"If you can catch and shoot a one-timer your chances of scoring rise 30%."

That's from Brian Slugocki's on-ice presentation at TCS Live 2024, and it's a powerful quote for a few reasons. 

First - it's true. As coaches we know that the faster a player gets a shot off after receiving a pass, the tougher it will be for a goalie to get across or get set to make the stop. Easy, right? Well then why do so many young players still insist on stickhandling the puck multiple times before shooting?

The second piece to this quote is that it gives the players incentive. It's natural to stickhandle the puck to put it in the best possible condition to get a shot off. Brian is trying to teach his players to shoot quickly without dusting the puck off, and everyone wants to score, right? He's giving them the answers, and then he adds to the progression. It's an efficient way to coach. 

I'm coaching high school hockey this season and I have the opportunity as an assistant coach with the junior team in our organization, so I see the disparity between junior players and high-school aged players on a daily basis, and the easiest difference to spot is how much more inclined the younger players are to dust the puck off. It's the main difference. Sure, size and strength play a factor, but our high school team has bigger players than our junior team, it has stronger skaters, kids with better hands than some of their junior counterparts, and so on. But no one on the high school team can get a shot off as quick as the junior team. 

Check out this snippet from Slugocki's presentation and view the full video here a membership to The Coaches Site.

Here's the progression from Brian's presentation. Perfect way to start practice!

Description

• Players line up inside red line on faceoff dots
• One line receives a pass, that player attacks zone with puck and cuts back at faceoff dot
• Other line buys ice, scans, and accelerates into pass and shoots without stickhandling
• The player who passes checks up at blue line and receives delay pass from other line
• Players always pass first, then shoot

Key Points

• Puck carrier attack line with speed and crossovers
• Increase the width of the ice to make it tough for the goalie