I think it might be appropriate to begin here with a short video, this a promotional one created a few years ago by my grandson's prep school...
Exciting? Yes, I'm sure. Interesting to note, perhaps, Anthony Chic has gone on to break most of the scoring records at his college, and who knows if he might even give the pros a try.
The real message here, however, is that the skills demonstrated in that video are all teachable. It takes a plan, though, and then lots of incremental steps through each of a player's individual skills.
A sturdy young guy, Anthony can use his body and protect the puck exceptionally well. So is he an above average passer and receiving. And there should be little doubt that he can shoot and handle the puck with the best of them. If you get to watch that video again, though, you might discover that he is an "effective" skater -- not fancy, mind you, but extremely effective with his footwork.
And that might help me to make an earlier point, about the difference between vanilla type drills and those that are geared to actually playing the game. I don't use drills that are meaningless or aren't going somewhere. And I surely don't use drills that are beneath my players nor beyond their current abilities.I also incorporate skills work for all facets of the game, from skating to puckhandling to passing to shooting to checking.
Lastly, I abandoned teaching "powerskating" sessions some 25- to 30-years ago. First, because that gives a wrong impression -- that power is the most important part of effective hockey skating. Secondly, while skating is extremely important to high level hockey play, so are there so many other "skills" required to play the game really, really well.
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On-ice Skills - $125/hour (based on at least 2-hours, back to back)
On-ice Puck-skills - $125/hour (based on at least 2-hours, back to back)
