Playing Defense

[15yearsofhistory 0]

I know this may sound obvious, but a good defenseman is DEFENSIVE minded.

Great post eric, I think I am more defensively than offensively minded as that is usually the position I will gravitate towards in most types of game or computer game I like to defend and support. I've been playing forward as that is were I was told to play as a beginner because I could do less damage to my own team there but now I'm thinking I'm approaching the skating skill level where I can start looking at playing defence.

I used to be the same way. My starting coaches always put me on offense because,quite simply, my defensive skill sucked. In the past few years I have been able to understand the ways of defense and have become very prominent in the art.

And when you're going for a poke check, go fo the triangle. Poke in between his skates and stick (be sure not to trip the guy.) This'll allow you to control his body and make him have to either get rid of the puck or make a stupid turnover. You can also lift the stick from this position and relieve him of the puck.

[dcdot377 0]

just make sure that on a one on one situation, you step up before the top of the crease. goalies will like you more

[TheBert 0]

just make sure that on a one on one situation, you step up before the top of the crease. goalies will like you more

You need to stop posting or stop being a dink.

[Steve_v3 289]

Exactly. Simple pokes work great. But remember not to look directly down at the puck when poking. He will see this and burn you. Focus on his torso, and use your peripheral vision for poking.

I know this may sound obvious, but a good defenseman is DEFENSIVE minded. I hate working with a defenseman that is always rushing up, always pinches, and spends 50% of the time deep in the O zone. If that is what you want, be a forward. It is always OK to do all of those at times, but pick your spots, and never at the expense of your D. The great defenseman love to play great Defense. I get more enjoyment out of crushing an odd man rush, poke checking a so-called super-star, and blocking a shot, than I get from scoring. Dont get me wrong, scoring is great, but great defense is better to me.

I'm the same way. I get much more enjoyment stopping a 2 on 1 or the guy who thinks he's a superstar. Half of the time everything is all fun until you stop him a few times. Then he keeps trying to beat you. Or the guy who can shoot very hard and takes slap shots from everywhere to try and show everyone how "cool" he thinks he is. I love blocking those shots.

When I score a goal it's great but eric42434224 is right on. Great defense is the best.

[Chadd 916]

If the guy is better than you and you have to cheat one way or the other in order to stop him:

Give him the outside and take away the middle of the ice. Most of the guys who dangle like to go to the middle of the ice and will go there no matter how you are positioned. Line up with your outside shoulder, with his inside shoulder. If you want to push him to your right, put your right shoulder in line with his right shoulder. That limits his ability to go to his right(your left). It helps you take away the middle and makes it easier to defend if he insists on going that way.

A smart guy will take the outside and try and beat you there but at least he's on the outside and you can get a little body on him that way.

[fatwabbit 93]

Or the guy who can shoot very hard and takes slap shots from everywhere to try and show everyone how "cool" he thinks he is. I love blocking those shots.

I love doing that! used to play against this guy who would slapshot from EVERYWHERE, even when off balance. I used to slid into his shots rather than across to block. NOthing pissed him off more than to have his shot blocked and have me then crash into him. Pissed him off big time!

I've always thought I was one of the fastest skaters, but in recent years, my speed and stamina have dropped quite a fair bit. I've started playing more defence, and not pinch in much (maybe once or twice a game). I've been working on my backward skating a little more as well, so that I feel more confident defending against the faster danglers.

This last tournament did a couple of things for me... showed me that I could still play at a relatively higher level of hockey, and a strong defence is much more important than having a team of players who have the individual skills, but not necessarily the chemistry to work together. The outlet passes I made during the games did give us a few breakaways, but alas, not everyone was quick enough to score.

[chk hrd 164]

here is a good tip for poke checking. When you are skating backwards and the puck carrier is coming in to you keep your arms in with your elbows at your waist instead of your arms extended. This usually suckkers the puck carrier into you about another foot or so allowing you to extend your arms for a good poke. The only time you should be moving your stick side to side is when you are trying to take up a passing lane like on a PK

[Chadd 916]

here is a good tip for poke checking. When you are skating backwards and the puck carrier is coming in to you keep your arms in with your elbows at your waist instead of your arms extended. This usually suckkers the puck carrier into you about another foot or so allowing you to extend your arms for a good poke. The only time you should be moving your stick side to side is when you are trying to take up a passing lane like on a PK

Once I push a guy wide, I usually add the sweep at that point. You would be surprised how often you can knock the puck off their stick. Great tip on the poke check, it helps quite a bit.

[docar15 1]

Dan,

All the advice you got is great, but it is hard to remember all, especially some of purely personal experiences folks may have shared.

Have you tried looking at your local bookstores for any hockey coaching books you may like? There are a couple out there that I favour and use. One is based on the works of Urzinov, famous Russian coach.

They have drills, tips, etc.

PM me and I can email you the titles I have.

[danielb 0]

Dan,

All the advice you got is great, but it is hard to remember all, especially some of purely personal experiences folks may have shared.

