Penalty Kill Clearing Drill
Clearing
Legend
- player
- partner / opponent
- ball
- movement path
How it works
Practice clearing the puck effectively from a penalty kill situation against an active power play forecheck.
What you need
- hockey stick
- puck
- ice
Your focus
Clearing under penalty kill pressure is one of the most demanding defensive zone situations a team faces. The combination of puck possession urgency and outnumbered defensive structure tests both technique and composure. Training this scenario repeatedly builds the mechanical habit of making clean clears even when fatigued and pressured.
Set up a 4-on-3 penalty kill scenario in the defensive zone.
Power play team enters with a forecheck and pursues all clears aggressively.
Penalty killing unit must successfully clear the puck over the blue line 3 times in 90 seconds to 'win' the drill.
Teams switch roles and repeat; debrief on what allowed successful clears.
Goal
Success is getting the puck past the red line on the clear, no icing risk, no turnover, while the penalty kill holds its shape.
Helpful cues
- Clear it deep, don't just move it two feet
- Talk to each other, call for the puck or call off a teammate
- When in doubt, go to the boards and rim it out
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Run as a 3-on-2 penalty kill to reduce pressure
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Require all clears to be passes to a specific zone (not just rims) to build controlled clearing optionsNo account needed
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