The Secret Training Ground Nobody Talks About
Sometimes, the best training isn’t about ice time.
It isn’t about the arena lights.
It isn’t about a perfect plan.
It starts right outside your front door — on the concrete, under the sun, where legends are built one rep at a time.
Set up a line of cones. Stickhandle through them forward. Then backward. Side to side.
Throw in a few toe drags for good measure.
Run it again and again until your hands catch fire.
Endless drills. Endless touches. Endless creativity.
And if you want to take it to the next level — grab a Puckaround.
Same size, same color, same weight, same feel as a real on-ice puck… but built for the driveway.
Add a Wraparound to your game, and suddenly you’re training with the exact same stick you use on the ice — but now it’s protected.
That’s when the fun really begins.
Because sometimes the best kind of training is when you let the terrain speak for itself…
…and you speak back to it.
Up and down the driveway.
Under the station wagon.
A quick give-and-go off the tire.
Into the garage, that slick oily floor, faking out the lawnmower before tossing a little sauce into a random cardboard box in the corner, right next to the rake and shovel.
Maybe this isn’t the “perfect” coaching advice.
(Or maybe it is.)
Do the formal drills. Get robotic. Build discipline.
But don’t lose your creativity — the crispy cling-clang pass off the random paint can, the puck slipping up over bags of fertilizer, the little sauce pass into mom’s gardening setup.
Harness that. Live there.
Because the best training isn’t just reps — it’s moments.
I miss the roar of the arenas.
I miss the thousands of fans.
But when I boil it all down, I always come back to this…
A kid.
A stick.
A puck.
Running the gauntlet of my driveway and weaving through the chaos of the messy garage.
That’s where the peace was.
That’s where the game was built.
That’s where the magic happened.
Now it’s your turn.
Get outside. Build your hands. Build your vision. Build your game.
Because the truth is simple:
Great players are built on the driveway.
Time to Level Up Your Training →
Grab Your Puckaround + Wraparound Bundle