First Year Playing Defence

[iamcanadian 0]

Hey it's my first year playing defence. I play rep in the bantam age group. So far i'm good at offence because I just came from forward. Any tips on D would be great.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Get to know your D partner well. If you guys end up as two people controlled by the one mind you'll make a formidable force. Also remember the basics,

Keep an eye on the guy's chest, force him wide to the wing.

Don't give him too much room.

Hit the quick guys/snipers early to shake them up. Make them think twice about coming in your zone.

Pinch the F zone only when you are 100%.

Help out on rushes but always keep your Blue line on your mind.

[biff44 0]

Playing D is about sizing up the situation quickly and reacting. So really play attention to who is coming down the pike. If it is some duffer with his head down, be agressive and have your way with him. If he is some scoring stud that skates like the wind, give him a good gap and just be content to move him to the boards for a poor angle shot.

Keep you eyes open and your head on a swivel, as many forwards will sneak up in back of you and try to score.

If you are down low, tie up the forward's stick.

[tips09 0]

Don't be afraid to put it off the glass out of your zone, icing is the worst that can happen and its alot better than a giveaway and the puck in the back of your net.

[SuperMan3 1]

Don't forget, its your slot, don't let anyone in your slot, you can give him punches and cross-pushes and the ref won't call anything on you most of the time from my experiance.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Punches in Bantam? I can imagine thats a pretty quick roughing call.

[SuperMan3 1]

That really depends how competetive their team is lol, we had some Bantam call-ups last year and they weren't brought up for their goal scoring abilities if you know what I mean.

[phunky_monkey 6]

Don't concentrate too much on making the big hit, it's always nice, but don't do it if you're going to drag yourself out of position and create a scoring chance for the other team. Play smart

[SuperMan3 1]

Playing defense is probably one of my favorite things to do in a checking league, you get more chances to lay people out, but good thing my coach gave up on me for defense because there was 2-3 goals against me a game :P

[troy 12]

I support phunky, the most important part of the job is constantly maintaining all the angles and gaps necessary to eventually reward you with that hit.

[biff44 0]

And NEVER pass thru your own slot. If someone holds a gun to your head and demands you pass thru your own slot, make sure it is a saucer pass.

If you are the last guy to exit your zone, NEVER stickhandle the puck--make a pass to clear it.

[Shark#81 0]

Played D for the first season last year, thought I was doing OK but got my a$$ kicked in the first game of the playoffs. So went to work and designed a priority system to play by. From there went only two against for the remaing 4 games.

It's not the be-all end all by any means but even checked against this simple rules-based system there are pros making mistakes every day, and goals going in as a result.

If you basically forget about the puck and cloak the most dangerous man (tie up stick etc.) near the net you will prevent a lot of goals. Let the goalie do his job and let your D partner do his.

http://www.fmrecords.ca/system.htm