Help me make sense of the ice game

[doodman 0]

I played roller for a number of years and I have to say I was a pretty good shut down 'D'. I avoided giving up breakaways, I was hard to get around, never gave up the middle, played 2 on 1s right, etc. I was overall always a PLUS player.

Now that I've played Ice for awhile (as D of course) I'm playing terrible. I knew there'd be a learning curve but I'm frustrated. I make all kinds of mistakes: I get caught flatfooted, get stuck in no man's land, pinch when I shouldn't, carry when I shouldn't, etc. I am the goat on so many plays, I'm a MINUS player :(

Someone please help simplify this game for me yeesh!

[Bravada 442 0]

What is it that's bothering you? The speed? The larger rink? Are you not as good a skater? The extra guy?

Personally I found my ice game to be much better than my roller because the offsides and icing help to stop the cherry pickers and despite learning on roller, I'm a much better ice skater than roller which allows me to close gaps better and be more aggressive without being out of position.

[doodman 0]

What is it that's bothering you? The speed? The larger rink? Are you not as good a skater? The extra guy?

Personally I found my ice game to be much better than my roller because the offsides and icing help to stop the cherry pickers and despite learning on roller, I'm a much better ice skater than roller which allows me to close gaps better and be more aggressive without being out of position.

My decision making is my problem. Maybe it's the extra player. Now I see why they say D-man develop slowly

[frankie56 0]

I think the faster speed and extra man makes reading the play much more difficult.

[hamstercaster 2]

When on the bench, watch how the other D men play, but more importantly, try to get a grasp your forwards trends and patterns. A lot of players react do the exact same play in the exact same situation. For exemple, if you have the puck behind the net, your center may come back and do some cross overs to gain speed and be ready for a pass. If he does the same thing over and over, you know that if the passing lane is clean he will be a good option for you. You may even use the boards to pass it up to the center or on the wing. If pressed, clear the zone using the glass. When the play is developing, you should already know what you are going to do if it develops in your area or if you are about to get the puck. For exemple, they clear their zone and you are skating back to get the puck. You should already be aware if someone's chasing you down or not and what you will do once you get the puck. You are being chased down? If you are faster than he is, your play may be to play the puck and skate up ice until you can spot a player you can safely pass the puck too.

Is he faster? Then your best bet is to clear the puck as you get to it. One of your winger should have backchecked by now and be ready to help you, or worst comes to worst, use the glass to clear it.

Pinching in is all a matter of how the play is developing combined with your own abilities. If you are not very good or fast, you may want to play it safe and start backing out right away instead of forcing the play unless someone else is close enough to the play to cover you. If you pinch and miss, it's a breakaway or an odd man rush. If you can't correct a mistake by lack of talent or speed, you're better off playing it safe.

You should also always pass the puck ahead to moving skaters, provided the passing lane is good. The last thing you want is your forwards having to stop at the blue line and wait for you. Try and keep your feet moving as much as you can. This way you'll always be ready to jump in any direction the play is developing.

Better players will probably agree, disagree or add more to it. A lot of it is based on my own playing experience before retiring. I was a pretty decent d man, albeit, slow as hell. Portray me as some type of Craig Ludwig but with better hands and better passing skills lol but equally as slow... or slower, but equally apt at blocking shots even when playing shinny!

[Chadd 916]

My decision making is my problem. Maybe it's the extra player. Now I see why they say D-man develop slowly

Decision making improves with experience. Every time you get burned, you should learn from it. The one bit of advice that really helped me when playing defense was that you're better off making a mistake at 100% than changing your mind in the middle of the play. A bad pinch is bad enough, but backing off halfway through to try and get back is even worse. Now there is no forecheck on the man with the puck and there's probably another guy behind you as well.

As for the extra player, it's all about awareness. Don't get too focused on the man or the puck unless you're in a one on one situation.

[shotty 7]

if ice hockey was played 4 on 4, i'd be in the nhl as a D man.

all jokes aside though... thats probably the biggest adjustment you'll have to make.

i'd say: watch lots of pro hockey. unlike superstar forwards, mimicking a solid defenceman is easy to do because their job is very mechanical and almost routine. your job in the defensive zone is to create turn overs and break the puck out. in the offensive zone your job is to keep the puck in. every time you do something "crazy" like pinch or cycle or try to carry the puck out of the zone yourself, you risk giving them opposition a scoring opportunity. keep your head up always, know where your forwards are, know where your man is, communicate with your forwards, most importantly; your centreman (when you're in your own zone), keep the puck to the outside, use the glass. in front of the net, your job isnt to touch the puck, its to make sure that the other team DOESN'T. let your centreman grab the loose pucks while you tie up the sticks of your opposition.

i'm sure i'll think of more.

[Darkbyte 0]

I played roller for a number of years and I have to say I was a pretty good shut down 'D'. I avoided giving up breakaways, I was hard to get around, never gave up the middle, played 2 on 1s right, etc. I was overall always a PLUS player.

Now that I've played Ice for awhile (as D of course) I'm playing terrible. I knew there'd be a learning curve but I'm frustrated. I make all kinds of mistakes: I get caught flatfooted, get stuck in no man's land, pinch when I shouldn't, carry when I shouldn't, etc. I am the goat on so many plays, I'm a MINUS player :(

Someone please help simplify this game for me yeesh!

I know exactly what you mean.

This is where you start to realise just how different ice and inline are. You are probably doing a lot of subtle "inline things" and the guys you are playing with have no clue about. You know how it is, if you and your D partner arent on the same subconsious page, things dont work as well as they should. Have a chat with him/her, maybe explain what you were trying to do when you get caught out, and hopefully they will have something constructive to say about why it didnt work, or perhaps it was a case of bad luck.

Its hard to get away from the "box/diamond" mentality and while you are overanalysing what you are doing, even the right things dont work as well as you'd hope.

[doodman 0]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm going to read and reread to see if i can digest all this

[t6lock 24]

I find roller to be a more straight forward individual man to man coverage kind of game, and it can also be easier only having to worry about 2 forwards forechecking and not having to rotate with your forwards too much. Playing ice I find there is a lot more structure to the game and u have to know ur positions better than great. Rotating with wingers on the boards or centermen in the slot can be a little trickier when ur not on the same page. There is definitely a big cut in pinching as a defensemen in ice so u may want to slow that down a bit unless ur 110% sure ur going to make a good chance out of it. Pinching isnt as necessary when u have 3 forwards in front of u, and in roller its usually unlikely that one of the forwards will cover for u.

should mention this is all just my opinion