On-Ice Performance Articles

In this podcast episode, we share a truly amazing story of a PHOENIX rising out of the ashes of some heartbreaking hardships on and off the ice to build an amazing life that is still very much connected to the world of women’s hockey.

In our 1st ever Total Female Hockey Podcast episode, Coach Kim McCullough talks about how all players can take their game to the next level this season by working on the "not so sexy" stuff. Most players don't do any of this stuff at all, so doing it regularly throughout the season will give you a huge advantage over the competition.

This is one of my favorite coaching chats EVER and the conversation that connected me to my newest coaching adventure with the Iceland National Women's Ice Hockey teams.

Winning the walls is an essential concept that we emphasize with every team and player we work with. Do you come out of battles along the wall with possession or not?

Scoring early and often is critical to our team's success. Here are a few resources you might find useful to help you score that precious extra goal (or two) you need to win these big games.

The #1 thing that makes players of any age and level stand out from the rest is their POISE with the puck.

Highlight's of Coach Kim's journey as a player, parent and coach.

Mixing FAST & PHYSICAL hockey with more POISE & SKILL is a recipe for success in the modern women’s game.

You’ve got to SCAN the ice more. Whether you’re a goalie, D or forward, you need to have more information. The information you get from looking around is going to allow you to think a play ahead and know what you want to do next.

Imagine the blade of your stick has eyes. When you're about to shoot, what you see with your own eyes is very different from what the stick sees with its eyes.

Every season, I field questions from players who’ve been asked to switch positions by their coach. They’re concerned about what it means and what to do. And I always share my story of when I was converted from a D to a forward after my 1st ever practice with the Dartmouth College women’s hockey team!

How do you figure out if your stick is the right length? There are quite a few factors to take into account and I'll take you through some of the most important ones here.

Scoring goals off the net drive requires proper timing, stick positioning and body control. Watch these 2 videos to see how to do it right with and without the puck.

There are a lot of great players out there but what truly sets someone apart from the rest of the crowd?

If you want to play at the next level, you have to pay attention to the little details that make a huge difference and avoid these five BIG deal-breakers.

Do you know how much time you actually spend touching the puck in a game?  Most girls hockey games range from having 30 to 60 minutes of actual playing time. How much of that time do you have the puck on your stick?

Let's face it - goal scoring is something that's lacking across all levels of girls’ hockey. Here are 9 basic tips for goal scoring that I share at my practices and camps - hopefully they help you and your players to put more pucks in the net this season.

Playing forward isn’t all about scoring goals. While it might seem like that’s the primary focus at early ages, as you progress into higher levels of hockey, your play without the puck becomes that much more critical. There are plenty of different skills forwards need to master both with and without the puck in order to progress to the highest level of hockey, so today I wanted to focus on two that are essential to becoming an elite player.

Scoring off rebounds is a critical skill for girls hockey teams looking to score more goals this season. Here is a simple drill to use that will put more pucks in the back of the net from in close.

While it's harder to give and receive a pass on your backhand than it is on your forehand, it’s much easier to score goals on your off-side than it is on your proper side. So here are 3 reasons why I like having players play their off-side.

Being able to get a good shot off while carrying the puck is absolutely critical if you want to score more goals. Shooting one timers off the pass and finishing rebounds in tight with quick little snapshots are important too, but being able to shoot effectively in stride while carrying the puck is one of those skills that makes you stand out in girls hockey.

The mental game, off-ice training and on-ice development of the female players in the female game needs to be approached differently. This article focuses on the development on contact confidence in our players to help them be safer and more effective on the ice.

This article addresses one of the biggest problems I see everyday with the way girls’ hockey players hold their hockey sticks. It prevents them from being able to shoot, pass and stick-handle properly. Here's how to fix it!

Making smart puck management decisions at your own blue-line on breakouts and at your opponent’s blue-line on entries are crucial to your success as a team and as a player. If you are constantly losing the puck at the blue-lines, you’re not generating much offense and you’re probably playing a lot of defense in your own end.

Not all goals have to be pretty. It doesn’t matter how it goes in - it just matters that it went in. So here are some keys to scoring goals of the greasier variety. Remember that these count the same as the pretty ones.

Every team out there would love to score at least one more goal per game. So here are 5 ideas I’ve put together to help you put more pucks in the back of the net this season.

Elite players have the puck on their stick for less than 2% of the game, which means we spend 98% of our game playing without the puck. Here's some ideas on how to get it back so we can get back on attack.

College coaches are looking for a TRIPLE threat - players with great athletics, academics and attitudes. This article focuses on exactly what they are looking for when it comes to ATHLETICS.

