Hockey Basics: 8 Drills to Improve Your Stickhandling
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Time to read 18 min
Stickhandling is a crucial skill to prioritize, particularly if you want to take your game to the next level. You can be an amazing skater with a great shot, and both traits can get you far in the hockey world. But adding in stickhandling can open up a whole other range of opportunities on the ice—you’ll have a significant advantage while maintaining control of the play, maneuvering around opponents, and creating scoring opportunities.
Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your skills, incorporating stickhandling drills into your practice routine can significantly enhance your performance on the ice. In this article, we’ll explore the basics of stickhandling and provide some effective drills to get you started.
Basics
Before looking at the drills, you need to understand the fundamentals of stickhandling first. Here are a few key points to keep in mind:
- Grip: Your top hand should be doing most of the work when stickhandling. This hand will be in charge of gripping the stick and moving it. In contrast, your bottom hand should be used to steady your stick and guide it in the right direction. Your bottom hand should not be gripping the stick; in fact, it should be pretty loose and able to shift up and down your stick when bringing the puck closer and further away from your body.
- Loose Hands: Along the same vein, you want your hands to be pretty loose and light when handling your stick. With modern sticks today, the majority of your grip should be taken care of by the stick itself, so all you need to do is keep your hands soft and able to readjust at a moment’s notice.
- Adjust Your Stance: Maintain a low stance with your knees bent and your weight centred. This position will keep you more balanced and mobile.
- Don’t Rush Yourself: Don’t be afraid to take everything slow if you’re just starting to develop your stick skills. It’s okay to lose the puck or ball often, and feel free to exaggerate your movements. If you need to for the first while, it’s okay to look down at the puck to get used to the movements you’re making.
- Look Up: Once you’ve gotten comfortable, however, make it a habit to look up and away from the puck. You can go even further after gaining more confidence too, like adding more movement in your head and footwork.
Where to Practice
Finding a place to practice might be easier for some than others. You’ll want to select an appropriate location while considering safety for yourself and your environment. Here are some options you can look into when deciding on a place to practice.
Driveways and garages: These areas are often flat with enough space for various stickhandling drills. An issue some players may experience, particularly with driveways, is that they can occasionally have an incline; nevertheless, you can use that incline to change up your drills. Ensure the surface is smooth and free of debris to prevent accidents and damage, and watch for any cars that may be parked.
Basements and indoor spaces: If you have a large enough area indoors, such as a basement or a dedicated playroom, it can be a great place to practice. In bad weather or the later hours, indoors is ideal. These spots can also keep the training more contained, but be careful with the surrounding area. If possible, move any breakables out of the room or in protective containers (cupboards, storage boxes, etc.).
Backyard: A flat area in your backyard can be another excellent spot. You can use synthetic ice tiles or shooting pads to mimic the feel of real ice, and if your backyard is mostly grass.
Walkway between two houses; Photo by Alex Simpson on Unsplash
Local rinks and sports facilities: Be mindful that some rinks/sports facilities do not allow players to play with hockey balls or pucks in the hallways. This is a policy implemented for the safety of the rink and its users. This doesn’t mean the facility won’t work as a place to practice. Many sports complexes have areas designated for off-ice training, whether indoors or outdoors. If you get to the rink early, you can also try a bit of stickhandling in the dressing room before your game; just be mindful not to break anything.
Safety Considerations
Proximity to houses/property: We touched on this a bit earlier, but it is a very important consideration. When practicing outside, be mindful of your surroundings. Ensure that you are not too close to windows, cars, or other properties that could be damaged by stray pucks or balls.
Supervision for kids: Children must be supervised while practicing stickhandling to prevent accidents and injuries. Unsupervised training can lead to mishandling of equipment or unintended damage to nearby property.
Minimizing Damage
There are a few things you can do to minimize the risks while practicing your stickhandling:
Choose areas away from breakable objects and people.
Use barriers or nets to catch stray pucks or balls.
Practice on surfaces that can handle repeated impacts with minimal wear.
Supervise young players to ensure they practice safely and responsibly.
Broken window on the side of a building; photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
Getting Started - Equipment
What Ball to Use
Of course, you can always practice stickhandling on ice. There is a wide variety of hockey balls and pucks suitable for stickhandling practice, each with their own characteristics:
- Plastic Pucks/Balls: Both plastic pucks and balls are excellent for stickhandling practice. They are lightweight and can somewhat mimic the feel of pucks on smooth surfaces. They are generally safe for most practice environments but can still cause damage if used recklessly near fragile objects. If using pucks on a rougher, dirtier surface, they may not slide that well however; additionally, the ball variation may stick to blades with tape on them, which may make them a bit more difficult to stickhandle with.
