I use Sean Skinner Hockey Stickhandling DVDs

Sean Skinner and Alex Ovechkin Stickhandling in Action

Have you ever heard of Sean Skinner?  If you want to improve your stickhandling skills, get Sean’s videos.  On-Ice Stickhandling Drills and Drills for Coaches by Sean Skinner Boe and I use these videos to come up with our stickhandling progressions for sessions that we run.  We were lucky enough to see him speak at our USA Hockey Level 4 Coaching Conference in Boston about 10 years ago.  I always tell parents that Sean is the best stick handler of anyone I have not been able to find on HockeyDB.  I don’t know where he played, but he has lightening fast hands, and it a great teacher.  The videos have great drills for on and off ice training, and he teaches specific moves and dekes in great progressions.

Puck Skills Over Skating Skills:

Did that headline get your attention? Skating experts believe that skating is the most important component of the game.  Sean believes that puck skills are the most important.  I agree with Sean, and that is why our sessions are more puck skill focused, and integrate agility/foot-speed/edge control into puck based drills.  Before I go on, let me qualify that statement by stating that we are comparing strong skaters. Beginner players obviously need to focus on skating for balance and agility before they can handle the puck with proficiency. Let’s say, for the point of this discussion, that I am comparing rep/travel level players aged Bantam and above. There are many great players that are not perfect skaters.  In fact I have known 30-goal scorers in Junior and Minor-pro hockey that would admit they are bad skaters!  One could argue that this position is comparable to soccer.  Have you ever seen a great soccer player that cannot dribble the ball well?  Or what about basketball?  Is the fastest runner the best player?  I don’t believe so.  Get On-Ice Stickhandling Drills and Drills for Coaches by Sean Skinner, and put in the time.  As Gerry Falk,  a mentor and former teacher likes to say, “The bare minimum is never enough, but you know that Nate.”  Handling the puck 1-2 x week at practice will not make you a great player.  But making use of small areas at home or in the park with these tools, and logging the hours, will drastically increase your puck skills and hand-eye coordination.