Game Knowledge
- 3
is the Key/Magic number in hockey
- 3
Key parts of the game to master (individual skill/team strategy/time-space management)
- A
triangle is the most dangerous shape in hockey (3 sides/points)
- 3
Zones (Defense/Neutral/Offense)
- 3
Lanes (Left/Center/Right)
- 3
Face-off areas (know if defensive/neutral/offensive)
- 3
Game Styles to play (Low risk/Neutral/High risk)
- 3
Rules of Hockey to avoid bad situations
- Last
man back can’t lose the puck
- Go
with the flow of the puck
- Choose
a defensive vs. offensive approach for battles on the boards
- 3
Rules of Defense
- Make
a Wedge - Force
your opponent to an outside lane (start when gap is big)
- Get
attacker to his back-hand side lane when possible
- Physical
contact between blue line and top of the circles
- 3 Rules of Offense
- Take immediate advantage of your opponent's defensive mistakes (don't hesitate)
- Be a threat with or without the puck (attacking and supporting)
- Create odd-man situations (attacking/regrouping/breaking out)
- 3
Rules of Goalie
- Attitude (Lining up on the puck from eyes down to skates)
- Angle (Developing good defense angles to taking control of the attack)
- Agility (footwork, stickwork, pads work, quickness and recovery)
- 3 Types of Body Contact - (separate the player from the puck - not kill them)
- Along the boards
- Into the boards
- Open Ice
- Never
fight a fair fight
- Odd man rushes rule the game
- Out-number your opponent in all offense and defense
situations
- All players on the rink have offensive and defensive responsibilities
- We
have possession of the puck (think Offensive)
- They
have possession of the puck (think Defensive)
- Nobody has possession of the puck (think Defensive first)
- 3
edges of your skates (inside/outside/neutral)
- 3
parts of the stick blade (heel/sweet-spot/toe)
-
Individual Skill - Player and Goalie
- Skating - Player
- Forward
and Backward
- Bending knees/skating low
- Transition Skating
(north-south/east-west)
- Edge control and body
balance
- Stride - using full leg
thrusts and utilizing the whole skate blade
- Crossover/Cross-under (knee over/under knee)
- Stopping on both feet and
both edges
- Tight turns/Escapes/Cutting
- Roll out/Loose turns
- Skating - Goalie
- Goalie Stance (Eyes, Body, Blocker, Glove, Pads, Skates, Stick)
- Forward (heels) and Backward (toes) Shuffle Stride for Small Area Movement
- Forward and Backward Long Stride for Big Area Movement
- 1 Pad dips Forward and Backward with long stride skating
- T-Glide vs. Side shuffle (roller) or Side Slide (ice)
- Post to Post movement through the crease
- Post to Point movement (post to top of crease)
- Post to Point to Post movement (post to top of crease and back to same or opposite post)
- Crease to Slot forward skate to Cover or Poke-check puck
- Half Butterfly and Recover to Goalie Stance
- 1 Pad Slide and recover (left and right)
- 2 Pad Stack and recover (left and right)
- Goal Protection from Wrap-Around shot
- Puck Handling - Player
- Top hand controls the stick and Bottom hand guides and adds strength
- Understanding stick positioning relative to the body
- Understanding hand positioning on shaft
- Understanding puck positioning on blade
- Forehand / Backhand cupping the puck
- Starting and Stopping with puck
- Wingspan - The distance the puck can move from each side of the the body while still having control
- Deking
- Pivoting on the puck
- Skating forwards and backwards with puck
- Transition left/right and forward/backward with puck
- Tight turns/Escapes with puck
- Transitioning from skating to shooting on the fly
- Dribbling (in front left to right, on both sides fwd to back, and diagonally across body)
- Roll out/Loose turns with speed and control
- Puck protection while skating and while static
- Stick Handling - Goalie
- Stick control with hand position from paddle to top knob
- Blade position and angle relative to pads and skates
- Blade vs. Paddle usage
- Static Poke Check
- Skating/Diving Poke Check
- Blade to Paddle Coverage
