Hockey - The Wide Dribble Stickhandling Drill
The Reach Drill will increase the reach of your players' dribbling - the sideways movements of the puck they make while stickhandling.
It ensures good stickhandling technique by forcing players to extend their top hand away from their body. The ability to dribble with wide, fast movements is useful when attempting to deke out the goaltender or a defenseman.
Setup
You can perform this drill on or off the ice. Set up two staggered lines markers (i.e. pucks) about seven to twelve feet apart. There are about five pucks in each line, about two feet apart. At the end and between the two staggered lines, extend a single line of about four pucks.
How to Perform
Players stand between the two lines, with a stick and a puck. Their job is to move forward while stickhandling back and forth between the markers in the two lines. The faster they can sweep the puck back and forth, the better.
When they get to the single line, they should dribble around the markers as fast as they can, until they are finished.
Key points are fast sweeping movements and upper hand and stick extended in front of the body.
Reference: Inside Knowledge: Learn the NTDP's off-ice drills via video . Drill No. 15: Reach Drill, USA Hockey website, 2006. http://www.usahockey.com/ntdp/ntdp_features/main/ntdp/off_ice_drills_home/
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