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Are you still stepping onto the ice cold? Or worse: are you spending your entire pre-game ritual standing in a circle, reaching for your toes while chatting about what happened at school?
If that sounds like your routine, we need to talk.
From the moment you tie your first pair of skates, routines become your lifeline. Rituals. Habits. The stuff that separates the pros from the benchwarmers as you climb the hockey ladder. But here’s the reality: if your routine hasn't evolved since you were in Mites, your game isn't going to evolve either.
The goal of any hockey warm-up drills is simple: wake up the mind and wake up the body. If one is asleep, the other is useless. You need to be dialed in from the first puck drop. You need to be explosive. You need to be ready to improve hockey performance the second your blades hit the ice.
Beyond the Soccer Ball: Why Teams Love Pre-Game Games
We’ve all seen it. Walk into any rink lobby or parking lot 45 minutes before game time, and you’ll see a circle of players kicking a soccer ball around. It’s a classic. It’s a staple of the hockey culture from the NHL down to the local house league.
I love seeing these methods used for warm-ups. It’s a fantastic team-building activity. It gets the blood flowing, it gets the boys (or girls) laughing, and it builds that essential chemistry. But: and this is a big "but": it cannot be the only thing you do before you hit the ice.
Most of these soccer games are elimination-style. If you’re the first one out, what are you doing? You’re standing there. You might have five seconds of intense action followed by ten minutes of waiting for the next round to start. That is not a warm-up. That is a hang-out session.
To truly prepare for the speed of today’s game, you need more than a game of "sewer ball." You need a dedicated, intentional dynamic hockey warm-up that prepares your muscles for the specific stresses of skating, shooting, and hitting.
The Shift to Dynamic Warm-Ups
Over a decade ago, the sporting world realized something huge: static stretching (holding a stretch while staying still) was actually making athletes slower and less powerful right before competition.
That’s when dynamic hockey warm-up routines started gaining massive popularity. Today, they aren’t just a "pro tip": they are the standard. From elite youth programs to the Stanley Cup Finals, the shift is complete.
Why? Because hockey is a game of movement. It’s a game of explosive bursts, deep lunges, and rapid-fire core rotations. Static stretching tells your muscles to relax and lengthen. Dynamic movement tells your muscles to wake up and fire.
When you incorporate off-ice hockey training habits into your pre-game, you’re essentially "priming the engine." You wouldn't floor a cold car engine in the middle of a Minnesota winter, would you? Your body is the same. You need to raise your core temperature and get your central nervous system firing on all cylinders before you ask it to perform a 80-mph slap shot or a high-speed transition.
The Benefits of Moving While You Stretch
So, what exactly makes "dynamic" better? It’s all about activation. Instead of just pulling on a cold hamstring, you are moving that muscle through its functional range of motion. You are teaching your brain and your body to communicate.
When you add movement to your stretches, you aren't just getting "loose." You are working on balance, coordination, and proprioception. You are preparing your body for peak performance.
Here are the primary benefits of ditching the "old school" way and embracing dynamic hockey warm-up drills:
- Increased Muscle Power: Moving through stretches helps your muscles contract more forcefully and relax faster. This equals more speed and harder shots.
- Central Nervous System (CNS) Activation: It "wakes up" the connection between your brain and your muscles, improving your reaction time on the ice.
- Injury Prevention: By increasing blood flow and mobility in the joints, you significantly reduce the risk of groin pulls, hip flexor strains, and other common hockey injuries.
- Better Oxygen Delivery: Moving raises your heart rate and body temperature, which helps your blood deliver oxygen to your muscles more efficiently.
- Mental Focus: A structured dynamic routine puts you in the "zone." It’s 15 minutes where you focus solely on your body and the game ahead.
Essential Drills to Include in Your Routine
If you’re ready to take your pre-game seriously, you need a checklist. You don’t need a ton of space, and you don’t even need fancy hockey training aids for this part, although using tools like Snipers Edge Hockey training aids during your mid-week dryland sessions will make these movements even more natural.
Try incorporating these specific movements into your next pre-game:
- Forward Lunge with a Twist: This activates the hips, legs, and core. As you step forward into the lunge, rotate your torso over your front leg. This mimics the core rotation needed for a powerful shot.
- Knee-to-Chest Walks: Pull one knee up to your chest as you walk forward. This stretches the glutes and lower back while testing your balance.
- Alternating High Kicks (Frankensteins): Keep your legs straight and kick your foot up to your opposite hand. This is the ultimate dynamic hamstring stretch.
- Lateral Lunges: Hockey is played on edges. Lateral lunges prepare your adductors and groin for the side-to-side power of a skating stride.
- Arm Circles and Trunk Twists: Don't forget the upper body. Your shoulders and torso need to be loose for stickhandling and physical play.
Preparing the Mind and Body for Peak Performance
The physical side is only half the battle. When you’re doing these drills, you should be visualizing the game. Think about the hockey shooting drills you did in your driveway on your synthetic ice. Visualize the puck hitting the back of the net.
This mental preparation, combined with the physiological benefits of a dynamic warm-up, creates a "ready state." You aren't just "showing up"; you are arriving with a purpose.
If you aren't currently doing any type of dynamic warm-up before your on-ice events, you are leaving performance on the table. You’re starting the game at 80% while your opponent: who did their lunges and high kicks: is starting at 100%.
Level Up Your Off-Ice Game
A great pre-game routine is built on the foundation of what you do during the week. If you want to see a massive jump in your performance, you need to bring that same "dynamic" energy to your off-ice hockey training.
Whether it's working on your hands with a stickhandling trainer or putting in the reps on a shooting tarp, every minute you spend preparing off the ice makes your pre-game warm-up more effective. You’re building the muscle memory that the warm-up simply "unlocks" for game time.
The Bottom Line:
The game of hockey is faster than it’s ever been. The players are stronger. The goalies are more technical. To compete, you can't rely on luck or a five-minute jog. You need a system.
Start incorporating a 10-to-15 minute dynamic hockey warm-up into your routine. Focus on movement. Focus on activation. Focus on the game. The benefits are massive: not just for your stats, but for your longevity in the sport.
Stop standing around. Start moving. More. Goals. Less. Injuries.
Let’s get to work.
Edited in October 2025 from an original article written in 2017 by Coach Lance Pitlick. Based in the Minneapolis area, Lance is a former NHL player with Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers, played collegiate hockey with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and is a top hockey training professional both in-person and through onlinehockeytraining.com. He is also the founder and former owner of Snipers Edge Hockey.
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