Hockey Books and DVDs on Defense

Hockey Defense DVDs

 DVDs on Hockey Defense from Championship Productions

How to Improve Your Defenseman

Mark Carlson, the USHL's Coach of the Year in 2004-05, shares 15 important drills and details for defensive hockey. His rebuilding efforts produced the best record and first Clark Cup title in team history. Coach Carlson's presentation begins with a drill for advancing the puck, which teaches quick advancement and checking shoulder. The one-man breakout drill focuses on small details of defensive play. The full ice one-on-one drill challenges players with gap and stick position of defensemen. One touch passing, shooting through the cones, forehand receive and blue line passing drills all help defenders develop offensive skills on the blue line. All the hockey drills shown deal with the small details that will help your defensemen become better players.

Defensive Zone Coverage

Coach Blaise MacDonald shows you how to "take away time and space" from you opponent in order to protect your goal. Coach MacDonald's zone defensive system provides aggressive defense on the puck, along with a solid secondary line of support, as well as a good net front and slot defensive presence, while the strong-side forward takes away any easy release opportunities. In addition, the Defensive Zone Coverage DVD covers swarm defensive zone coverage to outnumber your opponent in a confined area to create a loose puck. MacDonald also includes five drills to help build the zone defensive system. These drills cover everything from warm-ups to coordinate movements when the puck changes sides and transitioning to zone coverage, to weakside play and rollouts.

Defending the Rush


A quality video with detailed instruction and drill integration on how to defend the rush. Coaches Don Cahoon and Len Quesnelle center the Defending the Rush DVD around developing the defense to read and react to the different numbered situations that come at them through center ice. Concepts discussed include good skating, vision, communication, using the stick, and gap control. Drills for position development explained and demonstrated include 1-on-1, 2-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-2. Defending the Rush offers effective hockey drills and skills for developing defensemen for nearly every imaginable situation.


15 Ultimate Hockey Drills for Defense

Hockey "drill guru" Rick Trimble offers 15 of his favorite "Ultimate Hockey Drills" for defense. Trimble begins the Ultimate Hockey Drills DVD with "Tips for Defensemen," Trimble's valuable insights on defensive strategy. Drills 1-5 include one-on-one drills for individual skills including, high tempo transition, reverse passing, reverse follow-up, and escapes with the puck. Drills 6-9 move into support outlet, defensemen working together, pairings and combinations, and 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-3 situations. Trimble's "Rider Breakout Series" is a progression of four phases of breakout drills (drills 11-14). Trimble's final drill is a resistance training drill for power skating.

Pilates for Hockey Players

In Jennifer Mongeluzo’s world, Pilates can help everybody, even a couple of bruising hockey players. To prove it, the owner of The Pilates Centre on West Avenue invited Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey players Greg Mauldin and Matt Martin in for a pilates workout Wednesday to give them a taste of what they’re missing.

“I’m surprised more athletes don’t incorporate it into their regiment,’’ Mongeluzo said. “Flexibility is such an important part of any fitness program.” 

Mongeluzo and assistant Sarah Rosenstein put Mauldin and Martin through a session to work on flexibility and core strength at the Pilates Centre. Both players can see how Pilates sessions could benefit their bodies, and their careers.

“It’s hard on the body,’’ Martin said. “Flexibility and core rotation are real big for hockey players, and I think it could be helpful if we did this during the season. If we could get together and do it as a group it would be a good for team building.”

Mauldin, who leads the Sound Tigers in scoring, has worked on gymnastics training during summers and felt Pilates worked on similar muscle groups.

“But I never used the machines before,’’ Mauldin said. “I’ve never had issues with a groin pull or a hip injury, and I can see how this training can help avoid those kinds of injuries. That’s a big thing for me.”

More at: Pilates for Hockey Players

Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury

From Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury at CBC sports.

