One of the best mini games there is!
Explanation of the Drill
Ideally, the drill is played on half the rink, from the red line in, with three groups of three players identified by different colours.
One group is on offence, one group is on defence and one group rests. The groups rotate from offence to defence to resting. You play offence when you are rested, you play defence when you could be tired.
The resting team kneels on one knee along the boards between the red line and the blue line.
The offensive team starts with the puck outside the blueline. The defensive team cannot check them until they cross the blue line.
The offensive team must be on side when they attack the offensive zone. You can only score when you are on offence. If the team on offence scores, they get the puck outside the blue line and attack again.
Once the defensive team gets the puck, and one of its members carries the puck over the blue line, the defensive team gets to rest, the offensive team becomes the defensive team and the resting team comes off the boards to become the offensive team.
When they get the puck, the defensive team can pass it amongst themselves inside the blue line, but ultimately one of the players has to carry it out of the zone.
Carry it over and you are out! First team to score 5 goals wins and a new game begins. The competition in this game drill can be fierce! This drill is also a great teacher of game sense and important team concepts such as support.
Options
You can play this game with 2 groups of six and the shift between the two groups is timed to be even. Whichever group was on offence when the whistle blew to change, assumes that position when you continue after the shift.
