The start of school not only means that summer is over, but also that the hockey season has begun or will soon be beginning. For a lot of players, this is a welcomed change from the months of strength & conditioning, technical skating, as well as on and off-ice stick handling and shooting improvement.
Some players are stressed out because the summer got away from them. They’ve quickly realized that they aren’t as prepared as they could have been if they were more disciplined and persistent in their off-season training.
For those of you who had a productive summer and are confident going into this year, you have to keep the puck moving forward. Your confidence is a direct result of all the hard work and sweat equity expended during the off-season. If you want to continue having on-ice success, part of your summer routine has to be maintained.
As your winter season starts, your off-ice stickhandling and shooting training must remain constant. There are all kinds of hockey training aids that can help with this, and the best part is, it can all be set up at home, in the comforts of your garage or basement.
You first should start with the best hockey shooting aids on the market, the Edge Shooting Tarp. You can get a ton of shooting reps without the worry of breaking any windows or putting holes in walls.
Like peas and carrots, shooting and stickhandling go hand in hand. If you improve your stickhandling, you’ll possess the puck more, be able to navigate in high traffic areas and penetrate to grade A shooting areas.
One of my favorite stickhandling training aids is the SweetHands. In addition to being able to do rapid slip unders or popovers, this versatile product really increases hand and blade quickness. It also gives you the ability to create unlimited pattern variations prior to ending each drill with some sort of shot.
If you really want to amp up your off-ice development, we can’t forget about hockey passing aids. The Pass Master accomplishes this, as you can work on your passing accuracy and receiving passes from an infinite number of positions around the body. This passing aid will also give you the option to work on one-timer scoring opportunities.
Acquiring high-end stick skills takes a long time. You must have a patient and persistent approach. Each week, try to make small positive reaches and over time, you’ll start separating yourself from the competition.