- Weighted Balls: These are heavier and help build strength and stickhandling speed. They are best used in open spaces where there is a minimal risk of causing damage— and under no circumstances should you shoot a weighted ball outside of a controlled area.
Two players playing hockey in a hockey box; Photo by ThrowBack Graphics on Unsplash
- Swedish Balls: These are specialized training balls designed to improve puck control and hand speed. They glide well on smooth surfaces and are safe for both indoor and outdoor practice. Swedish balls will also feel the most similar to how a hockey puck feels on ice. Like weighted balls, however, some varieties can be pretty dense and can be dangerous if shot; they are designed for stickhandling only.
- Golf Balls: A classic, golf balls can be a surprisingly effective tool for improving your stickhandling. They are similar in feel to Swedish balls and are smaller, harder, and bouncier than typical hockey balls, making them perfect for working on hand-eye coordination. Given their hardness and potential to ricochet, golf balls can move unpredictably if you aren’t careful.
- Tennis Balls: Tennis balls are another good alternative for stickhandling practice, especially for younger players or those looking for a safer option. These balls are soft and light, so if the player loses control, it’s highly unlikely it will break anything. The main downside to tennis balls is that stickhandling will feel very different from that with a puck on ice.
Note that only the soft hockey balls and potentially tennis balls are appropriate to shoot with, and only in the right environment; other balls are much heavier and denser and can easily cause damage.
Protecting Your Stick
Sticks are designed to be used out on smooth playing surfaces— that said, you won’t always have access to those areas and will need a way to protect your blade. Outside on the street and other playing surfaces where the friction is high, just using hockey stick tape won’t quite cut it.
One option is to use an old stick. This will work in theory, and you can even cut the stick down a bit further to mimic the proper height (since you will be on skates normally, your stick might feel a bit taller than usual when training). The issue with this is that it’s not the stick you’ll be using on the ice, and it will be much easier to translate those skills to the ice when your stick is the same as in practice.
The other option is to use a blade protector. These protective coverings are designed to fit snugly over the blade of your stick, shielding it from the rough terrain during off-ice practice. Blade protectors are typically made from durable rubber or plastic and are incredibly light. They are also pretty easy to install, with companies like Bauer even creating molded blade protectors designed to fit very specific blade types.
Having a blade protector on hand will be more cost-effective in the long run. Using an older, lower-end stick might be okay to start, but the blade will wear down. Depending on how rough the surface is, it may also be uncomfortable using a stick without protection. Blade protectors can better mimic the feel of the stick on ice, which is exactly what you want.
Stickhandling Drills
Regular, dedicated practice is key to developing the quick hands and precise control needed to outmaneuver opponents on the ice.
The following stickhandling drills are designed to be in progression, starting with fundamental exercises and advancing to more complex motions. Feel free to adjust these drills based on your comfort level, or incorporate suggestions from your coach to optimize your training progress.
1. Short Stationary Stickhandling: Dribbles
If you play or are aware of jargon from other sports, you’ll probably have a bit of an idea of what dribbles are in hockey— “dribbling” refers to quick, successive stickhandling. Dribbles are a great introduction and warm-up to more advanced stickhandling, which is why it’s important to master or at least become proficient in this skill first before moving on to other variations.
It may not be as fun or exhilarating just doing basic motions, but if you can’t do dribbles with your head up, you won’t be able to do the later drills either.
1. Place the ball or puck in front of you.
2. Make a standard stickhandling movement, passing the ball between your forehand and your backhand. Don’t worry about varying it too much right now, just keep it close to your body and the stickhandling short.
Focus on the points in the Basics section of this article, particularly with your hand placement and grip; remember that your top hand should be gripping the stick, while your bottom hand should be guiding the direction.
As you gain more confidence, you can try moving the puck around your sides, and then back to the middle. Remember to work on keeping your head up once you’re comfortable with the movements, especially here because this is where you will be developing most basic skills.
2. Wide Stickhandling
The focus of this drill is to expand your range of motion and improve your puck control over a larger area, further away from your body. This skill is also key to enhancing your puck protection skills.
1. Position the puck or ball in front of you, ensuring you have enough space to accommodate a far reach with your stick.
2. Remember to bend your knees and be on the balls of your feet; this drill will require more full-body movement than dribbles.
3. Move the puck or ball from one side of your body to the other in a wide arc.
4. As you move the puck or ball, extend your reach as far as possible to each side, maintaining control throughout the motion.
You want to work your way up to pushing that reach beyond your limit. Don’t be afraid to lose the ball a few times when reaching out wide, and don’t be afraid to look down when first figuring out the motions or challenging your reach further. Work on extending your reach as far as possible; if you need to bend your knees and put yourself off balance, then all the better.
