This drill can be used as a warm-up drill or as part of a team tactic.  

Drill starts with the Coach at centre ice spotting a puck to either line.  Players will need to read and react to the spot and identify if they are on offense or defense.  Player on the puck side retrieves the puck and attempts to come up ice.  The other player touches up at their blue line and closes the gap to angle the offensive player wide.

By using controlled skating and having good stick position, the defensive player should never have to pivot to backward skating.  This will allow the defender to steer the offensive player outside the dots and stop them from getting to the middle of the ice.  

As players get comfortable with the drill you can add two more players to create a 2-on-2. 

• Be sure to alternate sides so play goes both ways.
• Defender needs to close the gap quickly on the offensive player to establish an appropriate angle.
• Good stick placement by the defender is key to success.

Find this drill in the OMHA Drill Share Group on CoachThem.

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