Don Cherry, THE Coach

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Stickhandling

Good stick-handling can compensate for weaknesses in other areas of your game.

The aim of this page is to to teach you drills you can use on or off the ice to improve your puck control.

Cupping the Puck

The first drill is called "cupping the puck." This is a good drill to start with because there is no skating involved, enabling you to focus all your attention on performing the procedure correctly. Simply move the puck or a street hockey ball from side to side and begin to roll your wrists to create the cupping action.

• Stand in ready position with knees slightly bent and your stick in front of you.

• With your stick blade resting on the ice, begin to move the puck from side to side (see Fig. 1 ).

• The cupping action is created by rolling your wrists both to the forehand side and backhand side (see Fig. 2 ).

• To the forehand side -- keep the face of the forehand side of the stick blade down by angling the forearm of your bottom hand toward the ice.

• To the backhand side -- keep the face of the forehand side of the stick blade up by angling the forearm of your bottom hand away from the ice.

• As the puck moves from side to side, your weight should be shifting to the side of your body with the puck (see Fig. 3 ).

Fig. 1 Begin by sliding puck from side to side.	Fig. 2 Roll the wrists to cup the puck.
Fig. 3 Shift your weight from skate to skate.

Once you get the feel for the motion, practice the drill without looking at the puck. An important aspect of stick-handling is being able to see out of the corner of your eye. This is known as "peripheral vision." Your head should always be up following the action of the game with or without the puck.

Slalom

For the slalom drill you combine the skating techniques learned with the cupping drill from above. Remember to keep your head up and roll the wrist as you go around the cones.

• Place a series of cones six to seven feet apart in a zig zag fashion.

• Keep the puck in front of your body as you move down the ice.

• Propel the puck forward by cupping the puck with the toe of the blade (see Fig. 4 ).

• Circle around the first cone to the forehand side (see Fig. 5 ).

• Alternate between the forehand and the backhand with each cone as you zig zag down the ice (see Fig. 6 ).

Fig. 4 Cupping motion will keep the puck on your stick as you move down the ice.	Fig. 5 Cup the puck around the first cone to the forehand side.
Fig. 6 Alternate between the forehand and backhand.

You can decrease the length between the cones as you become more comfortable with the drill to practice making sharper turns with the puck.

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