U9 Hockey Practice Plan: A 60-Minute Session
A complete one-hour U9 practice that keeps every player moving: a fun warm-up, edge work, passing, a scoring drill and a small-area game to finish. Every drill below is animated, so you and your assistants can watch exactly how it runs before you hit the ice.
The plan at a glance
Half Ice Warmup
Start with a dynamic half-ice circuit that mixes skating, edges and passing in motion, so players get touches on the puck from the first whistle instead of standing in lines.
- Keep the lines short: run both ends at once.
- Heads up on the passes, and call the name of who you are passing to.
Edges & Crossovers Momentum Drill
High-repetition power skating: players hold their speed through half-stops at the cones, then explode out on crossovers. U9 is the age to build these habits, before bad ones set in.
- Half-stop at the cone, but never come to a full stop.
- First push out of the stop is the hardest one.
Criss Cross Apple Sauce Passing
Players cross through the middle and receive the puck in stride, which is the passing skill that matters most in games. Start with one puck and add more as the group gets it.
- Stick on the ice and call for the pass.
- Catch it moving: no stopping to receive.
Give & Go Net Drive
A give-and-go with the coach, then a drive to the net. It teaches kids to pass and keep skating, which is the habit that creates most scoring chances at this age.
- Pass, then move your feet right away.
- Protect the puck around the coach, then shoot in stride.
Gates of Dean Park
Teams score by passing through gates, so the only way to win is to move to open space and talk. It is the drill U9 players ask for, and it teaches support without a lecture.
- Move to open ice when you do not have the puck.
- Never the same gate twice in a row.
Interrupt Breakaway to Breakaway
Finish on a high: players chase down the coach, lift the stick to steal the puck, then go the other way on their own breakaway.
- Quick stick lift, then keep your feet moving.
- Turn up ice right away: do not coast after the steal.
Run this exact practice
Open all 6 drills as a ready-made practice plan in DrillFlow: play every drill animated, back to back, or print the plan for the bench. Coach members can make it their own: copy it into your plans, then swap drills and adjust the times.
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