- Redirecting a shot on goal to specific areas (left and right)
- Stopping a shot on goal and clearing the puck to specific areas
- Stopping a rimming puck behind the net and setting it for a player (left and right)
- Passing / Shooting - Player
- Forehand / Backhand
- Sweep pass
- Saucer pass
- Skate pass
- Bump/Bank pass (using the boards)
- Drop Pass/Reversing the puck
- Tape to tape passing (precision passing)
- Tape to zone passing (area passing)
- Wrist shot
- Snapshot
- Slap shot
- One-time Shooting/Tipping/Redirecting shots on goal
- Passing / Clearing - Goalie
- Forehand / Backhand
- Sweep pass
- Saucer pass
- Clear the puck using Glass
- Bump/Bank pass (using the boards)
- Rimming puck to clear it or pass it to a player
-
Team Strategies
-
Team Offensive
Strategies
- 3
Rules of Offense
- Take
immediate advantage of your opponent's defensive mistakes (don't
hesitate)
- Be
a threat with or without the puck (attacking and supporting)
- Create
odd-man situations (attacking/regrouping/breaking out)
- Time
of Possession (TOP) affects the outcome of games
(Opponent
can't score if they don't have the puck)
- Team TOP will increase as Individual TOP decreases
(The avg Team TOP in the NHL is 5 sec or less, we want 2-10 times that)
- Identify your opponents Defensive strategies and find weaknesses
and strengths
- Trust your team mates and let them trust you to make good
decisions with and without the puck
- When we have the puck we are on offense
- Things you can do when you get the puck
- Pass to weak/strong side forward or backwards - make the
easiest choice
- Skate to open rink or toward support
- Shoot the puck
- Strategically dump but never throw the puck away
- All players on the rink have offensive responsibilities
- The puck must always have strong/weak side support - the more
support, the more options, the harder to defend
- Forwards must come back to support the puck in the neutral and defensive zones
- Offensive
puck possession through all 3 zones (breakouts, regroups, attacks)
- Weak-side/Off Side vs. Strong Side support and movement
- Opening the backdoor on the goalie
(pulling the goalie to the strong side and creating
weak-side/backdoor support)
- North
South vs. East West puck movement (rush vs. patience)
- Use
of Points, High Slot, Quiet Zones, Secret Zones, and Back Door
- Strong-side
defense holds the blue line / weak-side defense is last man back
(offensive zone)
- strong-side D holds blue line from blue line to middle of
face-off circle on boards
- Creating
Odd Man Rush situations (2on1, 2on0, 3 on 1 and 3on2)
- Creating good Angles of Attack (AOA) in the Offensive Zone
- Regrouping
in the Neutral or Defensive zones
(bringing the puck back only as far as it needs to
get out of harms way)
- Cycling
the puck in the corners creating 2 on 1 situations
- Cycling the puck in neutral zone D2F while regrouping creating 2
on 1 situations
- D2D
pass creates time and space for setting up cutting wings or
weak side openings
- Using
same
board D2F pass when D2D is covered Defense passes to supporting/trailing wing
- D2D
supporting the puck below the goal line in defensive
zone
- D2D cycling strong side of net while pulling attacker from net
to strong corner
- D2D cycling weak side of net while pulling attacker from net
to strong corner
- D2D pass behind the net to the open defenseman -
corner to corner
- D2D reversing/cycling behind the net drop pass - using
the net as a shield
- D2D
supporting the puck above the circles in the offensive zone
- Utilizing the defensemen at the point and high
slot in an offensive attack
- F2D cycling positions or puck along boards in offensive zone
-
Team Defensive
Strategies
- 3
Rules of Defense
- Create
a wedge - Force
your opponent to an outside lane
- Get
your opponent to his back-hand side lane when possible
- Physical
contact between blue line and top of the circles
- Identify
your opponents Offensive strategies and find weaknesses and
strengths
- Man-on-Man
vs. Zone defensive strategies
- Puck
must exit the defensive blue line to stop the attack in our