Cassie Campbell gets Stephanie Davis' thoughts on the benefit Pilates for Hockey Players. Stephanie Davis has worked with Calgary-based hockey players such Martin Gelinas, Rhett Warrener, Braydon Coburn, Devan Dubnyk and Jason LaBarbera. Most recently she helped Theoren Fleury attempt his comeback to the NHL.

Here are some of Davis' theories on why hockey players suffer groin injuries:

We have weak feet:
Due to the stiff hockey skates we wear, there is no need for our feet to be strong. However, without strong feet we do not have a proper balance point. This in turn makes everything unbalanced from the bottom up. I found this evident when I first tried speed skates. With no support I really felt that I was going to break my ankles! I did one loop and that was that!

We have a weaker lower core: 
We have weak stabilizing muscles near the pelvis area. This is almost like comparing our body to a car that has a loose wheel. If one wheel is loose then the others can’t do their job. If the core is not doing its job, other parts will over work, like our hip flexors, or groin.


We lack flexibility: 
The reason why more players have started taking up Pilates and yoga is because they realize the need to have more balance when it comes to overall strength and flexibility. Stretching the myofascial (which is painful to me) is like giving the joints WD40 so they are free to move. One side might not have the same range as the other, but balancing this out is the key. When the leg goes out in a hockey stride, it might not move as freely as it should or it will with strain due to lack of flexibility. Over time, this general hockey movement becomes strenuous because the leg doesn’t come back to the centre of the body. This causes an imbalance just from skating and adds more load to different areas, like the groin. In order to optimize power, an athlete not only needs to build strength by lifting weights, but they need to have a better balance between strength and flexibility

Our quads are too strong: 
Every motion we do is based on quad strength. However, there needs to be a balance. All the anterior leg muscles (i.e. quad, hip flexors) tend to be stronger then the posterior muscles (hamstring, glutes) causing a very big imbalance.

More at:   Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury at CBC sports.

Slapshot Tips

Adrian Aucoin's Slapshot Tips

Adrian Aucoin shows us some great a slapshot tips and puts a a nice demo:



Slapshot Tips:

• Bend Your knees to get low - Most of your strength comes from your legs and lower body
• Drop your bottom hand low on the stick
• Really lean into the shot
• Hit the ice a couple inches or so behind the puck.
• Hit the ice further back on a one-timer
• Keep your head up so you can aim your shot
• Start with a low back-swing to get the shot off quick
• Transfer your weight towards the target
• Keep your stick low on the Follow through pointing your stick at the target

Aucoin's 102 mile shot at the 2004 All Star shootout with his wooden stick:

Synthetic Ice Ricks

Have you ever seen people playing hockey in the middle of summer on what looks lice ice? At first you give your head a shake. Then you notice the players are wearing ice skates, so you know not hallucinating ... but WTF?

No, you haven't lost it. They are playing on synthetic ice.

Forty-eight synthetic outdoor ice rinks are operated across Toronto.

How does the synthetic ice work?

Synthetic 'Ice' consists of interlocking squares of white plastic, which has been sprayed with a mixture of silicone and water to allow normal ice skates to slide across the surface. It's sort of like slipping across a giant lubricated cutting board.

When you skate on real ice, the friction between the blade and the ice melts a little water, allowing you to skate. On the artificial ice, it's your momentum that gets you skating, with the silicone easing the friction between the skate blade and the synthetic ice.

It is different from regular ice skating, yet you're still skating. The synthetic silicone solution is non-toxic and environmentally-friendly, so it's safe for skin contact if you fall on the ice, plus you don't need to worry about freezing your toes off in your skates.

How to Hockey Stop

Learning how to to a hard, fast hockey stop feels great and looks great - especially when you want to spray some ice. Hockey stops are one of the trickier skating fundamentals to learn, so best take it one step at a time.

Before your learn how to do a hockey stop, you'll first need to get the feel of your skates sliding sideways along the ice. To do this, hang on to the boards at the players bench where there's no glass to get in the way. Bend your knees and push one skate away from you, while keeping most of your weight on the other foot. If your skate is getting caught on the ice during the push, you will have to put even less weight on it to get a smooth push. Be sure to work on both skates.

