The Pop Warm Up Drill is a drill from Topher Scott that is excellent for helping players warm up in the beginning of practice. It helps to get the hands and feet going while also working on transitions, passing, shooting and screens.
Setup:
- This is a full ice drill that goes out of both ends.
- Have a bunch of pucks in the neutral zone circle.
- Forwards are lined up against the boards on each of the blue lines. Defense are lined up in the middle of the ice facing the neutral zone circle
- On the whistle, the defenseman picks up a puck from the neutral zone, and hits a forward with a pass on their left side, who goes down the ice to take a shot. The defenseman picks up a second puck at neutral ice and hits the forward on their right side, who goes down and takes a shot. Then the defenseman picks up one last puck from the neutral zone circle, performs an escape and then skates down the ice to take a shot on net. The two forwards who took a shot can stay in front of the net to try to tip the puck.
Coaching Points:
- Communicate verbally and non-verbally (have stick on ice where you want the pass).
- Head up: both forwards and defencemen should practice keeping their head up during the drill and being aware of their surroundings.
- Skating: when skating up ice with the puck work on cross-overs and stickhandling with headup.
- Shooting: players can work on shooting in stride, or changing their shot angle when shooting the puck.
Variations:
- Coaches can be in the neutral zone so defencemen and forwards have an object they need to pass & skate around.
- Players can work on different shooting techniques.
- Defenceman can work on different escapes.
