5 Drills to Improve Your Shooting
Looking for some drills to elevate your shooting game? We’ve put together five shooting drills from some of our coaches within the HockeyShot community. These drills practice all aspects of shooting from generating power to backhand shots. Check them out and follow along with the videos to get a one up on your opponent for the upcoming season!
1. Left & Right Accuracy – Coach Jeremy (How To Hockey)
For this super easy drill, we want to work on correlating your direction of shot based on which leg you stand on for balance. If you’re aiming for the right side of the net, make sure you finish your shot standing on your right leg. If you’re aiming for the left side of the net, finish off standing on your left leg. Keep alternating legs for each shot. Master a hard and accurate shot on each leg and before you know it, you’ll be scoring more!
2. Backhand Shots - Coach John (NSA Hockey)
To practice this drill, load up on your back foot by shifting your weight as you bring the puck forward. Instead of shoveling underneath the puck, you want to snap the puck forward. This means that your top hand is going to push out and your bottom hand is going to pull in at the same time, similar to the movement of a basic wrist-shot, only now your pulling with your bottom and pushing with your top. Try this out a few times and you’ll start noticing the difference!
3. Arms During Quick Release Shots - Coach Sean (iTrain Hockey)
For this drill, you want to start off by getting into your shot stance. Focus on snapping that wrist over for your top hand; for the bottom hand, develop power and support the top hand’s motion. Keep your arms away from your body during the entire movement of the shot. By doing this, your stick will flex longer and quicker, in-turn, developing a nicer shot. Follow along with Sean as he shows you to punch those arms towards your target and get those quick release shots going!
4. Side Facing Wrist Shot - Coach Ryan (PHT Nation)
Start this drill with a sturdy surface (such as a wall or slide board), plant that back leg up against a wall and push off towards the target. Your lower body is much stronger than your upper body, so it is important to focus driving as much power as possible into your shot from your legs. The second element that this drill is going to help with is timing. When we drive with our legs, our hands will follow behind helping to create that flex by leaning on your stick with your bodyweight. Lastly, this movement will make sure you are finishing towards your target. All the force generated from your legs is directed towards your target, leaving you with one power-packed shot.
5. All Shot Types – Accuracy – Coach Jeremy (How To Hockey)
This drill is broken down into a few parts. For the first part, you want to work on high shots by moving your top hand. Roll that top hand to lift the puck and practice this movement a few times; it’s okay if the puck goes over the net. Next, add more power with your bottom hand so it feels more like a regular shot. For the low shots, practice both keeping the blade closed, then opening and quickly closing the blade (to raise it a bit more off the ice). The last part of this drill is practicing opening and closing your blade to determine if you want the puck to go towards the left or right side of the net. Your accuracy will improve by practicing this drill!
Start practicing these at home or at the rink and you’ll start seeing a difference in your shooting game.