Have you tried looking at your local bookstores for any hockey coaching books you may like? There are a couple out there that I favour and use. One is based on the works of Urzinov, famous Russian coach.

They have drills, tips, etc.

PM me and I can email you the titles I have.

That would be great, I've been struggling to find good instructional hockey books, all I have so far is the official NHL book and the power skating one.

PM Sent!

[fatwabbit 93]

PM me and I can email you the titles I have.

Why not post it here?

[danielb 0]

Well I had my first pick up game at work as a defender and I really really enjoyed it, I felt much more involved in the game than as a newbie winger. I also found (surprisingly) skating backwards and going from fast forwards to fast backwards is allot easier when your not thinking about it and focusing on your mark. I played defence again this morning and I'm really enjoying the position and gaining confidence to not hang back and to move to the blue line in the offensive zone to support the forwards although I got burned a couple of times by faster players I couldn't chase down, although I could get close enough to distract them. Figuring out when I need to start breaking back to defend seems easy(ish), pretty much when the opposition gets the puck and looks like they'll hang onto it...

The only downer so far has been breaking a new Bauer Velocity composite stick (PM9) it got a cracked right across the shaft in the the first game and broke in training later that week, although it did give me the excuse I'd been looking for to try an wooden Easton stick in the Lidstrom pattern as I figure he's a good player and a defender so his pattern should work for me. So far the stick seems pretty good although the shaft seems longer than my other sticks (I'm 6'2" so I shouldn't need to cut it down) and the extra lift in the toe of the blade is nice although takes some getting used to from a PM9 which is basically flat!

[chilimax21 0]

What do you do if somebody is totally dangling and shifting left and right? How do you not let him embarrass you?

Focus on his chest, not the puck. Screw the puck. Let him make all the fancy dangles he wants, if your body positioning is good he will never get by you. Keep you outside shoulder (on a 1 v. 1) on his inside shoulder as he is approaching you, and mirror his movements while at the same time not trying to overcommit yourself. You don't need a big hit to stop him, just enough to disrupt his progress, slow him down, and hopefully separate puck from player. Make sense?

Would this be legal in a non check league? Some guys would use the body to kind of "push" the player to either slow him down or move him to the side.

[Smitty34 0]

What do you do if somebody is totally dangling and shifting left and right? How do you not let him embarrass you?

Focus on his chest, not the puck. Screw the puck. Let him make all the fancy dangles he wants, if your body positioning is good he will never get by you. Keep you outside shoulder (on a 1 v. 1) on his inside shoulder as he is approaching you, and mirror his movements while at the same time not trying to overcommit yourself. You don't need a big hit to stop him, just enough to disrupt his progress, slow him down, and hopefully separate puck from player. Make sense?

Would this be legal in a non check league? Some guys would use the body to kind of "push" the player to either slow him down or move him to the side.

I play defense in a non check league, and that is what I do. Just as long as you don't push the guy too long and completely ignore the puck, otherwise you will get called for interference.

[danielb 0]

I read somewhere to watch the hips of the opposing forward not the shoulders as there is no way for them to fake a movement from the hips but there is from the shoulders. This sounds reasonable but I've no idea if it works out in practice or not...

Any tips for making those long hard passes to forwards?

[Jarick 5]

I've been enjoying playing D more and more at pickup games. You see the ice a lot more, and at least for me, it's fun to have control of the puck in your end. At the lower level I play, most of the time on wing I'm hoping they can break out the puck since it's almost always below the dots...but on D I can actually snag the puck and move it out. I might even see about subbing on D for a few league games this year.

[Smitty34 0]

I read somewhere to watch the hips of the opposing forward not the shoulders as there is no way for them to fake a movement from the hips but there is from the shoulders. This sounds reasonable but I've no idea if it works out in practice or not...

Any tips for making those long hard passes to forwards?

I started playing defense halfway through the season, and one of the first things my coach told me to do was to look at the hips because that is the one body part that can't fake you out. After doing that, I was even able to shut down a couple of the most highly skilled players in my D1 league.

[justagame 0]

...

The only downer so far has been breaking a new Bauer Velocity composite stick (PM9) it got a cracked right across the shaft in the the first game and broke in training later that week, although it did give me the excuse I'd been looking for to try an wooden Easton stick in the Lidstrom pattern as I figure he's a good player and a defender so his pattern should work for me. So far the stick seems pretty good although the shaft seems longer than my other sticks (I'm 6'2" so I shouldn't need to cut it down) and the extra lift in the toe of the blade is nice although takes some getting used to from a PM9 which is basically flat!

Some great stuff in this thread. I also play D, not very well, but am trying desperately to improve. On the topic of sticks, however, I have one observation I've made from personal experience. I play better defense with a wooden stick, or at least with heavier, sturdier OP sticks. (Currently using a Synergy ST when not using wood). Two reasons:

1. When scrambling/muscle-ing for pucks in the corners, the heavier stick usually beats the lighter stick, all things being equal

2. Your stick is going to take a heavy beating when playing D

Other than that, I don't have much to offer, but am enjoying reading the advice here.

