Practice Notebook: Speed emphasized in drills

Owls defenseman Patrick Hanrahan spoke with members of a youth hockey program, coaches emphasize speed.

Temple ice hockey downed American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I team Penn State-Berks to improve to 2-0 on the season Sunday, but defenseman Patrick Hanrahan stuck around postgame to talk to members of the “Introduction to Hockey” youth program.

One of Hanrahan’s former youth coaches asked him to give some pointers to the young players and supply motivation for them to keep working hard.

The boys had been watching the Owls dismantle Berks, 5-3, and were poised to take the ice after the game.

“As a kid we always looked up to the older players that we would see at the rink,” Hanrahan said, “so if we can help these kids and push them in any direction that is positive then that is good for us.”

The program is affiliated with the Blazers hockey club that regularly plays at the Flyers Skate Zone. The clinic works as an opportunity for young players to improve their skating and hockey playing skills.

Test of Speed

Coach Ryan Frain and assistant coach Andrew Trainor stood at center ice encompassing a pile of pucks.

Players lined up from diagonal directions along the boards and waited for a whistle’s pitch. After the signal, Frain and Trainor centered a puck down the ice as players from both corners burst towards the puck.

The faster players typically won possession of the puck and would take a shot at either Eric Semborski or Scott Salamon in goal.

Broken Cones

Agility was added to the already fast-paced exercise as Frain set up traffic cones on the ice with broken tips in obstacle-course fashion.

With this drill, players had to skate to a stop and maneuver backward around the cones, and then race for the puck and attempt to score.

On the City 6 tournament

Frain pulled his men into center ice at the end of practice and was pretty adamant about wanting to win the tournament.

“Anything less is a [complete] failure,” Frain said.

Stephen Godwin Jr. can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu or twitter @StephenGodwinJr.

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