3 Pass Drill

PURPOSE

This simple drill, often used for warm-ups, is great for working on simple one-touch passing in motion, and sets up concepts of regrouping.

SKILLS

• One touch passing in motion
• Reading passes and communicating for passes
• Mimics a basic regroup pattern

HOW TO

• Split into four lines at each blue.
• 1 & 3 go at the same time (2 & 4 together as well). For explanation purposes, I’ll only explain the route of #1 as it is mirrored in the other groups.
• 1 skates forward with the puck and passes to line 4 and gets the puck back.
• 1 continues in a wide arch and passes to 3 on the swing and gets the puck back.
• 1 then passes to 2 for an on-side give & go, then drives to the net.
• If this is a warm-up or early drill, have them shoot from farther out.

FOCUS

• Good passing concepts: passing angle, giving a good target, calling for the pass, and leading the pass
• Carrying the puck with speed between each player not stick handling

VARIATIONS

• Can have 2 or 3 players release from each line. Coach decides who passes and receives puck back (usually first will pass, second receive, then puck carrier/2nd passes and original receives, etc.)
• Can work from only one set of corners and opposite corners become trailers, so 1 runs passing route, then after the give & go from 2, 2 becomes a trailer. With this, 2 could also receive a pass from a coach for a second shot/STR
• Compress the drill into one zone. Patterns are similar, just a much smaller area making passing more crucial