Body checking technique progression

Setup

1. Run this only where the players' age group and association allow body checking: check your association's rules. Women's hockey does not allow body checking, so stop at the angling and contact stages there.
2. Full equipment for everyone: helmet with cage or visor, mouthguard, neck guard (strongly recommended), shoulder and elbow pads fastened, gloves, pants, shin guards.
3. Pair players of similar size and skill. Set up stations along the boards in one zone, with a coach watching every station.
4. At the pad stage, a coach holds a checking pad, or a tackle bag stands against the boards.

How it runs

1. Stage 1, stance (3 min): knees bent, feet wider than the shoulders, head up, stick on the ice. Players glide and hold their balance while a coach pushes gently on a shoulder.
2. Stage 2, angling (5 min): the checker skates on an angle to steer a puck carrier towards the boards, matching their speed with the stick in the passing lane. No contact yet.
3. Stage 3, the pad (5 min): from two or three strides, the checker makes shoulder-to-chest contact with the pad. Stick down, elbows in, drive up through the legs, skates stay on the ice.
4. Stage 4, partner at walking pace (5 min): the carrier glides slowly along the boards; the checker angles in from the side and front and makes light shoulder-to-chest contact. Both players know it is coming.
5. Stage 5, controlled pace (7 min): the same rep at about half speed. The carrier practises receiving the check: head up, knees bent, body angled to the boards, absorbing the contact.
6. Swap roles every rep. Move to the next stage only when every pair does the current one cleanly; rest and water between stages.

Coaching points

• Contact is shoulder to chest, from the side or the front. Never from behind and never to the head.
• Stick down and elbows tucked at contact: the stick and arms play no part in the check.
• Both skates stay on the ice. Jumping into a check or charging from a distance is illegal.
• The aim is to separate the player from the puck, then play the puck, not to punish anyone.
• Receiving: keep the head up, stay square or angled to the boards, and never turn your back to play near them.

Common mistakes

• Launching from a long way out, or leaving the feet at contact.
• Elbows or stick coming up as the checker arrives.
• The carrier turning their back to the checker near the boards: stop the rep straight away and reset.
• Rushing to full speed before the technique holds at half pace.