How to Stop Missing the Net in Hockey

Quick answer

You miss the net for four fixable reasons: you aim at the whole goal instead of a spot, you rush the shot, you cut your follow-through short, and your head is down so you never see the target. The fix is a mindset change before it's a mechanics change. Pick one small target, get your eyes up to find it, then shoot through that spot and hold the finish with the blade pointed at it. A shot that hits the net can be tipped, rebounded, or squeak through a screen; a shot that rings off the post or sails wide can do none of those things. Train it with a simple rule: count how many of every ten shots hit the net, and don't chase corners until that number is 9 or 10.

Key takeaways

• The regulation net opening is 72 inches wide and 48 inches tall — 24 square feet. Missing it entirely is almost always an aiming and timing habit, not bad luck.
• Aim at a specific spot the size of a dinner plate, never at "the net." Your body follows your eyes.
• Get the puck on net first; picking corners is the next skill up, and it only pays off once you rarely miss the frame.
• Most misses come from rushing — releasing before your weight and eyes are set. Slow down by a fraction and your accuracy jumps.
• Follow-through decides direction. If you stop the blade early, the puck drifts off line and rides high.
• Heads-up shooting is a trainable habit: find the target, glance to the puck, shoot. You can drill it at home in minutes a day.

Why do players miss the net?

In thirty years of coaching, almost every wide shot I've seen traces to the same short list. Knowing why the puck sailed wide tells you which habit to fix.

• Aiming at the whole net. The brain cannot aim at a six-foot-wide box. Told to "hit the net," a player's eyes wander to the middle of nothing and the shot scatters. A target you can't name is a target you can't hit.
• Rushing. The number-one cause I see. The player fires before the weight has transferred and before the eyes have found the goal, so the puck leaves with no direction behind it.
• Poor follow-through. Stopping the blade the instant the puck leaves sends it high and off line. The follow-through is the steering wheel; let go early and you have no say in where the puck ends up.
• Head down. Stare at the puck the whole time and you are shooting blind — you never see the target, and you have no idea where the goalie is either.

Three of those four are habits of the eyes and the clock, not the hands. That is the good news: you don't need a harder shot to stop missing the net, just a calmer, more deliberate one.

Coach Erik's tip: When a player keeps missing wide, the first thing I check is not their hands — it's their eyes. Nine times out of ten they never looked up. Try this at your next session: freeze at the top of your shot and ask yourself out loud, "Where am I aiming?" If you can't answer instantly, you were about to shoot blind. The answer should be a spot the size of a dinner plate, not "the net."

Aim at a spot, not the net

The single fastest change you can make is to shrink your aiming point. Instead of the whole goal, pick a spot roughly the size of a dinner plate and shoot at that. It doesn't have to be a corner — early on, a spot in the lower half just inside a post is perfect. The point is to give your eyes and hands one small, specific job.

Why does this work? Your body follows your eyes and your follow-through. Lock onto a small target and point your blade at it through the finish, and your mechanics organize around that line. "The net" gives them no line, so the shot scatters. Cue: "small target, hard finish." Hang a set of shooting targets in the corners of your goal so you always have a real spot to shoot at — it's the quickest accuracy upgrade I know, and it makes practice honest because you either hit it or you don't.

Here is how I have players scale the target down as they improve. Start big, and only shrink the aiming point once you are consistent at the current size.

Stage	Aim at	Goal for that stage	Move on when…
1. Hit the frame	Anywhere inside the net	Never miss the net	10 of 10 shots on net
2. Pick a half	Lower-left or lower-right half	Choose a side on purpose	8 of 10 land in the called half
3. Dinner plate	A spot just inside a post	Hit a plate-sized area	6 of 10 hit the spot
4. Corners	A hanging target in the corner	Beat a set target	5 of 10 hit the target

Hit the net first, before the corners

Players confuse missing the net with missing the corner. Missing the corner by a few inches still puts the puck on goal, where it can be rebounded, deflected by a teammate, or trickle through a screen. Missing the net entirely gives the goalie a free breather and often sends the puck the other way. A shot on net is always working for you; a shot that misses the frame is doing nothing.

So the order matters. Get the puck on net reliably first, then earn the corners. A player who hits the net ten times out of ten and picks a corner five times out-scores one who goes top-corner every time and misses the net half of them. The corner shooter looks flashy in the driveway and quiet on the scoresheet. Once you rarely miss the frame, precise corner placement is the natural next step — that's where our guide to shooting accuracy training picks up.

A few habits keep the puck on net when it counts:

• Keep it low unless you have a reason to go high. A low shot has more margin for error and stays hittable for rebounds and tips. Cue: "low and on, not high and gone." Save the top shelf for when the goalie's glove or blocker is clearly down.
• Close the blade over the puck. A blade tilted forward keeps the shot down and disguises your release; a blade open to the sky launches pucks over the crossbar.
• Take a half-second to be sure. If you have time and space, use it — settling into a better position beats a wild shot from a bad angle almost every time.

