Ringette Retreat Online Tutorial
Whew! In the Goal-Scoring Mastery Package, you’ve gotten a truckload of strategies, tips, and tricks to help you fill the net.
To simplify it all and keep you focused on all the right things, we’ve put together an Honour Roll of the Top Ten Goal-Scoring Strategies of All Time. These are a compilation of SOPHISTICATED goal-scoring techniques in order of least important (10) to most important (1). By learning the order of these strategies, you will be able to take charge of your own game and decide what is most important to work on right away vs. later. Here’s just a glimpse of what this tutorial includes:
- The Give & Go. Have you ever wondered how some goal-scorers are able to move the defensive triangle around like pawns in chess game? It’s because of the super-slick concept that top-notch goal-scorers have internalized. This tutorial will let the ‘cat out of the bag’ and show you what these players are doing.
- The ‘Spin to Win’. World class goal-scorers constantly fooling defenders and goaltenders by perfecting moves that simply CANNOT be defended against. This tutorial will reveal how you can develop the notorious ‘Spin to Win’ move (hint: I used this sweet little trick to score more goals than I can possible count). Like a master hypnotist on the ice, you will literally freeze defenders and goalies.
- The Accurate Backhand. This shot is my personal favourite, because goalies simply cannot read where it’s going. You will learn the simple keys to this lethal shot. By perfecting it, you will make yourself twice as versatile around the net!
BONUS SECTION: My Favourite SIX Stupendous Goal-Scoring Plays
NOTE: This online tutorial contains some review and some hidden gems that you have not seen before, so go through it very carefully.
In this online tutorial, you will learn insider, pro secrets to checking players 1 vs. 1. Here’s exactly how to use it:
- Read it over carefully and watch the DVD clips by clicking on the links. It will take about 20 minutes.
- Set your “Goal Scoring” goals for the next 10 days. I will help you do this at the end of this tutorial. You will probably have at least two practices and one game in 10 days, if not more.
- Try your new “Goal Scoring” strategies in at least three ice sessions.
- Evaluate yourself at the end of 10 days. How did you do?
- If you have any questions or want tips, email Laura Warner at info@lisabrown.ca and she will help you!
- If the goalie challenges you or goes down, deke her and shoot on your backhand. (You can deke and go to the forehand instead, but it’s harder).
Check out this DVD clip: - If the goalie backs into the net, shoot a hard, fast high shot to the goalie’s glove hand. Check out this DVD clip:
- Celebrate!
- Be sure you have a proper grip. Do NOT put your hand over the top of your stick – you will not be able to perform a backhand this way. Here is the correct grip:
- The motion of a backhand shot is really the same one as shoveling snow over your shoulder. Standing sideways to the boards and start with the ring on your backhand side at your front foot and flip the ring sharply. Make sure you are getting their stick under the lip of the ring before you release it.
- Keep you eye on the target when you shoot. This is called Quiet Eye.
10. The Give and Go
To score goals when the other team’s triangle is set up, your team needs to create 1 v. 1 and 2 v. 1 situations against the other team’s triangle or penalty kill. The Give and Go is one of the most natural plays in Ringette for doing this. The one key is that the ring carrier – whoever it is at any moment in time – always must be a threat to score. The ring carrier should be looking at the net, driving, and thinking about taking a shot, even if she chooses to pass back in the ‘give and go.’ Here are some basic options:
The Give and Go is so powerful that it is used in most team sports. In basketball, for example, this play is known as the ‘dive and fill’.
9. Smart Breakaways
Every player needs to have a plan for how to score on a breakaway. If you teach your players what to do on a breakaway in practice, you will convert on them often.
The secret to scoring on breakaways is to shoot according to what the goalie is doing. She will either a) challenge the shooter by coming out of the net pretty far or b) back into the net a little. Here’s the plan you give your players. It’s a simple, 3 step process:
What’s really cool about this breakaway strategy is that you can learn it really fast, because the backhand shot is so easy to raise. You do not need a wrist shot either because you can shoot a slider shot on the ice.
8. Set a Screen
Has your team ever faced a ‘hot’ goaltender? This is a goalie that is having a great game will likely stop all shots directed at her. What is the solution? A goalie cannot stop what she cannot see. This is the motivation for setting a screen in front of the goalie. Here is what a screen looks like:
The beauty of this strategy is that it is an extremely easy to learn yet it will massively increase your goal-scoring success.
Screening works, but most teams don’t do it. I think this is because forwards prefer shooting and playing-making to screening. In general, they don’t understand the massive contribution they can make to goal-scoring by screening. Want to test the theory? Play goal for five minutes during practice and have a friend screen you. You will immediately realize what a key role you are playing.
