From the rink
Hockey training blog
Skating, fitness, workouts, and gear from 702 HOCKEY in Las Vegas
Unlock Your Speed: The Ultimate Player's Guide to Lacing Hockey Skates
The Ultimate Guide to Lacing Your Skates: A Biomechanical Analysis for Optimal Hockey Performance Ever feel like you're fighting your skates? Like you can't get low enough, or your feet go numb? Your lacing might be the culprit. We spend thousands on equipment, but the simple lace is the most overlooked and critical piece of performance tuning you have. This guide goes beyond "quick tips" to deconstruct the science of the skate-foot interface. We'll explore the biomechanics of your stride,...
Nicholas Gerasimatos273 views · 0 comments
Enhance Your Game with Hockey Skills Training Benefits
If you want to take your hockey game to the next level, there’s no shortcut around skills training. Most players have been there at some point, feeling stuck, watching others zoom past on the ice, wondering how they got so good. The truth? They put in the work. They committed to focused, consistent practice that sharpened every move. And you can do the same. Hockey is fast, demanding, and unforgiving. But with the right approach, you can master the fundamentals and build the confidence to...
Nicholas Gerasimatos81 views · 0 comments
Discover Hockey Fitness: Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide
Hey there, ever watched a hockey game and thought, "Man, those players glide like rockets, powering through every shift with insane stamina and strength?" If you're nodding yes but feel like you're glued to the couch instead of the ice, you're not alone. As a beginner, jumping into hockey fitness can seem intimidating. What if I told you it's easier than you think to build that edge? Welcome to discovering fitness hockey! This beginner's step-by-step guide is your ticket to transforming from...
val6 views · 0 comments
How to Build a Winning Hockey Morning Routine
Picture this: it's 6 a.m., your alarm blares, and you roll out of bed feeling like a zombie on skates. You hit the rink for early practice, but your legs feel heavy, your shots are off, and that killer edge you crave? Nowhere in sight. Sound familiar? If you're an intermediate hockey player chasing that next level, your mornings might be holding you back more than you think. That's where a solid hockey morning routine comes in. It's not about waking up at dawn for burpees or chugging protein...
val11 views · 0 comments
10 Advanced Hockey Workouts to Skyrocket Performance
Elite hockey players understand that the grind never stops. You have already mastered the fundamentals, logged countless hours on the ice, and pushed your limits in basic conditioning. To shatter personal records, dominate opponents, and elevate your game to professional levels, you need workouts that target the razor-sharp edges of performance: explosive power, unrelenting endurance, and puck-handling precision under fatigue. That is where true separation happens. In this post, we dive into...
val14 views · 0 comments
How to Body Check in Hockey: A Comprehensive Guide
Prerequisites for Safe Body Checking Before attempting body checking in hockey, beginners must grasp the prerequisites to ensure safety and legality. Body checking is a controlled defensive tactic to separate the puck carrier from the puck, but it demands maturity, skill, and rule compliance. Skipping these steps risks penalties, injuries, or ejection. Focus first on foundational elements to build confidence progressively. Understand USA Hockey Rules USA Hockey's 2025-2029 rules strictly...
val18 views · 0 comments
Unlock Peak Performance: 8-Week Hockey Training Plan
An 8-week hockey training program is a periodized plan for intermediate players that builds strength, skill, and game-readiness in three stages rather than one long undifferentiated block: Weeks 1-2 rebuild edgework and off-ice explosiveness fundamentals, Weeks 3-5 integrate puck skills and defensive tactics under game-like pressure, and Weeks 6-8 add full-ice scrimmages, resisted sprint training, and heavy strength work to peak for tryouts or the season. This structure mirrors the...
val15 views · 0 comments
The Complete Guide to Hockey Training by Age Groups
Hockey training by age means matching drills, conditioning, and ice time to a player's physical and developmental stage, following a model like USA Hockey's American Development Model rather than running the same program for every skater. At 8U Mites (ages 6-8), training centers on cross-ice small-area games that maximize puck touches while keeping contact and injury risk low. 10U Squirt (8-10) introduces edge control, passing accuracy, and shooting in confined spaces. 12U Peewee (9-12)...
val45 views · 0 comments
Build Peak Performance: Full Hockey Training Program
A full hockey training program is a comprehensive, periodized plan — typically built around a 12-week blueprint for intermediate players — that combines on-ice skill work, off-ice strength training, and game-specific conditioning into progressive phases rather than isolated drills. It moves through foundational strength building, explosive power development, and game-specific conditioning, layering skating mechanics, puck handling, shooting, and defensive positioning on top of squats,...
val7 views · 0 comments
The Ultimate 12-Week Off-Season Hockey Training Plan
An off-season hockey training plan is a structured, phased program — typically 12 weeks, spanning roughly May through August — that rebuilds strength, conditioning, and skill after the season ends without in-season fatigue. It progresses through four phases: Weeks 1-4 emphasize recovery and aerobic base-building; Weeks 5-7 build strength foundations through squats, deadlifts, and pull-ups; Weeks 8-10 add explosive power and plyometrics; and Weeks 11-12 sharpen speed, agility, and taper toward...
