By Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS

Having a great shot in girls’ hockey is a huge asset, as most girls’ hockey players don’t shoot very well at all. It is actually a real compliment if someone tells you “you shoot like a guy.”

The biggest reason why girls don’t shoot well is that they don’t practice it nearly enough. I would guarantee that every young aspiring male hockey player willingly goes out in the driveway and will gladly shoot hundreds of pucks by themselves. Most girls’ hockey players won’t do this. But to be honest, the ones who end up playing at the next level always do.

One of the major reasons they get to the next level is their willingness to do things that their teammates and opponents aren’t willing to do. And going out in the driveway and practicing their shots for hours is one of those things most girls won’t do. 

I believe that one reason for this is that working on your shot is far from being social. It is a very solitary pursuit. Many girls’ hockey players are particularly drawn to the sport because of the social aspects of the game.

This is not a knock against girls at all – it’s just a very different focus than the boys have. The focus on the social side of the game is very useful in terms of developing a cohesive team – but it is quite often something that costs girls in terms of individual skill development.

Since working on the other individual skills, especially skating, passing and checking can only really be done effectively on the ice, coaches have a tendency to spend time on developing these skills as opposed to focusing on teaching the basics of stickhandling and shooting – which can be practiced quite effectively away from the ice. For players looking to get an advantage over the competition, spending time away from the rink working on shooting (and stickhandling) makes a huge difference.

This doesn’t mean heading outside and working solely on your slapshot (although to be honest, having a great slapshot in girls’ hockey is such a rarity that it isn’t a waste of your time by any means). Players must develop all of their shots in order to be most effective in games – this includes: wrist shots, slapshots, backhands and snap shots.

The second layer of shooting development includes learning how to execute these shots at full speed. This means learning how to shoot in stride, how to adjust your body position in space so as to get off an effective shot and understanding which shot to use in different situations.

One other part of shooting that is often neglected is tipping the puck. While this isn’t a direct shooting skill per se, it is a critical aspect of scoring goals that most players don’t do very effective. Players must be taught how to screen a goalie effectively and how to position their body and stick so as to tip the puck effectively.

Players often stand too close to the goalie, or even worse, just off to the side, making it easy for the goalie to see the puck or tipping it so close to the net that the puck doesn’t have time to change direction significantly and making it virtually impossible for the player to score off the rebound if there is one.

This may seem like a minor skill, but in the world of girls’ hockey where not nearly enough goals are scored, the ability to tip the puck effectively and finish rebounds can be the difference between winning a close game or coming up short.

I always tell my players that it never says on the score sheet how the goal went in the net – it just says “goal.” So not every shot has to be into the top corner and not every breakaway has to end in a beautiful deke.

A goal is a goal, and to score effectively, players must develop their entire arsenal of shooting abilities. Being able to score goals consistently is a hot commodity in girls’ hockey and will make players very valuable and very much sought after at the next level.

To get complete access to articles, videos and secrets that addresses the specific needs of female hockey players, visit www.totalfemalehockeyclub.com. Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS, is an expert in the development of aspiring female hockey players.  She is a former NCAA Division I captain at Dartmouth and played in the National Women’s Hockey League for six years. She is currently the Girls Hockey Director at the PEAC School for Elite Athletes in Toronto and is the Founder of Total Female Hockey.