Transition to defense

[Leafsrule16 5]

Heres the situation ; I have always played as a center in an offensive role, scored goals, made plays and my game really relied around puck possession. All my life i have played forward however when called upon (injuries, suspensions, penaltys) i have been thrown out on defense. I always wanted to play forward when I was younger, although now I see an offensive defenseman role was better suited to me.

This year our team had a very strong offense with 5 capable centers and it was tough to really get ice time, I have managed to score more then a goal a game, however our defense has been abysmal. Our coach played me on defense a few games in against a weaker team and I felt as if i really did a good job making plays, passes and even okay in my own end, the coach noticed and flat out said that i pretty much had to play defense as the condition of our d isn't great and there are no other forwards that can step back. I have good offensive instincts, however I prefer to play d first and consider myself a two way defenseman. Despite that I haven't really been overly embarrassed, there's one aspect of my game that i would really like to work on and that is one on ones.

Most of the time I have been forcing play to the outside and attempting to use my stick as opposed to playing the body (tried that early and despite a few highlight reel hits it really wasn't responsible in my own end). I just seem to misread some plays and I have to find a better way to utilize my stick on the one on one. Is there any tips, tricks or secrets to improving my defensive play with my stick and my positioning coming in on the one on one? Honestly, our coaching isn't great and they pretty much just say stay in your own end, but in order to establish myself as a quality defensive player, i have to improve my game to be better at both ends of the ice.

[Chadd 916]

In a one on one you want to push them to the outside, preferably on their backhand. You have to control the gap between you and the guy coming in on you and be able to read what he is doing. As for stick position, take your bottom hand off the stick and hold it so your elbow is on your hip or slightly behind it. You can catch the forward with a poke or sweep check until they figure out what you're doing.

The best way to learn is to play and make mistakes, though you can do everything right and still have the puck end up in the net if someone else drops the ball.

There are also some pretty good topics here with a lot of advice.

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index...lite=%2Bdefense