5 Ways to Enhance Your Hockey Game Using Your Backyard Ice Rink

Paying for ice time at a local rink is pricey and adds up quickly. It can be hard to keep your hockey skills sharp when you don’t have a good place to practice. If you are serious about hockey and want to give yourself an edge, consider building a backyard ice rink. 

There are many benefits to building a personal ice rink that your family and friends can enjoy. With your own private space, let’s look at ways to improve your hockey skills at home. 

1. Skating Drills

Even if you find time to hit up an ice rink, it can be hard to work on your skating skills with other people around. If you have a personal place to practice, you can easily run skating drills alone or with your team to amp up your abilities. Some popular skating drills include: 

• Edge Work: Practice inside and outside edges to improve control and agility.

• Crossovers: Do forward and backward crossovers around cones to boost speed and turning ability.

• Quick Starts & Stops: Sprint for 5-10 feet, then stop sharply to simulate game-like situations.

• Backward Skating: Work on cross-unders and quick pivots to improve defensive skating.

2. Stickhandling Drills

With a personal or private ice rink, improving your stickhandling skills is easy. By setting up obstacles or cones, you can practice different stickhandling maneuvers, either in confined spaces or open ice. This will give you an edge next time you’re up against a tough defender. 

Some stickhandling drills to practice include: 

• Soft Hands Drill: Stickhandle in tight spaces to improve puck control.

• Obstacle Weaving: Set up cones or objects and weave the puck through them.

• One-Handed Control: Alternate between one-handed and two-handed dribbling for better balance.

• Quick Hands Challenge: Use a weighted puck to build wrist strength and quicker hands. 

3. Passing & Shooting Drills

Practicing your passing and shooting is easy on your own rink. Invite your team or friends over and set up drills to improve these hockey skills. Without other people in the way, you can have an effective practice or training session. Practice these drills to improve passing and shooting: 

• Saucer Passes: Practice lifting the puck over obstacles to improve accuracy.

• Off-Boards Passes: Pass the puck off the boards to yourself or a teammate to simulate in-game rebounds.

• Target Shooting: Hang up targets and aim for accuracy.

• One-Timers: Work on quick-release shots by passing the puck off a rebounding surface. 

4. Conditioning & Strength

Using your rink as a personal gym is always an option. There are many ways to incorporate strength and conditioning into your practice. Because you play on ice skates, working out with your skates on will help improve your balance and coordination while also improving your skating endurance. 

Some ways to improve conditioning and strength on the ice include: 

• Skating Endurance: Skate hard for 30-45 seconds, then rest for game-like conditioning.

• Lunges & Jumps: Practice hockey lunges and explosive jumps to build lower-body power.

• Core Work: Strengthen your core with planks, Russian twists, and stability drills. 

5. Small-Area Games

Getting friends and teammates together to play small-area games and scrimmages can help build in-game awareness and skills. Plus, you’ll have a good time doing it! With your own ice rinks, you’ll never have to fight for space or ice time. Try out these small-area games: 

• 1v1 Battles: Play against a friend in tight spaces to improve puck protection.

• Mini-Game Scrimmages: Play 3-on-3 or small-sided games to simulate real gameplay.

• Rebound Challenge: Take turns shooting, and the other player must bury the rebound. 

Build Your Minnesota Backyard Ice Rink with C&C Courts

Minnesota is a perfect place to build a backyard ice rink — with our long, chilly winters, you’ll have plenty of time to practice and play on your ice rink! 

With help from our professional design and builder team, you’ll love having a private place to play and practice your hockey skills. For more information about building a personal ice rink, give us a call at 952-234-9838 or request a quote online.