Coach Erik's tip: The players who make it value a shot on net over a highlight — a boring goal counts exactly the same as a pretty one. If you're missing the net, take the corners off your menu for two weeks. Shoot only at "inside the net," get that number to ten out of ten, and watch how many more pucks find their way in once you stop giving them away wide.

A shots-on-net practice method

You don't fix missing the net with a hundred careless shots — you fix it with a method that scores every rep. Work on a smooth surface with a shooting pad so the puck glides like it does on ice, aiming at a real full-size goal with targets hung in it. Run this progression:

1. Eyes-up finder (2 minutes). Practice the look: settle the puck, lift your eyes to the target, glance back to the puck, shoot. Cue: "find it, then fire." Make the look-up automatic before you add power.
2. On-net tens (4 sets of 10). Shoot ten pucks with one rule — hit the net. Count out loud, ignore corners. Your only score is how many of ten stayed on the frame. Repeat until you get 10 of 10 two sets in a row.
3. Called-side shots (3 sets of 10). Name a half — "left" or "right" — before each shot and land it there. This forces you to aim and to look, killing the two biggest miss habits at once.
4. Slow-motion finish (2 sets of 10). Shoot at half speed and hold your follow-through for a full second, blade pointed at the target. Watch for: the blade stopping the instant the puck leaves — that is the miss you're training out.
5. Under a clock (3 sets of 10). Give yourself one second from the moment the puck touches your blade to release, still aiming at a called spot. This rebuilds the shot under real-game pressure — but now the aim habit is already in place. A shooter tutor that leaves only the corners exposed keeps this drill honest, because a miss is obvious the moment it happens.

That's a focused twenty-five-minute session, and a hundred shots a day run this way beat five hundred careless ones. Constraint tip: when the on-net tens get easy, shrink the space — step to a sharper angle or start the puck in your feet so you have to pull it into position first. Game misses happen off awkward angles and rushed setups, so practice there once the basics hold.

Common mistakes

• Aiming at "the net." No specific target means no line for your body to follow. Fix: pick a dinner-plate-sized spot every shot, even in warm-up.
• Rushing the release. Firing before your weight and eyes are set is the top cause of wide shots. Fix: add a deliberate half-second, and only speed up once the aim habit holds.
• Head down the whole time. You can't hit what you never looked at. Fix: train the eyes-up finder — target, puck, shoot.
• Short follow-through. Stopping the blade early sends the puck high and off line. Fix: hold the finish for a beat, blade pointed at your spot.
• Open blade to the sky. An open face launches pucks over the crossbar. Fix: close the blade over the puck and keep shots low unless you have a clear high opening.
• Chasing corners too soon. Going top-shelf before you can reliably hit the frame just multiplies misses. Fix: get to 10 of 10 on net first.

FAQ

Why do I keep missing the net when I shoot?

Almost always one of four habits: aiming at the whole net instead of a spot, rushing the release before your weight and eyes are set, cutting your follow-through short, or shooting with your head down. Fix the eyes and the timing first — pick a small target, look up to find it, and hold your finish. Most misses are aiming problems, not a lack of shot power.

Should I aim for the corners or just hit the net?

Hit the net first. A shot on goal can be tipped, rebounded, or slip through a screen; a shot that misses the frame does nothing. Get to where you rarely miss the net, then start picking corners. A player who reliably hits the net out-scores one who goes top-shelf and misses half the time.

How do I stop shooting the puck over the net?

Two things send pucks high: an open blade tilted back toward the sky, and a follow-through that flicks upward. Close the blade forward over the puck so the face points down, and finish low — point your blade at a spot in the lower half of the net and hold it there. Keep shots low unless the goalie's glove or blocker is clearly down.

Does aiming at a target really help?

Yes, more than almost anything else. Your body follows your eyes and your follow-through, so a small, specific target organizes your mechanics around one line. "The net" gives your brain nothing to lock onto. Physical targets in your goal also make practice honest — you either hit the spot or you don't.

How many shots a day should I take to improve?

Quality beats quantity. About 100 focused shots a day, where you score every rep for whether it hit the net or the called spot, will do more than 500 careless ones. Twenty-five minutes with a clear method — on-net tens, called sides, a slow-motion finish, and a shot under a one-second clock — is plenty.

Why do I miss the net in games but not in practice?

Games add pressure and speed, which triggers the rushing habit, and they force you to shoot from awkward angles you rarely practice. Bridge the gap by training under a clock and from sharper angles at home, so the aim-and-look habit survives when the pace picks up.

Summary

Missing the net is a habit, and habits can be retrained. Pick a spot the size of a dinner plate, get your eyes up to find it, shoot through it, and hold the follow-through with the blade pointed at your target. Hit the net first and earn the corners later — a puck on goal is always working for you. Score every rep for whether it stayed on the frame, add a clock and sharper angles as you improve, and keep your shots low and honest. For the next step from on-net to pinpoint placement, see our shooting accuracy training guide, learn exactly where to shoot to score goals, sharpen your weight transfer for shooting, and browse the full Hockey Shooting hub for more drills. Then put in the reps — you stop missing the net one deliberate shot at a time.