Good drill for those looking for a healthy vomit

I went to a Kings practice in early 2009 and saw them run this drill -- I was just starting to skate and didn't really know what I was seeing. Courtesy Rich Hammond at L.A. Kings Insider:

– Dean Lombardi was a happy man this morning, because Murray brought out his favorite drill, the “pit” drill, in which Murray drags a net into a corner of the rink and has players battle 2-on-2 in tight quarters. “I run that drill at the end of the practice just so that the players can get some kind of physical contact under their belt,” Murray said. “I don’t want to let it run too long. I’m going with three reps per pair only. It’s very early, but we’re getting into the time when we have to start thinking about exhibition games, and that’s the kind of play that’s going to happen.”

The thing that impressed me about the drill was how physical it was: Kings defenseman Matt Greene and center Anze Kopitar were just checking the hell out of one another in front of the net. I remember thinking: these guys are teammates?

We do some one-on-ones and two-on-twos occasionally during our Wednesday night clinics and it's by far the most taxing drill we do. If you want to get in game shape, do these. And just be sure you are near a spot on the ice without plexiglass -- to prevent am embarassing pukage on the ice.

Drills and more drills

I went into my Wednesday night clinic hoping to work on some team-oriented drills -- in particular, the basic breakout and anything involving positioning in the offensive zone. You know, the whole "there's no I in team" thing.

Actually, there is. If, for example, you treat the puck like it's a giant suppository and can't do anything useful with it, things become a lot of harder for your team. Because when you suck -- and I know a thing or two about this -- there are times you may as well be playing for the other team. You're just going to give the puck away, almost always at the most inopportune times.

Well, our coaches didn't feel like doing the team thing. They've seen us play and I think in their mind it was time to amp up some of the individual skills all hockey players need to create time and space -- always, always in short supply -- to make an intelligent pass or earn a quality shot.

And so began 60 minutes of sweating our asses off, aided in part by the semi-tropical weather that seems to settle inside the old Pasadena rink this time of year. It took precisely four minutes for my earholes to fill with sweat, something that usually happens when I'm close to redlining.

For those who just can't read enough about hockey drills -- in other words, you're shy about looking at porn on your work computer -- I'll run through our session below. For the reset who want to stop reading here, I'll just say this: use every opportunity you can to get on the ice with a puck and practice 180 and 360 degree turns and sudden stops and changes in direction. Do it over and over and try to do it faster and faster.