Improving your Stickhandling
The best stickhandling drills and exercises on and off the ice
A solid stickhandling technique is essential in ice hockey. We explain the most important basics and present effective stickhandling drills that you can practice on the ice or at home. This way, you’ll quickly develop greater control and confidence with the puck.
Contents:
- Ice Hockey Stickhandling: The Basics for Your Training
- 3 Tips for Improving Your Stickhandling
- How It Works: Stickhandling Drill for Beginners
- Stickhandling Drills Off-Ice: Tips for Your Dryland Training
- On-Ice Training: How to Control the Puck on the Ice
- Video: 6 Advanced On-Ice Stickhandling Drills
Ice hockey stickhandling: Getting down the basics
Before we get started with the tips and drills, let's first take care of the basics.
How to hold the stick: Place one hand on the upper end of the stick and the other further down. As a rule of thumb, the lower hand should be a forearm length away from the upper hand. Make sure to firmly grasp the stick with the top hand. The bottom hand, however, should be loose. Fingers of both hands should wrap around the stick.
Important: the hand that goes to the top of the stick depends on the bend of the stick blade. If the stick is bent to the left, place the right hand on top. Place the left hand on top if the blade is curved to the right.
How to hold your arms: You need your arms to do the heavy lifting. So keep your elbows relaxed, not stiff.
Skates on: Train stickhandling with your skates on or off! Any bit helps. When dry training, give inline skates a try. While drilling, pay attention to how you hold your arms. Keep it loose.
Practice makes perfect: Only with regular practice can your muscles adapt to new movement patterns. So don't slack off! Make sure to have fun along the way. Pump up the jams!
To help develop a routine for your stickhandling training and become a pro, follow these three tips:
1. Keep expectations realistic
Real results require real work, even in ice hockey. Take it slow and be patient with yourself. It's important that you concentrate on the technique first and being able to execute the movements cleanly.
2. Keep your head up
As soon as you've mastered a new movement or exercise, practice taking your eyes off the puck and keeping your head up. With your head up, you can keep your eyes on teammates and opponents.
3. Confuse your opponent
If your stickhandling venture goes well, try fooling your opponents.Try skating faster or slower or point your hips in one direction (the direction of your hips usually tells where you are going) and then go in another direction. If the added confusion gives you a glimpse of the goal, take a shot.
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To learn how to play the puck properly, start off drilling by standing.
- 1. Stand with legs hip apart. Grasp the stick as shown previously.
- 2. Place a puck in front of you.
- 3. Now begin moving the puck from left to right with the blade of the stick. Important: Movement changes are made from the wrist of the hand that grips the top of the stick.
The following video will give you some ideas for helpful drills to improve your stickhandling.
Once you've mastered the basics of stickhandling, it's time to work on your skills, internalise the motions and get a feel for the puck and stick. With the following exercises, you can train your stick technique on and off the ice.
Stickhandling Drills Off-Ice: Tips for Your Dryland Training
You can train your stickhandling anywhere, all you need is a solid flat surface that won't mind a few scratches. To help you get the most out of drills, you can try a number of products meant for off-ice training: shooting pads, field hockey plates, wooden balls or an inline street puck. But when it comes down to it, you just need two things, a puck and a stick.
Stickhandling drills
When it comes to stickhandling, it’s about much more than simply pushing the puck in front of you. What really matters is developing a feel for the puck and learning to control it in different positions: in front of your body, to the sides, or even behind you. Only then can you confidently handle dynamic game situations.
An ideal way to start your off-ice training is the following video featuring ice hockey pro Christian Ehrhoff. In it, he demonstrates four fundamental stickhandling drills that can be performed both on-ice and off-ice. All you need is a stick and a puck or ball.
Dynamic stickhandling drills
Once you have internalized the basics, it’s worth expanding your training with more dynamic drills. The goal is to replicate typical game situations while improving your coordination, stability, and reaction speed.
Dynamic stickhandling drills include:
- Changing directions with the puck: Practice abrupt switches between forehand and backhand to increase your agility.
- One-handed stickhandling: Alternate controlling the stick with only your top or bottom hand. This strengthens your control and makes you more flexible in tight game situations.
- Stickhandling combined with footwork: Combine stickhandling with lateral movements, small lunges, or quick weight shifts.
- Increasing the pace: Once you have mastered the movements, increase the speed to simulate game-like situations.
These drills can be easily integrated into your off-ice training. It’s important to start by working cleanly and with control, and only increase the pace once your technique is solid.
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Dry-land drills can also be easily transferred onto the ice. Especially beginners should first familiarize themselves with the basic stickhandling movements before adding speed or more complex patterns. Simple, static drills are ideal here, as they primarily develop feel and control.
How to get started with the basics on the ice:
- Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and adopt a stable, athletic stance. Keep your knees slightly bent and your upper body relaxed and facing forward.
- Place a puck on the ice within comfortable reach so that you can control it without stretching or crossing over.
- Slowly move the puck from left to right, using mainly the back third of your blade. Focus on guiding the puck smoothly rather than tapping or pushing it.
More tips, tricks and drills
Once you have mastered stickhandling, you can continue to hone your skills with other great drills and exercises. You can find a great selection of exercises for adult ice hockey beginners by the coach of the Freiburg Vikings in our article „Ice hockey drills for late starters“.
If you want to score more goals, you should work on your shooting. Learn about the different shots and how to train each one in our article „Hockey and shooting: The many shots of professional ice hockey“.
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Image credits: Image 1: GoodLifeStudio/E+/gettyimages; Image 2: © gettyimages.de / technotr