Every hockey player knows that the easiest and most effective way to improve stickhandling and shooting skills is with off-ice training.  Yet few players get excited about endless repetitions in the basement or garage. (and more than a few don't even do that!)

But getting off the ice doesn't mean the fun and excitement that comes from playing hockey has to stop at the dasher board door.

It's about time to introduce you to the game that helped give European players like Peter Forsberg those mind-blowing moves... Floorball!

Often referred to in European countries as innebandy, salibandy, or unihockey, modern floorball has a relatively short history.  The most accepted version of its origin is that the game was introduced in Sweden back in the early 1970's, and the sport's following grew steadily until the mid-1980's.  Then with the formation of the International Floorball Federation (IFF) in 1986, participation worldwide shot up dramatically.

Although the game is still most popular in European and Scandanavian countries, Floorball is now played in nearly 80 countries around the globe.  The number of registered players recently topped 300,000 and continues to show strong growth, especially in North American countries.

While the game has a strong following in its own right, the number of ice hockey players using floorball as a training tool is increasing dramatically.

For years, youth hockey players in countries such as Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic participated in Floorball games throughout the year.  Seeing children playing Floorball on the school playground is as common overseas as basketball is in the US.

The list of current and former ice hockey players who have used floorball as a supplement to their ice hockey careers is both long and prestigious.  NHL stars such as Peter Forsberg (Avalanche), Henrik Lundquist (Rangers), Marion Hossa (Blackhawks), Mats Sundin (Maple Leafs), the Sedin twins (Canucks), Marion Gaborik (Kings), and Mats Zuccarello (Rangers) are just a few who credit a good portion of their development to Floorball.

More recently, players like Steven Stamkos (Lightning) and John Tavares (Islanders) have added the game to their training regimine.  Stamkos recently found out just how valuable Floorball can be as seen in the following video:

Video:  Floorball w/ Steven Stamkos

NHL teams and National Development Programs have been using Floorball with increased regularity for nearly a decade.  Hockey Canada has added the game to their training programs over ten years ago, and view it as an essential component to skill development.  USA Hockey endorses Floorball as a training tool for a variety of reasons:

Floorball helps hockey players improve their stickhandling, puck handling skills, agility, transition, hand/eye coordination and passing. Furthermore, floorball helps improve the hockey player’s small area game skills which will challenge the player to act under pressure and develop a better understanding of the game.

Due to the many similarities between modern floor hockey and ice-hockey, modern floor hockey is the ultimate tool for ice-hockey teams where players are able to learn and improve their skills in an off-ice setting. Not only will the players enjoy practicing off-ice, the alternative training will bring great positive effects to the team’s on-ice performance.

With increasing costs of ice-times across North America, floorball is the perfect tool for creating fun, fast paced and useful off-ice training sessions.

The off-ice setting will also give coaches an opportunity to truly evaluate their players needs and skills and will give the coaching staff an excellent opportunity to really work on a one-on-one basis with selected players.

“Here in the US, hockey has been stuck with the feeling that development can only happen on the ice. With floorball, crucial skills and team work can now be developed and refined in an off-ice setting.”

Mike Bonelli - NYSAHA East District, Coaching Education Section Coordinator

Floorball is fast, fun and will assist hockey coaches in teaching players the fundamental skills and age appropriated training as described in the American Development Model (ADM). This type of cross over hockey activity will also help attract more players to the sport of ice-hockey since floorball sticks are affordable and the game can be played in virtually any setting.

Even experts who aren't hockey people recognize the value of Floorball in developing hockey skills.  Author Dan Coyle (The Talent Code) touts the merits of Floorball in this video with Pavel Barber, a stickhandling specialist with the Gretzky Hockey School and member of the Canadian National Floorball Team

Video:  Floorball For Hockey

As a training tool, Floorball proves most valuable with it's flexibility.  Using only minimal equipment, the game can be played on virtually any surface.  Size of the space doesn't matter, and neither does the number of players.  Don't have a goalie?  No worries!  Just use a mini-goal or "knee hockey" goal and play without one!

Want to give Floorball a further look?  Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Sun gives his take on the edge hockey players can get from Floorball in the following article, and check out this video of simple skills and drills that readily translate to the ice:

Video:  Floorball Skills

Ready to try Floorball?  INHockey.net, along with its partner Generation Floorball,  can provide everything that you need in order to get your off-ice hockey training program going.