Shooting: Off the Soft Catch
In this post, we are going to explore another element of shooting: off the soft catch.
The Soft Catch
Anyone who has seen the (original) Mighty Ducks movie may recall the concept of a soft catch. At a practice, coach Gordon Bombay brings cartons of eggs onto the ice to instill the concept of ‘give’ and having soft hands.
“You don’t stop the pass. You accept it. Cradle it.”
While you can do this with your hands, the best players also receive the pass within a weight transfer.
Puck Placement
The ultimate goal when catching the pass softly is to place it into a spot that is useful for the next play. We refer to this as ‘puck placement’. This involves putting the puck into a spot where it can be immediately shot/passed/etc.
Catching Passes Across Your Body
In soccer, allowing the ball to roll ‘across your body’ is a massive concept in timing when to shoot/pass. Allowing the ball to find its best placement in relation to your body (a.k.a. “puck placement”) increases accuracy and power massively.
Just as Gordon Bombay said, don’t stop it… accept the pass.
Where to accept it?… into the best spot for the next play! When shooting, accept the puck into a loaded spot where maximum force and accuracy can be applied.
Here is an example of Sean Monahan catching the puck in the middle of his body instead of letting it slide across his body. This less than ideal catch creates down-the-line issues.
Shooting off the soft catch
This can be done standing still, but ultimately we want to work this into movement. Here is a great example from Leon Draisaitl (note: we started the video just before the goal). Draisaitl is able to catch the puck, use his wrists to snap it back into a loaded spot, and get the shot off - all in one motion. That’s elite skill executed to the highest degree.
When starting, this soft catch shooting motion may be rigid. Be patient; it takes repetitions to figure out the movement pattern. Eventually, there should be a feeling of one fluid motion - accept, load, & release.
Practice Progression
Non-Movement: Pass, shoot, go
Player from the beside the net makes a pass to anyone standing in front.
Puck receiver catches the pass softly into a loaded position then shoots
Habits: shooter follows the shot to the net, stops, and sprints to either the blueline (goal), redline (save), or far blueline (missed net) based on the result.
Movement: Off the pass
Step 1: Rough beginnings
Step 2: Catching to the correct foot, working on placement and weight distribution/shift.
Step 3: Smooth - accept, load, release!
Practice to Game Transfer
As coaches, our focus should be on developing skills that translate into game action. Here’s a real clip from Greg’s practice to game transfer.
Practice:
Game:
Wrapping Up
Development is about helping players discover little nugets to drop into their game and utilize when it matters most - in games. By teaching our players how to better position themselves to catch and release, we’re giving them the extra split second that sometimes makes all the difference.
Past shooting articles:
Practice to game transfer:
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