val10 views · 0 comments
Mastering Youth Hockey Coaching with ELEV802
You have a roster full of eager players, limited ice time, and parents expecting clear communication. The difference between a chaotic session and a development-focused practice often comes down to your tools. That is where ELEV802, a purpose-built youth hockey coaching application, gives you an edge. This guide is for coaches who already know the fundamentals and want a smarter, more repeatable system for planning, teaching, and measuring progress. In the next sections you will learn how to...
val4 views · 0 comments
Top Youth Hockey Warm-Up Drills to Boost Game Readiness
The most effective youth hockey warm-up drills combine dynamic stretching, speed and agility work, transition reads, gap-control reps for defensemen, and puck-handling activation into one short, structured block rather than a random lap around the rink. A well-built warm-up primes edges, hands, eyes, and lungs, turning a scattered start into immediate pace and confidence while managing load to reduce injury risk. ELEV802 Vegas structures its own on-ice warm-up block around 10 to 12 minutes:...
val20 views · 0 comments
Beginner's Guide to Youth Hockey Success
A beginner youth hockey league is a program that groups new skaters by age, using USA Hockey bands like 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U, and 18U, and places most first-timers in house or Tier 3 divisions where the emphasis is fun, fundamentals, and confidence rather than heavy competition. Getting started means covering the basics before the first practice: a certified helmet with full cage, mouthguard, shoulder and elbow pads, gloves, hockey pants, shin guards, skates, a stick, and a jock or jill,...
val13 views · 0 comments
Coaching Tips for Youth Hockey: Mastering Fundamentals
If your practices look sharp on the whiteboard but stall at full speed, you are not alone. Coaching young players through the messy middle takes more than enthusiasm; it takes clear fundamentals taught with intention and repetition. This how-to guide packs practical coaching tips for youth hockey into simple, repeatable steps you can bring to the rink today. We will focus on what matters most for mastery: edge control, body positioning, puck protection, passing under pressure, and accurate,...
val14 views · 0 comments
7 Essential Hockey Coaching Tips for Youth Success
New to coaching hockey and not sure where to start? Maybe you just volunteered for your child’s team, or you want to help a group of beginners fall in love with the game. Good news, you do not need pro experience to make a big impact. With the right approach and a few simple habits, you can build skills, confidence, and a positive team culture from day one. Looking for hockey coaching tips youth coaches can use right away? This beginner friendly list breaks down seven essentials you can put...
val3 views · 0 comments
Enhancing Youth Hockey Skills: Expert Coaching Tips
Coaching youth hockey tips that go beyond generic drills center on three things: structured practice design, small-group instruction, and measurable feedback. A repeatable plan for intermediate teams starts with a 3-to-1 praise-to-correction ratio to keep players receptive, then layers in SMART goals so each player owns one skill and one habit for two weeks at a time. Small groups are the accelerator, delivering up to 3 to 5 times more position-specific reps than full-team sessions, which is...
val5 views · 0 comments
Mastering Youth Hockey Skills: A Step-by-Step Guide
Skill progressions for youth hockey are age-specific sequences that layer skating, puck control, passing, shooting, and checking so each practice builds on the last, moving players from repetition to read-and-react confidence. At 8U, the focus is balance, fall recovery, two-foot glides, and puck protection in traffic; by 10U, players add edge work, crossovers, and passing on the move; at 12U, angling and gap control enter the picture; by 14U, players expand into breakouts, regroups, and...
val38 views · 0 comments
10 Engaging Youth Hockey Drills for Beginners
Fun youth hockey drills are short, high-repetition activities built for beginners with short attention spans, covering balance and edges, gliding, starts and stops, tight turns, puck control, passing, shooting, and small-area games that tie skills together. This list covers 10 engaging drills, each one spelling out the equipment needed, how to set up, simple steps to run it, coaching cues, and easy progressions or lighter options for younger or newer skaters. Drills like weaving cones for...
val33 views · 0 comments
Mastering Defensive Skills in Desert Hockey
A hockey training membership at ELEV802 Vegas is a tiered plan built for intermediate players who want specialized defensive training in the Las Vegas desert hockey scene. Tiers run from single skills sessions at $49.99 to an eight-pack at $391.99 or a 20-pack at $959.99, with Stick and Puck Time typically $15.99; players who train three or more times weekly often get the best value from unlimited skills access. Membership unlocks a loyalty program, priority booking, clinic discounts, and...
val7 views · 0 comments
Master Youth Hockey Skills with Free Drills
Gathering Prerequisites and Materials Step 1: Gear up safely Start with the essentials, a correctly sized stick, a 6 ounce puck, supportive skates, and a certified helmet with a full cage. For beginners, set stick height to the chin in skates and choose a flex near half the player's body weight. Skates should hug the heel and midfoot, then lace to the top eyelet for ankle support. Add gloves, shin and elbow pads, shoulder pads, and a mouthguard for full protection. To try gear for free, look...
val4 views · 0 comments