Photo Copyright © 1998 by Chris Magnani

Warmup is Not...

• blocking practice
• shooting practice
• poaching your goalie
• impressing your goalie with how hard you can shoot

Warmup is...

• loosening up the muscles and joints
• connecting & exercising the control circuits
• reviewing the movements
• starts out slowly & cool; gets faster & hotter

Warmup Philosophy

He's your goalie; it's up to you to help him get into his groove for the game. Goals you score on him during the warm-up do not count. If you want to practice, you should practice on a warmed-up goalie.

Specific Pointers

• Make sure the referee has finished checking the net! Nothing pisses off a referee like shooting pucks at him before the game. And nothing pissed off your goalie like having to apologize for you shooting on the ref.)
• Line up in an arc centered on the goalie. Take turns shooting. Only one person should shoot at a time. During the game, there’s only ever one puck on the ice. Your goalie doesn’t ever have to track more than one puck.
• Look before you shoot; make sure your goalie has your attention. When the goalie looks at you, take your shot. If you want to skate at the puck, go ahead, but once you’ve taken your shot, make sure that your path takes you away from the next shooter’s line. If you get between the next shooter and the goalie, you’re wasting both people’s time.
• If you need to practice your shot, then shoot at the boards; don’t waste your goalie’s time with shots that go all over the place.
• Some players get all disappointed when their first blistering slap shots go right into the net. The goalie may not be warmed up, but he can tell by your slouch that you were not impressed by the way those shots went right into the net.
• On the other hand, some players cheer for themselves every time they get a goal during the warmup … and get all disappointed when their goalie finally warms up and starts making saves.

Ideal 4-minute Warmup

Some leagues don’t give you a lot of time to warm up, so you have to use the available time as efficiently as you can.

Stretch out before they open the doors to the ice. You’re just wasting ice time if you wait until the warmup period to stretch out.

Hit the ice skating: Everybody skates around for a minute, forwards and backwards.

Line up in a half circle, half way between the faceoff dots and the blue line. Try to make your shots accurate. Start slow and get faster. Be ready to shoot when it’s your turn. Don’t skate in; that wastes a lot of time.

Don't shoot blistering slap shots from the blue line; they're a waste of time. Here's why: slap-shots aren't terribly accurate, and your best chance at scoring is on a cold goalie. But during warmup your goals don't count—especially not fast slappers on a cold goalie. Instead, start with wrist shots at a reasonable speed, and then speed up.

Make sure your goalie is ready for you and knows which puck you’re going to shoot at him. If you have three or four pucks lying around you, your goalie isn’t going to know which one you’re shooting at thim. Warm ups are not a quick-reaction exercise; now’s not the time to confuse your goalie. Have only one puck in front of you when it’s your turn.

The first sets of shots require you to be a reasonably accurate shooter. This is mostly for your goalie’s benefit in the warmup.

• 6 shots flat on the ice to the stick - make your goalie keep his stick on the ice to block the shots.
• 12 shots flat on the ice alternating to the left and right of your goalie - make your goalie do his kick saves.
• 6 shots a foot or two off the ice - Make your goalie properly react with pad saves.
• 6 shots high to the goalie’s glove side - Make your goalie use his catch glove.
• 6 shots high to the goalie’s blocker side - Make your goalie use his blocker.

For these shots, line up the shooters in a semicircle. Take turns shooting. When you've taken your shot, skate out of the way of the next shooter. Don't place yourself in his line of fire! For shots to glove or blocker or for kick-saves left and right, which shot a you make depends on which side of the net you're on. If you’re to the goalie’s left, shoot to his right (usually blocker side). Do not skate in during this part of the warmup. In the time it takes to block one skating-in warmup shot, the goalie could take three direct shots.

After a couple of minutes of wrist shots, change to breakaways: skate in and shoot. It's not useful during warmup to alternate or mix long shots and breakaways. Duing a game situation, the goalie knows what's coming. In warmup, the shooter is handling the puck back and forth ... and if the golaie has no idea what's coming, he can't prepare for it and can't do the right move.

Ideal 10-minute Warmup

Then, instead of the last free-for-all series, do a horseshoe drill. Line up half the players on the right back corner, the other half on the left back corner. One player skates out to the slot; the player in the other corner passes him the puck; the first player shoots on the net. Then the other player skates out. If a skater misses the pass, he needs to chase the puck down and get back in line; the next pass then starts. Your goalie needs to know where the next puck is coming from.

If you get a good rebound opportunity, take it! You need to train to always take the rebound shot, and the goalie needs to train to always react to the rebound shot.

How to Piss Off your Goalie during the Warmup

1. Take shots on him while he’s setting up the net. That’s just dangerous.
2. Take his water bottle and drink all the water out of it. That’s just rude.
3. Start the warmup with blistering slap shots to his head. That’s rude and dangerous.
4. Practice your latest breakaway move first thing when the goalie gets to the net. Wait until he’s done his basic shots. Yes, it will be more challenging for you to do a breakaway on a goalie who’s warm, but that’s the point, isn’t it?
5. Take wild slap shots that don’t go anywhere near the net. That’s a waste of time. Learn to aim your shots usefully.
6. Shoot on the goalie while he’s facing another shooter. There’s only one puck on the ice during a game, and the goalie’s attention is focused on it. If this is the only way you can score a goal, you should pick a different sport.
7. Cheer whenever you get a goal. Goals scored during warmup don't count.
8. Shoot on the referee while he’s checking the net. That’s just dumb.