Most coaches in the female game preach making tape-to-tape passes all the time. And while that might be ideal when there is time and space, that’s not the reality of the female game. "Bad" passes happen all the time and players must be able to be 360 degree pass receivers.

There are plenty of good female hockey players out there. But these are the 4 factors than separate the good from the great.

Video is a fantastic teaching and learning tool for young hockey players. Most young people are visual learners so we need to teach them in a way that they'll best absorb the information.

Goal scoring is something that is lacking across all levels of girls' hockey. Here are the 8 secrets to scoring more goals in the female game.

In the average girls’ hockey game, there are at least 10-20 scoring opportunities off rebounds. And so many of these potential goals go un-scored. Here are 5 quick tips to help you score more goals off rebounds.

If you want to score more goals, you need to generate quality scoring chances off the rush. And in order to generate more chances off the rush, you need to be able to read whether the open space is IN FRONT of the defenders or BEHIND the defenders.

The more girls hockey games I watch, the more I see teams playing a full pressure system when they don't have the puck. That usually works fine until you come up against a team that excels at moving the puck. So how do you adjust your pressure when the other team has elite puck skills?

Whenever I sit down and talk with aspiring young players about the opportunities that lay ahead of them in the female game, I always start with this same message...

Stop worrying about showing off your latest dangles and start learning about all the great angles you can use to attack the game.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. And whether it’s in tryouts or in life, we almost always know what the right thing to do is. Here are the top 3 things you must do right to stand out for all the right reasons at tryouts.

Calling for pucks is a simple way to communicate that most teams and players need to improve on in order to get to the next level. But have you ever thought about communication from the player GIVING the pass?

Everyone loves to see a booming slap-shot go in bar-down. And most girls shoot a half decent wrist shot when they have time. But the most lethal shot in girls' hockey is rarely taught at all.

Here are 3 simple things you can start doing today to become a better hockey player.

Coaches can be very demanding on their players and sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly what your coach wants. So here are 7 critical "C"s that all coaches are looking for this season.

Hockey games are won and lost on the wall. Your ability to win battles along the boards is continuously tested all game long. You've got to work on your wall skills if you want to take your game to the next level.

I often wonder if I would have been an even more effective female hockey player if someone had taken a bit more time to teach me where to be and when to be there.

Everyone wants to be on the power-play. And everyone gets upset when they’re not on it. Today, I want you consider why your coach may have decided not to put you out on the power-play.

Some players will do whatever it takes to get better and some will not. We all have obstacles in our lives that keep us from having an ideal training environment. But if you want it bad enough, you won't make excuses - you'll just make it happen!

Every player wants to be the one the coach calls upon to win the big game. Every goalie wants to be in for the games that "matter". Every forward wants to score the game-winner and every defenseman wants to be out there in the last minute blocking shots to preserve the one goal lead. But what do you do if you aren't given that role?

I have NEVER missed a game due to sickness or injury or any other reason in my entire hockey career.  From the time I started at 13 until I retired at 28, I played in EVERY game.  But I definitely shouldn't have and neither should you.

Dressing room drama has the ability to rip a team apart and cause divisions and problems that inevitably spill over onto the ice. Here I share some thoughts based on my experiences than can help you get your team on track for the rest of this season.

Winning in cards is no different than winning in hockey and in life. You have to play to your strengths. You've got to play your aces.

To be an elite female hockey player, you need to excel at managing the puck - you need to know when keep the puck and when to give it up to a teammate.

Your ability to protect the puck effectively is the single best stickhandling move you've got. So stop worrying about your toe drags and focus on stick and body positioning.

The first thing I teach players when working on their east-west game is the LATERAL CUT. This allows them to force their opponent to move laterally which is much harder than defending skating north-south.

Is your game more north-south or more east-west? In the north-south game, the puck usually moves up the ice quickly and gets straight to the net quickly. The east-west game is sometimes seen as being more risky - but once you get good at it, it unlocks a whole new level of performance for players and teams.

How young is too young for players to start getting serious about playing at the elite level of women's hockey? Is 15 too young?  How about 10? 7 years old is definitely too young, isn’t it? If an aspiring player’s goal is to play in the Olympics, it might not be. Here are some different ways to break down the math to get you to 10,000 hours.

There is no doubt that playing in spring and summer tournaments is FUN.  It's a welcome change from the focused intensity of the season. But is it actually going to make you BETTER?

Female hockey players need to use a lot more fakes before they make their next play on the ice if they want to get to, and excel at, the next level. Here is a quick video on one of the key fakes - the fake shot.

Slapshots can look great - when they get through and hit the net. But they are one of the least useful shots in female game. Should players even work on them at all?

There are 7 skills that separate good players from great players. Here is a brief explanation of each of them.

There are a few critical details that can make or break your snapshot. Here are the key details of hand & stick positioning that can help you take your shot to the next level.