[Chadd 916]

...

The only downer so far has been breaking a new Bauer Velocity composite stick (PM9) it got a cracked right across the shaft in the the first game and broke in training later that week, although it did give me the excuse I'd been looking for to try an wooden Easton stick in the Lidstrom pattern as I figure he's a good player and a defender so his pattern should work for me. So far the stick seems pretty good although the shaft seems longer than my other sticks (I'm 6'2" so I shouldn't need to cut it down) and the extra lift in the toe of the blade is nice although takes some getting used to from a PM9 which is basically flat!

Some great stuff in this thread. I also play D, not very well, but am trying desperately to improve. On the topic of sticks, however, I have one observation I've made from personal experience. I play better defense with a wooden stick, or at least with heavier, sturdier OP sticks. (Currently using a Synergy ST when not using wood). Two reasons:

1. When scrambling/muscle-ing for pucks in the corners, the heavier stick usually beats the lighter stick, all things being equal

2. Your stick is going to take a heavy beating when playing D

Other than that, I don't have much to offer, but am enjoying reading the advice here.

I use one of the lightest sticks ever made and I never have any problems. THe key is having confidence that your stick won't break, or at least not caring if it does. The guys who think about their sticks while they're playing are the ones who get tentative.

[D-MaN88 0]

Alright, I have played D since I started playing competitive hockey. There are a lot of great tips and hints here but I figured I'd chime in and add some tips that always helped me and that I used when playing.

First of all, gap control is one of, if not the most crucial thing you have and use while playing. I always liked giving the guy with the puck a half stick-length to a full stick length until we got over the red line coming back into the D-zone. That's when I started closing it more and more til we hit the blue line or a little over then I would either A) use a small poke check to keep him thinking/knock the puck away or B) start to crossover to where I could position my outside shoulder to his inside and force him wide and in my case put a shoulder into him in the boards. Gap control as was said earlier gets easier and more natural once you get more comfortable with your skating and edges and overall crossovers going backwards.

As a D-Man, the poke check is one of the greatest tools you can use in both check and non-check hockey. I don't understand why more d-men don't use it. I sit and watch the younger kids anymore and no coaches around here at least that I have seen really teach it or emphasize how good of a tool it can be. Again like what was said, keep the motion short, and it really does help if you poke from your elbow at your hip. Lunging and using a full on forward arm motion will mess up your balance and the guy will go right around you as you have no point of stability anymore and you gave the whole poke check away.

I will add more to this as I think of more useful things I can add, but if you get beat make sure its to the outside. It's always better to make the other team shoot from an angle that the goalie should make an easy save from than a guy coming straight down the slot with full momentum ripping a shot at your tendy. Another tip that works well is if you get beat to the outside, when coming back to get into position, take the inside and keep your stick in the passing/shooting lane while moving your feet. I've played with and watched too many times d-men get beat and coming back with their stick lunged out but not moving their feet. If you get beat, get back as fast as you can and keep your stick in the passing and shooting lane until you get your body repositioned and in between the man and the net.

As you play more and more, you will find a style that will help your individual game out. Just remember playing defense means your job is to stop goals and not really to score them. It's great to have the O instinct and chip in every once in awhile but it's even better looking at the score sheet and seeing only + and not - knowing you didn't get scored on. If you have anymore questions, feel free to PM me anytime and I will give any and all advice I can.

[eric42434224 1]

Also, try to force him to make a move by the top of the circle, whether it be a pass, a shot, or a deke. I see too many of my D partners just keep backing up until they are practically sitting in the goalies lap.

[D-MaN88 0]

I can't stand that not to mention if I was a goalie and I just kept seeing the D keep backing and backing up. Eventually you will have to make him make a move. Just don't charge at him or your going to be a sitting duck to get dangled around. Force him with your stick and your body position, also, playing the same guys over and over again you learn their tendencies and it makes defending them somewhat easier. Just stick with it and work on the tips in this thread and you'll be fine.

[eric42434224 1]

Also, i was always told, that on odd man rushes, you should always take the pass, and let the goalie take the shot.

[Smitty34 0]

Also, i was always told, that on odd man rushes, you should always take the pass, and let the goalie take the shot.

Right. Just to elaborate on that, the reason for taking away the pass in an odd man rush is because it is easier for the goalie to just handle the shooter, and the goalie only has to worry about a portion of the net. If a pass is made, the goalie has to move all the way across the net, making it harder to make the save.

[D-MaN88 0]

While that point is true, you don't want to give him a full out open shot. Stay as much in the middle as possible while keeping an active stick. And if all possible don't go down, while this works, if you miss you are so far out of the play and have to get back up and back into the play where if you just stay on your feet and keep an active stick and gap between the two players is the better option.

Take away the pass but make sure you don't go so far over to the open guy you let the guy with the puck to get even better position to snipe. It's just like a 1 on 1, keep the shooter to the outside as much as possible to give him the worst angle possible while making sure you take the pass away. Just don't over commit.