WALTER DRILLS: Neutral Zone Two-Pass D-Shot

December 23, 2011
Posted in BC Edition, Alberta Edition, Ontario Edition, Development, Drills

By Ryan Walter /

The great game of hockey is built on fundamentals.

If you are coaching a team at any level that can pass the puck accurately while under pressure, you can build system and structure on top of this.

If you coach a team that struggles to pass the puck, then I can predict your future… your team “turns-pucks-over” in the neutral zone, and your coaching staff gets frustrated.

A very good Return On Investment (time) during practice is to work on developing your defencemen’s forward moving, tape-to-tape passes that get you quickly into the fun (offensive) zone where your team has a chance to score.

• Place all players and most of the pucks in the middle of the ice.
• On the whistle, one defenceman from each side of the redline backs up, receives a pass from a forward, fakes a pass to the opposite side, pivots, and skates forward to make a tape-to-tape pass to this same forward who is gaining outside speed (1)
• These forwards skate into the fun zone, take an outside shot on net, and stop in front.
• The same defencemen skate forward, touch the bottom of the circle with their skate, pivot backwards, and receive a pass from the next forward, repeating this cycle of events on the other side of the ice (2)
• After passing the puck to this second forward, each D skates hard, stops at the blue-line to receive a pass from the corner coach, and takes a low shot through F traffic.

Coaching Keys

Six players are involved every time the whistle blows, so it is imperative that the first sequence starts on opposite sides - no players bump into each other!

I have highlighted this type of drill in past articles and want to remind you that right after you emphasize perfect passing, make sure that your defencemen do a perfect job of faking the pass to the opposite side and then pivoting and making the pass to the forward.

This skill buys time for your D to make great passes.

Ryan Walter played and coached for 17 seasons in the NHL and is now President of the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Heat. Find out how you can earn $500 for your team and grow your player’s mental toughness at the same time at www.hungryfuellingyourbestgame.com

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