Most young female hockey players don't have a snapshot at all - let alone a good one. And for those that do, there is one thing that is usually preventing them from having an effective shot at all.

Here are 3 mistakes that aren’t always the direct cause of a goal against but are quite often the starting point where it all starts to break-down.

Being able to tip the puck effectively is a skill most goal scorers excel at. And since scoring goals is something that many girls hockey teams struggle with, I thought I’d share 3 quick tips on how to tip the puck more effectively.

Here are the 3 critical skills we'll be covering for the defensemen and forwards. These aren't the only skills players need to have to excel at their position, but they are critical to being able to play it effectively.

Girls' hockey players are guilty of waiting for the perfect shot. Instead of getting pucks and bodies to net, and finding ways to score 'greasy' goals, they squander great scoring chances.

While puck possession is nice to have, having a good giveaway-to-takeaway ratio is much more important.  Success isn’t dictated by simply having the puck but by what you do with it when you’ve got it.

You can chase the next best thing and constantly be looking over the fence wondering if the grass is greener on the other side.  You can run from team to team each year telling yourself that you're doing what's "best" for your daughter. There is no guarantee that the team or organization you're going to will be any better than the one you're leaving.

To be an elite goal scorer in the girls' game, you have to make the goalie adjust to you. Whether you are a forward or D, this is key to putting more pucks in the net this season.

Your ability to stickhandle effectively is a key skill that can really make you stand out in girls’ hockey. And it’s important to note that stickhandling isn’t all about having the fanciest moves on the ice. It’s about being able to beat people 1-on-1 while maintaining control of the puck.

In big games, both teams are prepared and know what they need to do in order to win. Ultimately, success all comes down to trust.

Here are the 3 Es for excelling in the BIG game.

I wanted to share a few ideas with you today on how to shoot more effectively instead of focusing entirely on the number of shots you generate.

Sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference. So here are the 7 little things all players must work on to take their game to the next level.

My best hockey memories are all from the teams I played on that did more than their fair share of winning and, in almost every case, overachieved for what they were on paper. And yet at the start of each and every season, I want to do better than that.

There are plenty of talented young female hockey players all over the world. But do these players have these 4 key habits in place to help them get to and excel at the next level?

The #1 thing that helps female hockey players stand out is their ability to shoot the puck. Here is the #1 secret to shooting better.

The great thing about coaching girls, whether on or off the ice, is that they are always trying to do the drill or exercise as perfectly as possible. But sometimes this works against them.

Tryout season can be hard. But it's what you do after it's done that makes a difference. If you didn’t make the team you wanted to make, it doesn’t mean that you should just coast through the summer and not work hard to be your best. And if you made the team, you aren’t off the hook either.

Most girls hockey players just play with the big (safe) gap and never try to tighten it up. They just play passive.  Defense will back in on their own goalie and forwards will reach with their sticks on the forecheck instead of making contact. When you are passive, you are giving control to the attacking players.  When you control the gap, you control the play.

Tryouts take all of our stress levels through the roof.  We're all worried that we might make the wrong choice, that what people are telling us is not the truth, and that we won't end up with the team we'd hoped for.  The truth is - we're all in the same boat as players, parents and coaches.

When the NHL changed their rules on obstruction and interference years ago, women’s hockey followed suit. While the change in the men’s game has been a huge success, it has done more to hurt female hockey than to help it.

In order to be an elite level hockey player, you've got to be able to skate, shoot, pass, stickhandle and check effectively at high speeds.There are lots of players out there who have those skills - but do they actually know how to play their position effectively?

Once playoffs start, you want to make sure that you do everything you can to perform your best. Here are 7 simple secrets you can use throughout the post-season to have a successful playoff run.

It seems that now, more than ever, players and kids feel entitled to have what they want when they want it - no questions asked. Here I discuss how this impacts individual players & teams.

How early is too early for a young player to specialize in hockey?  In a sport that requires so much overall athleticism in addition to specific skills that aren’t replicated in any other sports, parents, coaches and players are often torn about when they should focusing solely on the sport they love. 

In this article, Coach Kim explains the 360 degree rule of effective passing and how it affects both passer and receiver.

Here are 3 simple secrets that will help you transform your stickhandling from average to elite.

As a coach, I’m constantly amazed at how poorly most girls hockey players shoot. Here are my top 3 reasons why shooting is subpar in the female hockey.

There are many things to consider when picking a team for next season, but this one is by far the most important.

Most girls’ hockey players I know don’t play pick-up hockey. Here's what their missing in their development as a result.

I truly believe every girls hockey players deserves the same level of access and the opportunity to learn exactly what it takes to become an elite female hockey player.  But they don’t have it - yet.