Archive for the ‘The Whiteboard’ Category

The Whiteboard: How to rotate in the offensive zone

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Basics, The Whiteboard on Mar 28, 2012

This one falls under “The Basics,” because it really doesn’t take that long to explain.

When your team has three forwards in the offensive zone and solid possession of the puck, you have a lot of leeway from your coach to get creative, and have very little positional rules. Still, when the puck changes sides you want to do it as efficiently as possible, so there’s a rotation.

Priority 1A is keeping a guy high. Let’s take a look at where players will typically be to start, and where they eventually go.

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The Whiteboard: Looking at pro hockey’s most-frequently used powerplay breakout

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Whiteboard on Mar 22, 2012

The most important part of any powerplay is getting set up in the offensive zone. It’s also the most difficult part.

Once you’ve established solid possession there and have everybody in position, things just get fun. But prior to that, it takes tape-to-tape passes, good decisions, and hard work.

Obviously there are many variations to the powerplay breakout (the most common of which these days is to drop your best skill guy the puck at your own blueline and let him set things up on his own), but every team has one look that’s exactly the same: Old Faithful.

The diagram is below, but first, a quick explanation:

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The Whiteboard: A simple “switch” can make a D-to-D reverse breakout a lot easier

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Whiteboard on Mar 07, 2012

Most players who’ve played any level of competitive hockey have a pretty good idea of what a “reverse” breakout is.

There’s a D-to-D reverse and a D-to-center reverse, but for our purposes today we’re just going to be talking about the D-to-D reverse, because I want to look at what the forwards should do on that breakout to maximize their speed.

As a reminder, the D-to-D reverse:

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The Whiteboard: How a return to defensive focus can solve your offensive problems

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Whiteboard on Feb 23, 2012

When I found myself in a slump as a player, there was usually a reason: I was trying too hard to score.

What I mean by that is, I wanted out of the slump so desperately I was cheating offensively. When you cheat offensively, you sacrifice some attention to defensive detail, and the magnet that is the opposing net starts sucking you in that direction, into the traffic. And just like that you lose your oh-so-valuable ”offensive gap.”

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The Whiteboard: Positional play after a lost draw at center ice

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Whiteboard on Feb 15, 2012

No matter what level of hockey you currently find yourself at, there’s no doubt you find it more fun to win. And to make that easier, you need to be in the right places on the ice.

We’ve all played with the kid who skates like Duncan Keith but can’t think the game – he’s the one who sees a puck rimmed around the boards and takes this angle…

….instead of this angle.

Don’t be that guy making things more difficult than they need to be.

Today we’re going to take a look at where forwards should go off after a lost draw at center. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Whiteboard: Killing off a 5-on-3, and why the offense makes fans crazy with passing

Posted by Justin Bourne under The Whiteboard on Feb 08, 2012

Today on The Whiteboard we’ll look at the rotation teams use to kill off a 5-on-3 powerplay. The rotation is very simple on paper, but obviously gets a little harder on the ice. That whole “having less guys” thing means you have to do everything perfectly to get a stop.

For starters, let’s take a look at the most common offensive 5-on-3 formation teams use on the two-man advantage. This is where everyone starts:

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The Whiteboard: what’s your responsibility on a lost d-zone faceoff?

Posted by Justin Bourne under Teaching, The Whiteboard on Jan 31, 2012

(Note: with their being no actual hockey games over All-Star weekend, the features “The Whiteboard” and “Systems Analyst” are trading days this week - Systems Analyst will run tomorrow.)

This isn’t the most advanced topic in hockey, but it’s certainly an important one: what are the responsibilities of each defensive player off a lost faceoff in your own zone? A breakdown there often results in a quick goal.

Let’s run through every position.

CENTER

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