“Mohawks” or “Heel to Heels” are becoming one of the most commonly used skating techniques in the game today, however, we don’t often think of them as a technique for building speed. It is important that you do not get into too long of a glide while working on this technique, as the “hitting” (or shifting weight from 1 leg to the other) of the feet on the ice, allows us to be constantly pushing and picking up speed. When practicing this technique, it is important to remember that you will pull the puck wide around the defender or into the protected spot, prior to the hitting of the feet. We want to focus on pulling first, and then using the “Hits” to generate speed without allowing the puck to come to the centre. Even though we generally don’t often see a player doing exclusively mohawks all the way down the ice, you will very often be forced to do 1 or 2 of them, as you avoid a defender or try to regain your balance. If we are able to coordinate the puck protection and mohawks such as in this drill, it will allow us to switch back and forth with strides, or crossovers, seamlessly without losing speed or control!