Passing – A lost art? The one skill that seems to have regressed in youth and high school hockey is passing by JOSH LEVINE
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
The one skill that seems to have regressed in youth and high school hockey is passing. It’s not sexy and a clip of an amazing breakout pass is rarely featured on any highlight reel or Instagram feed. But hockey is a game of speed and the cliché that the puck moves faster than any skater is true. The best passing teams have substantial advantages over their opponents. Imagine a sequence of two passes that takes A pass from one defenseman to the other on place just 0.2 seconds faster on one team compared to its opponent. Each time they make a set a regroup that is crisp, quick and accurate sets up of two passes, this team opens up space. At the the next play. Each consecutive hard and accurate boys’ high school varsity level, that space can be five feet or more! That’s how fast this game is and pass gives the receiver a wider range of options how crucial passing is to be successful in it. than he otherwise would have had. Many players can recite a variety of coaching tips for shooting. Everyone, including coaches, would rather watch kids work on shooting than watch players learn to pass. Even a simple partner passing rewarding hard work. We reward scoring goals. What about drill can be excruciating as pucks begin to fly off players’ the passes that set up the goals? Not even the immediate pass sticks or not even come close to the intended target. Players to the goal scorer, but the many passes that came before the don’t automatically make consistent tape-to-tape passes. It’s goal that opened up space or that forced an opponent to skate a skill, like anything else, and it requires a lot of time. farther, longer and harder, leaving them a few feet behind Many youth players don’t hold their stick properly when rather than equal to the shooter. A pass from one defenseman receiving a pass. Their top hand is tucked against their rib to the other on a regroup that is crisp, quick and accurate sets cage rather than being away from the body and in a better up the next play. Each consecutive hard and accurate pass position to pass the puck once the player receives it. Many gives the receiver a wider range of options than he otherwise other players have a weak bottom hand. Pucks fly off their would have had. sticks, not because they don’t have enough give, but because As hockey continues to evolve and undoubtedly gets their bottom hand is too soft, and as the puck hits their blade, even faster, passing will become more crucial. Those that it opens up. master it will have an advantage that will be hard to beat. We need to talk about and reward passing. We talk about
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