Once this drill becomes too easy, you can vary it a bit. NHL skills coach, Max Ivanov, demonstrates his own variation of wide stickhandling that includes a lunging motion to really exaggerate maneuvering the puck wide.
3. Short to Wide
This drill continues to build on your proficiency with both short and wide stickhandling, adding a transition between close control and extended reach. This drill is excellent for developing your ability to adjust to different scenarios on the ice quickly.
Begin with the ball or puck close to your body, performing quick, tight dribbles as you practiced in the stationary and short stickhandling drills.
Quickly transition to wide stickhandling for a few reps, then back to tight dribbles.
The goal of short to wide stick handling is to become more comfortable and confident with transitioning between the two movements. Mastering this skill can enhance your dekes as well.
4. Around the World
This drill is great not just for developing your skills, but also as a regular warm up. Despite its simplicity, it still requires a lot of full-body movement, making it a good introduction to incorporating your full body into stickhandling.
1. Set Up: This drill can be done on or off the ice. Ensure you have enough space, specifically in the area around you, to move the ball around you without obstruction.
2. Start with the ball on your forehand. Push it forward and catch it on your backhand, making sure to cup the blade around the ball.
3. Transition the ball to your forehand, then push it across your body, once again catching it on your backhand.
4. Again, transition the ball to your forehand, then push the ball down on your other side, catching it on the backhand. If you did the movement correctly, you should’ve made a U-shape around your body.
5. Now it’s time to go back— but don’t transition to your forehand this time. Instead, on your backhand , pass the ball forward, this time catching it on your forehand . You will do the same motion you did earlier but backwards, passing the puck with your backhand and catching it on the forehand instead.
Focus on cupping and controlling the puck or ball. Once the drill starts to feel too easy, you can speed it up, add dribbles between transitions, incorporate toe drag variations, etc.
5. Figure 8s
This drill may or may not require some setup, depending on your proficiency and comfort, and also so you can have some guidelines.
The Figure 8 drill is another stationary drill in which you maneuver the ball or puck in a Figure 8 pattern around two small obstacles.
1. Set up: Place two small items (like pucks or cones) about 1-2 feet apart on the ground. The distance can be adjusted to your comfort level.
2. Start with the ball on one side of the first item. Work on keeping your motions controlled and precise; continue the motion to bring it around the second item, forming a Figure 8 pattern.
3. After a couple of reps, switch directions.
You can vary this drill in multiple ways— you can change the ball, your speed, add obstacles, and even move the cones’ or your position. Doing the Figure 8 drill on your side (forehand or backhand) can greatly enhance your ability and confidence in protecting the puck.
“Traffic” Variation: For this version, you may need a small bucket-worth of pucks, and it is best on a flat, smooth surface—whether that be on-ice or on synthetic ice—with lots of room. Hockey balls may not be suitable for this exercise.
1. Set up: Place a bunch of pucks out randomly in front of you, and around your sides as well if you have the room and want to extend your stickhandling out in those directions.
2. Take one puck and weave and loop it around the pucks in between the spaces.
3. Whenever you “miss” and hit another puck, swap that puck with the one you were stickhandling with , and keep going.
Optional: Keep a timer and score how many pucks you accidentally touch within the time limit allotted.
6. Spelling the Alphabet
Anyone who’s played hockey with me knows that this is probably my overall favourite pre-game warm-up. As the name implies, you’ll be spelling the alphabet with this exercise.
1. Find an area with a lot of space in front of you.
2. Start with uppercase letters. With controlled movements, start spelling out the alphabet from A - Z with the ball.
3. Once you gain more confidence, do it again but switch to lowercase.
Make sure to start out slow with this drill— the first few times, you may need to take a moment to decide how you want to tackle each letter. Once you’ve gotten used to the muscle movement, start speeding up the drill.
Also note that uppercase and lowercase letters will feel different and generally work on different things. Uppercase are straighter, a bit easier to execute, and will allow you to work on a combination of standard stickhandling and toe drags. Lowercase, on the other hand, is more round, focusing on tighter, more precise transitions into toe drags and cupping the puck.
7. Deke Drills
You may have noticed the last few drills have been slowly building up proficiency in both maneuvering the puck along the ice and deking.
Deking, or faking out an opponent to create space or a scoring opportunity, is an asset in hockey. Mastering deking can be the difference between maintaining puck possession and turning it over to the opposition. Players who are comfortable handling the puck and going around defenders will also be better at controlling the ice and play.
When working on dekes, practice selling it; by that, we mean using as much of your entire body as possible— even your head and upper body. Not all defenders will be fooled by just stickhandling; you need to fake that you are going that direction, not just your stick and the puck.