The success of a screen is dependent upon the shooter and the screener. Each have their own job and both must work together with excellent timing. Here is what you need to try in practice:
SCREENER’S JOB: A legal screen is set just outside the crease facing away from the goalie. If the screener turns and looks at the goalie, she will receive a penalty. The screener’s job is to block the view of the goalie. In order to do this, she must think like a goalie. As the ring moves around the offensive zone, the screener must move with the ring, just as the goalie does. Timing is crucial. The screener should not be setting a screen for her entire shift. She needs to read the ring carrier and put herself in position moments before a shot is likely to be taken.
SHOOTER’S JOB: The shooter must use the screen effectively. This means moving so that the goalie cannot see as the shot is taken. Usually, if the shooter cannot see the goalie’s mask, the goalie cannot see the shooter. Sometimes the screener may not be in the exact position to block the goalie’s view. The shooter has the ability to move the goalie to adjust. The shot taken should be low, so the screener can either move to avoid (by a small shift to one side) or she can jump to allow the ring to go through.
7. Spin to Win
I don’t want to brag or puff myself up here, but I’ve scored more goals using Spin to Win than I can count. There are two reasons the Spin to Win is so effective: 1) the goalie or defense cannot defend against it, and 2) you can use it on a breakaway, against one defender in the triangle, on a 3 vs. 2, and during a 1 vs. 1 break on the net. It’s also super-easy to learn and does not require a slick wrist shot. Check out the Spin to Win in the video clip below:
The key to the Spin to Win is to make sure you do not telegraph it. You must race the goalie to the far post as though you intend to shoot at the far side of the net. You only spin at the very last moment when the goalie goes with you all the way across the net. You must read the goalie. If the goalie does not follow you across the net, you don’t need to spin. You can simply shoot at the far side just before the post.
6. Use the Offensive Free Pass
It’s ridiculous how few goals are scored off the free pass in the other team’s end. The free pass is a serious advantage, but most teams just make a simple little pass out of the circle and start playing regular offense.
A free pass is a tremendous advantage because the other team cannot defend the ring carrier. She has a full five seconds to do whatever she wants without pressure. The most important thing to remember is that when taking the ring, you must be deceptive – fake one play, and then do another…otherwise the advantage is wasted.
The second reason this is so effective is that scoring on the offensive free pass demoralizes the other team. Often, you will score another goal very quickly because the opposition’s goalie is so upset that a goal was scored from the offensive free pass.
Here are my two favourite offensive free pass plays:
Practice these two options for 10 – 15 minutes at each practice for a month and watch your ability to score goals skyrocket!
A final ‘trade secret’ play for the offensive free pass is just a simple shot once the whistle is blown. Again, the other team’s defenders cannot channel your shot and block you from taking a good shot.
If you have a good, powerful shot, go ahead and shots from the free pass—but make sure you have a teammate screening for you when you do. The key in this play is to have a teammate stand to the side of the net before the whistle is blown. Once the whistle is blown, she can quickly move into screen position in front of the goalie. If you take turns between shooting and using the plays I’ve described above, the other team will not be able to predict what you are doing, and you’ll create a tremendous advantage for yourself.
I’ve scored several of the biggest goals of my career from the free pass circle, including one in the final of a National Championship and another in a Provincial mini-game–all because no one thought I would dare shoot from the free pass.
5. The Accurate Backhand
This is a variation of Spin to Win, but an even more powerful goal-scoring strategy. The accurate backhand shot is very a hard shot for the goalie to read.
It is even more powerful than a wrist shot because if you are moving with speed and you shoot accurately, a goalie cannot really defend against it. Also, a backhand shot is very good on breakaways and other breaks on the other team’s net, because it’s easy to deke with it really well.
The reason most players do not use the backhand shot is because it takes time to develop an accurate one.
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‘Quiet Eye’ comes from the groundbreaking research of Dr. Joan Vickers at the University of Calgary. She wanted to know why NBA basketball players like Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t sink a high percentage of their free throws no matter how much they worked on their shot. Using an expensive computer helmet on athletes to track their gaze, Dr. Vickers discovered two things: 1. If you look at a target for at least one second before you shoot, you are more likely to hit it. 2. You do not need to look at your target while you shoot, because you’re ‘aiming command’ is set before you release the shot. |
Dr. Vickers’ work reminds us that looking at a small target for ONE SECOND before shooting is the key to good shooting accuracy.
Below are some video clips of great moves to make use of your powerful back hand. Feel free to show them to your team at your next team meeting. Please be patient while these clips are loading up.