Once you get a feel for it, push your skate out more abruptly so it ends in a hard stop. Try to spray some ice chips!

The next step is to stop using a snow plow. Take a few strides, glide a little, bend your ankles and knees, and point your toes together. Try not to bend at the waist, or it will be harder to keep your balance. Pretend like your sitting on a chair with your back straight.

Once you've got the basic snow plow down, twist your hips as you stop so that you turn and stop at the same time. Keep practicing this until you can stop at a moderate speed.

The next step is the tricky part. You've now got to get your back foot to stop parallel to your front foot. To do this, you've got to 'unweight' yourself by first bending your knees deep, then straightening your legs just before you turn to stop. This raises your center of gravity and makes it easier to rotate your skates 90 degrees. Place your weight on the balls of your feet, so that your heel edges don't catch as you turn. Return to your deep knee bend to come to a complete stop.

When practicing your first instinct might be to skate towards the boards, hoping to hang on to the boards in case you fall. It's actually safer to skate towards open ice so. If you're wearing your hockey equipment, you won't get hurt.

Here's a Hockey Stop drill you can try from Eileen Peerles:

Hockey Magazine - Score More Goals DVD

Hockey Player Magazine DVD

Hockey Player Magazine sells a great DVD called 50 Ways to Score More Goals
Here's a sample of the 15 minutes interview with Luc Robitaille with his advice on becoming a better goal-scorer.




Robitaille explains the importance of getting the shot off quick.

Buy it at Hockey Player Magazine

Skating Tips from Wayne Gretzky

Gretzky Skating Tips

Some great skating tips from Gretzky:

• The first thing you need to develop is a good fluid skating stride
• Most of your skating power comes from your thigh muscles
• Make sure your knees are bent, and your weight is slightly forward
• Fully extend your pushing leg from your hip, knee, and ankle using your thigh for power
• Think of your skate as a part of your leg when pushing off
• Don't glide. Get both your legs moving
• Keep your head up with your hockey stick out in front of you

• Go into your turns hard
• Start by gliding and bending at the knee
• Transfer your weight to the outside of your inner skate
• Keep your inside skate ahead of your outside skate
• Turn your hockey stick in front of you and follow it
• Lean your body into the turn
• Practice turning both ways

More Hockey Skating Tips:

Backwards Skating Tips

Skating Tips: Tight Turns

Skating Tips: Upper Body Control

How to Aim Your Wristshot

Written by Jeremy Rupke from howtohockey.com

Are you having trouble picking those top corners? Do you want to score more goals, and have a more accurate and consistent wrist shot? Read the tips below to learn how to improve your wrist shot aim.

First it is important to know how to take a wrist shot I assume that you have a decent shot already and now you want to fine tune it and score more goals. In order to improve the aim of your wrist shot there are five things you can do

• Look where you shoot
• It is important to look where you are shooting. This seems obvious, but a lot of players look at their stick to make sure the puck is still there, then shoot the puck into the goalies chest.
• Looking not only helps your accuracy, but also helps you spot a good place to shoot. Look at the net and find an open spot to shoot and then shoot (but not until you follow all the other tips)
• Pull the puck back
• If you just flick the puck, it is only on the blade of your stick for a fraction of a second, this does not give you much time to aim the puck. Pull the puck back and continue to pull it, and then push it in the direction you want it to go.
• Pulling the puck back also helps you improve the power of your wrist shot
• Follow through
• The follow through is important for aiming high or low, and left to right.
• Follow through high to shoot, and follow through low to shoot low
• To aim the puck left or right simple point the toe of the blade where you want the puck to go. This is helpful as it also trains you to roll and flick your wrists during the shot

Jeremy has played hockey since he could walk and loves to teach. Jeremy has his own hockey tips website that is dedicated to making you a better hockey player! If you are looking for more ways to improve wrist shot accuracy and some great tips for hockey visit his blog. Don't forget to subscribe to the articles so you never miss another hockey tip!