ADM Kids

Games are fun. It’s what we watch on TV, and what we look forward to all season long. 

But what if we made practice just as fun? What if we filled a 60-minute ice session with mini battles, competitions, constant activity and engagement?

“Every practice is meant to simulate a game,” Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes said. “From 6U/8U up to the pros, those small-area games and battles are what 80 percent of your practice should consist of.”

Hynes is no stranger to the benefits of small-area games. A three-year letterman at Boston University turned NHL and USA Hockey coach, Hynes has utilized small-area games at every level he’s taught. His resume includes six seasons at the U.S. National Team Development Program (2002-08), two IIHF World Juniors, the 2024 IIHF Men's World Championship, the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, and of course nine years in the National Hockey League.

“Players like to play. They like to compete,” Hynes explains. “Sometimes we start Wild practice with a small-area game just because guys enjoy them.”

From a development standpoint, not only do small-area games contain those tightly contested battles that fill up three periods of a game, but it creates the opportunity for hockey sense.

“You have to read and react to situations,” he said. “I think small-area games allow you to have some offensive creativity. There are certain types of games that you can play to test your awareness and your hockey sense defensively.”

The game of hockey is broken down into small components whether we notice them or not. For Hynes, those are where the finer details can be found.

“If you want to work on certain components of your game, there are a lot of small-area games that we use in our system,” said Hynes. “It’s those detailed elements of hockey that are best worked out through things like 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 battles and small area games.”

Players should not be standing in a line, waiting for their turn at skating through cones. Through small-area games and cross-ice practice, there should be constant movement, constant engagement, and plastered smiles throughout the 30-60 minutes of practice ice time.

Not to mention, there’s still plenty of simulated game competition and high energy in a practice filled with all of that, too.

All of that generally equates to what makes a hockey game – and the sport itself – so great: the fun.

“You want it to be fun, right?” said Hynes. “You want kids to be able to get excited to come to the rink, and get excited about hockey in general because that’s how you keep players engaged so they want to stay with the game as they continue to get older.

“In small area games there’s play. There’s fun. There’s practice in there, too, but mostly it’s about them leaving excited to come back. I think as a youth coach, that’s always your No. 1 job, for your players to leave the rink in a great space and be excited to come back the next day.”