4. Knowing WHERE to Shoot on a Goalie
This is another way of saying that to score goals, you need to know angles. A shooter will either be shooting from the left hand side of the net, the right hand side of the net, or the middle of the slot. No matter where you shoot from, you will only have three or four holes to shoot at – and they are different for each angle.
You can have the most powerful and accurate shot in the league, but if you aim at the wrong holes, you will not score a single goal all season. Where you aim can often make all the difference. Here is a summary of where you should shoot to score:
When facing the goalie head on, your choices are:
The best choice (1) is High glove,
Second best choice (2) is Low stick side,
Third best choice (3) is Five Hole,
Fourth best choice is Knee high on either side.
When you are shooting from the goalie’s left side, the choices change to:
Best choice is 1) High Glove Side,
Second best choice is 2) Five Hole,
Third best choice is 3) Low Right Side.
When you are shooting on the goalie’s right side, your choices are:
Best choice is 1) The High Glove
Second best choice is 2) Low stick side,
Third best choice is 3) Five hole.
You can easily practice shooting at only these places during shooting drills in practice. AND – never shoot anywhere else on the goalie. There really is no point, and you’ll just be wasting a shot.
3. Isolating the Low Defender in the Triangle
Even when facing a triangle, you can still score if you’re skilled at turning a 1 vs. 3 into a 1 vs. 1. You do this by isolating the low defender on the triangle and attacking her directly. Note the diagram below.
Many forwards get confused about what they are trying to do against a triangle and insist on driving into the slot area right in front of the net, which means trying to bust into the triangle. If you can get to the Hot Spot (slot) in front of the net easily, that’s great! But, it’s not necessary to score a goal…and you’ll get checked most of the time when you try to drive between two players. A better option is to work with your teammates to get them to set you up with a pass on one side of the triangle so that by the time you pick up the ring, you are driving with speed towards the low defender. You can also just skate in from the side and drive at the low D.
When isolating the low defender, I always liked to watch for defenders who were a bit out of place at the bottom of the triangle. In one World Championship final, for some reason one of the opposition’s low defenders came out a big too far at me (and she was one of the best players in the world. I am still surprised at this). I drove, deked around her, and was able to score from right on top of the crease.
We covered this in the online tutorial on ADVANCED Strategies for Scoring on the Defensive Triangle. Here is a quick reminder of how to work with your line mates to set yourself up to shoot one on one against a defender on the triangle:
2. Getting to the Hot Spot
This season I’m playing A level ringette for the first time after playing AA and AAA ringette for my 32 year career. My new teammates are excellent ringette players. In fact, the only difference between them and my AA teammates is that they had a couple of bad habits.
Their worst habit by far is shooting from too far out. Despite having excellent dekes and superior shots, they rarely score—and for only one reason: they had never learned to consistently drive to the Hot Spot. Look at these photos of Team Canada players. Do you see where they are shooting from?
Here’s a long DVD clip for you to watch. Pay attention to the team in black.
You’ll notice that every time a forward gets a break on the net, she drives and tries to score. If she really doesn’t have a decent shot, then she sets up her teammate. This is the mentality that will transform you into a serious offensive threat. Not only will you get more shots, you’ll get yourself in position behind the other team’s defense more!
1. Make the Goalie Move from the Hot Spot
The number one goal-scoring strategy is to get to the Hot Spot and then make the goalie move! Remember, shooting straight on is rarely effective, even from the Hot Spot:
Only when you make the goalie move, do you guarantee there will be open net to shoot at. This principle applies whether you are on a breakaway, a 1 vs. 1, a 1 vs. 2, or a 1 vs. 3.
Check out this textbook example in this video clip. Notice how both players who shoot in the clip drive to the crease and move the goalie a bit once they get there.
BONUS SECTION: My Favourite SIX Stupendous Goal-Scoring Plays
For those of you who are serious ringette geeks, here are some advanced plays to help you get to the Hot Spot. Share then with your line mates and rock them!
Your Goal-Scoring Goals
Here are your marking goals for the next three months:
1st Month
To drive to the Hot Spot in every drill in practice and every opportunity in the game. Take the ring to the net with speed!
2nd Month
To perfect two plays that will help you make the goalie move, such as the Spin to Win backhand. Practice it, visualize it, and try it in games.
3rd Month
Memorize all the scoring shooting angles so that you know the best places to aim for depending on where you are shooting from (in front of the goalie, on her left, or on her right). Practice this until you only shoot for one of these high percentage places.
Personal Evaluation
At the end of each month, write at least two comments in the space below. How did you do? What was easy for you? Difficult? What improvements did you make?
1st Month
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2nd Month
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3rd Month
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Light it up out there,
Your friend,
Lisa B.
