Pro Drills with Kristen Campbell
- Scan up ice immediately when playing a rim, even in practice with no forecheckers, to build the habit for real game pressure.
- Keep your elbow high on stick-handling situations to maintain strength and control on the puck.
- Follow your pass back into the net rather than returning on the same side — a technique emphasized by PWHL Toronto goalie coach Brad Kirkwood.
- Three-goalie practices can stay fully active with structured roles; each goalie in this drill has a distinct job within the same repetition.
- Visualize forecheckers during puck-handling drills even when pressure is absent, then add actual pressure progressively to simulate game conditions.
We often hear a lot of complaints about the challenges of having three goalies on the ice for practice, but PWHL Toronto goalie coach Brad Kirkwood does a great job of keeping all three of his goalies active and involved in this puck-handling drill from last season.
Kristen Campbell, who was named PWHL Goalie of the Year in the inaugural season, took some time to walk us through the keys to keeping all three goalies involved, and the specifics and keys for the three different roles the goalies play in this drill.
“Brad’s great about always having all of us go going,” Campbell explained. “Whenever we are handling the puck, he is really hard on us being the ‘Queens of 10-foot passes,’ and making hard, flat, accurate passes, so we’re always trying to hit all the details.”
This drill has three distinct parts for each goalie, and Campbell walked us through them one at a time, starting with getting out of the net to stop a rim and make a short pass:
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