zone (Ice)
- Taking
advantage of having 2 defensemen vs. 1 attacker
- Keep/Clear
the puck out of our House
(slot/box area in front of our net is the high percentage scoring area)
- Smart
aggressive fore-checking creates havoc on your opponent's breakout
- Smart passive fore-checking creates havoc on fast breakout teams (underdog mode inline)
- Aggressive
back checking by forwards creates havoc on your opponent's attack
(Always back-check through the middle lane)
- Angling
your opponent - "The art of herding" your opponent to
where you want him to be
- Control/Influence
your opponent’s puck moving decisions before contact is made
- Pressure
vs. Contain
- Aggressive fore-check in offensive zone to force turn-over or
bad pass
- Soft/Smart
fore-check in offensive zone don’t get beat in their zone
- Forward’s
area of responsibility in the defensive zone
- High Slot and strong side Point coverage, center attacks puck
- Good
checking affects one man show games, must use physical play (Ice)
- Special Team
Situations
- Penalty
Kill defensive strategies of square and
triangle/diamond (wedge vs. box)
- stagger pressure before our blue line then protect the house under
the blue line using zone defense
- sit back and set up for an attack
- aggressively fore check the puck
- Penalty
Kill – offensive strategies of square and
triangle
- maintain possession of the puck and use the clock (use the
whole rink)
- spread the rink (4 corners) and create offensive opportunities
- Pulled Goalie is to create scoring opportunities (must think/act offensively)
- Must have Offense
- high risk play to put the puck in the net
- Must have Defense
- low risk play to prevent shot on goal or to maintain
possession
-
Time and Space Management
-
Time - Clock Management
- Understanding
the value of Time of Possession (TOP)
- I estimate a team possession to be 10 seconds which
would be the longest amount of time for a player to skate from 1
end of the rink to the other without passing
(in the NHL/College team possessions last 5 seconds or less)
- there is an estimated 234
possessions in 39 minutes of play
- the average cumulative Shots On Goal in a
game is 50-60,
of these only 5 - 10 result in goals
- that leaves an estimated 180 changes in possession
that don't result in a shot on goal, if the possessions last for
at least 10 seconds (usually they are much shorter)
- Taking the extra time to regroup, bring the
puck back vs. forcing it forward into a turnover, and moving the puck quickly to open players will increase
TOP and your chance for a quality shot on goal while preventing
your opponent from controlling the puck
- Aggressively taking the puck to the net is still a
very important part of the game
- Dumping
the puck vs. tying it up on the boards or regrouping (keeping
possession)
- Understanding
which game mode to play and how that relates to the clock
- Neutral risk (normal play in the game)
- Low risk (close game or we have the lead)
- High risk (we need a goal, focus is on offensive attacks)
- Recognize running or stop clock game play
- Penalty Kill - controlling the other team/puck for 120 seconds
- Penalty Kill - Offensively have TOP by spreading support and maintaining possession
- Power Play - using 120 seconds to set up a flurry of odd-man attacks
with no turnovers
- Power
Play - setting up the plays and positions with options, sell the deception, finding the open
man, and using the clock
- Space - Rink
Management
- Understanding
the opportunities created when given Space
- The average rink size is 180' x 80' - 200' x 100' (est.
14,400'SF - 20,000'SF)
- A regulation goal is 4' x 6'
- A puck is 3" wide
- Understanding Gap Control
- offensively keep a large gap away from your opponent
by moving the puck to open rink
- know when to aggressively attack vs. regroup
- defensively manage the gap from your opponent
measured by the threat he can create
- Understand how to gain and use space offensively
- Understand how to take away and use space defensively
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