PASSING

TOPIC
Passing

Passing is an extremely important part of the game of hockey and possibly the most underrated skill. In my opinion, if you are not able to move the puck to your teammates with quickness and ease, under pressure, and through stick lanes then you are going to have a hard time moving up the ranks. The game of hockey gets faster and faster the higher the level you get and it gets harder to do it all yourself so being able to move the puck and utilize your teammates is going to be crucial.

MECHANICS
Let’s break down making and receiving passes from the mechanics to hand and puck placement.

Hand Placement
When it comes to hand placement for passing and receiving passes, we want our hands boxed, specifically our top hand off our body as seen in the picture below.

Our bottom hand can be about shoulder width apart, maybe slightly wider but no more than that.

Puck Placement
The puck should be placed on the side of our body when making a pass. A good rule of thumb is the puck should be aligned with our hips (the pocket). This allows us to sweep the puck forward.

Receiving Passes
When receiving a pass we want the same hand placement as making the pass. Hands boxed in front of our body and about shoulder-width apart. The only difference with receiving passes is that we want the stick blade to start slightly in front of us. As the puck comes towards us, we then softly catch the puck moving our hands from forward to back ending slightly behind our skates.

That’s all for today folks. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to having you check back in again soon.

— Danny

DISCLAIMER
The views, information, or opinions expressed in the Perez Hockey Development newsletter are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of my employers. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to educate and inform.