantee you will score goals and your kids will have a blast.....Try it
Always reward effort above accomplishment and you kids will work their butts off for you and outwork the team they are playing.

Also on 2 on 1 drills make sure the second man in scores. Make sure the first man shoots low and hard and the second man gets the rebound. Reward low shots....discourage high shots.

My son is a scorer....can you tell.

Also.....reward the man getting the assist. Make scoring nothing special but getting assist is most important thing.
You will develop playmakers and your kids will want to get on the ice and make something happen!

 

[coach]

Ya I agree with you Vagas But the boys that Expertise are talking about are Bantam age. they are 15 and 16 year old boys with alot of attitude. hard to teach because they know everything already. They only learn if they want to or they don't know there being taught something.