3 Drills for Forwards Using the Reactive Sniper

When a single product can be used to train multiple skills, you’ve hit the jackpot. The Reactive Sniper is one of our most customizable products. It’s unique features offer total versatility giving you the ability to work on many skills during your training session.

Today we’re following along with Coach Jim from Vital Hockey Skills (IG: @vitalhockeyskills). He’s created these drills using the Reactive Sniper to put his players to the test.

Let’s get training!

When no one is with you on a zone entry, you have to delay. Go towards the boards to protect the puck and make space for yourself while your teammates catch up. In this scenario, you have two options; pass to the late defenseman coming up the blue line, or pass towards the backdoor with a forward driving to the far post. For this drill, the Reactive Sniper will help us decide this.

If the Reactive Sniper turns blue, you're going to be making a pass out to the defenseman coming in at the far blue line. If the Reactive Sniper says red, take a couple of steps and pass towards the backdoor. Set up passers in both areas where your teammate would be standing to help work on your passing aim (these will act as your teammates sticks).

The arrows come into play to show us which pylon to go around before making the pass either across the blue line to the defenseman or to the far post of the net. 

The puck carrier coming up the boards has to make a decision. If he's got corner support and the pressure is in the high lane, he can throw the puck back low. If the pressure is blocking the board side, he can fake or come out hard around the high lane and shoot.

For this drill, we are only going to be using the blue and red coloured lights on the Reactive Sniper. The blue will indicate a kick fake into the middle high lane and the red will indicate putting the puck down low. There will also be a couple of single Speed Deke’s set up for quick little agility tucks through the corners. The arrows on the Reactive Sniper for this drill will indicate where to shoot on net.

Start this drill off by getting in position for a face-off. Each colour on the reactive sniper indicates a location around the face-off circle to win the draw to. Blue dot – push through for the centerman, green – win to one of your wingers, yellow – inner defenseman, red- strongside defenseman (refer to video for location of dots). After winning the face-off, drive the net as hard as you can. Before coming into the faceoff, it’s good to look around to see where everyone is.

These three drills are crucial for forwards to practice. Knowing your options and being able to react in real-game speed with pressure is essential. Try out these drills for yourself and challenge your reaction time. Get training with the Reactive Sniper and start seeing improvements!

View the full video and get training!