The following are a couple of options for deke drills, but feel free to vary or adjust them to your heart’s content.
Yo-Yo Drill
The Yo-Yo drill works on extending your reach, catching the ball on both the toe and heel of your stick blade, and sliding your bottom hand along the shaft. It’ll feel similar to Spelling the Alphabet and Around the World and is a great way to work on forehand toe drags.
1. Start with the ball on your forehand, next to your foot.
2. Push the ball forward, perpendicular to your stance and catching it on the toe. Pay attention to how your bottom hand moves closer to the top of the shaft when you catch the ball.
3. Pull the ball back to its original position next to your foot, catching it on the heel of the blade.
4. This time, push the ball out further on your side, parallel to your stance, once again catching the ball on the toe.
5. Pull the ball back to its original position.
6. Repeat the rotation, speeding up when you get more comfortable. Remember to look up as well.
Between the Legs
A variation of the Figure 8 drill, instead of doing Figure 8s around obstacles, you will be doing it between your legs, as the name implies. This drill will further increase your range of motion when handling the puck, as well as core use and truck rotation.
1. Start with the ball naturally on your forehand, slightly off to the side. You want a clear path to bring the ball downward.
2. Pull the ball straight down, not completely in the space behind you but lined up behind your feet. Whether your pulling method is using a toe drag or backhand is up to you.
3. Next, you want to push the puck through your legs, ideally in one motion. You may not get this part on the first try; finding the right angle may require some stretching.
4. Once it’s through your legs, it should hopefully have come out and landed on your other side, mirroring the starting position on your backhand side. Readjust it to be mirroring that starting position from Step 1 if it’s not quite there.
5. Repeat the steps, this time on your backhand— yes, you will be pushing it through your legs with your backhand.
You may lose the ball a few times when doing this drill for the first time. Don’t worry too much about it— that’s why you’re here practicing. This drill is extremely good at pulling you out of your comfort zone and getting you to commit your full body to the motion.
8. Variations with Additional Elements
If all the previous drills have become a cakewalk for you, these next ones can help not just to increase the difficulty, but also make your stickhandling more game-like. While you obviously won’t have much more than a puck and stick in a game, the focus here is to add movement, push you outside of your comfort zone, and increase your proficiency in stickhandling while off-balance.
These are also good (better even) for practicing not looking at the puck the entire time, as they force the player to distribute their focus between stickhandling and another activity. These are advanced drills that require a lot of movement and focus; it is best to only start on these drills after you’ve become comfortable looking away from the puck while stationary.
- McDavid Crossovers: A relatively famous variation. Place two hurdles or sticks on either side of you and do crossovers over them while dribbling the puck quickly in front of you
- Balance board: As implied, you would stickhandle while standing on a balance board. If you have the space, you can vary the stickhandling; short dribbles, wide handling, toe drags, etc.
- Pass rebounder: In between stickhandling drills, you can incorporate a pass in between reps if you have a pass rebounder or something similar (a friend also works).
- "Toe Taps:” With a soccer ball or other similar ball, alternate tapping each foot on the top of the ball while simultaneously stickhandling. Take this one as fast or slow as you are comfortable with; you want to push yourself, but you don’t want to roll an ankle.
Of course, these aren’t the only drills out there. It’s a good idea to talk with a professional coach or even your friends when deciding on a stickhanlding routine that works for you.
Final Tips for Effective Stickhandling Practice
Be consistent: Practice stickhandling regularly to build muscle memory and improve your skills over time.
Vary it: Incorporate different drills into your routine to challenge yourself and keep your practice sessions engaging.
Progression: Start with basic drills and gradually increase the difficulty as you become more comfortable.
Mimic the pros: Watching hockey is another way to enhance not just your stickhandling, but also your situational awareness in knowing when to use certain moves. Pay close attention to the players’ hands when they maneuver the puck and the situations they are in.
Feedback: Record your practice sessions or ask a coach for feedback. Identifying areas for improvement can help you focus your training efforts more effectively.
Find friends: Have some friends or teammates to practice with. This will not only make the drills more fun but also introduce new challenges and help you learn from others.
Further Reading
“43 Hockey Stickhandling Drills for at Home.” HockeyTraining.com, 28 Dec. 2022. Source Link.
“7 Keys to Improving Your Stick Handling.” Prodigy Hockey, n.d. Source Link.
Doyle, Mike. “4 Keys to Great Stick Skills.” Minnesota Hockey, 27 March 2020. Source Link.
“Dryland (off-ice) stick-handling.” USA Hockey, n.d. Source Link.
“Improving your Stickhandling.” Dangler Hockey Development, n.d. Source Link.
“Puck Control Skill Development | Puck Control Pathway.” Hockey Canada Player Development, n.d. Source Link.
