How do I play against faster guys?

[Beflar 53]

I'm a duffer king, I play right wing and have very average speed. Here is the situation:

This guy was so good of catching me from behind, usually as I cross the blueline, slapping at the puck and taking the puck away. What should I do? What should I try to do? What would a coach tell me to work on? I mostly play duffer but it's usually pretty good hockey.

[Chadd 916]

Either move the puck to a teammate before you get caught, or put your body in a position to protect the puck.

[Stewie 721]

as Chadd mentioned, outside of working on your own speed, your options are to either position yourself to avoid the stick lift or poke check, or move the puck either to a teammate, or deep into the zone.

[akravetz 29]

Great question. What if you are a D-man, which is my position .I am not as fast going backwards or even forwards as some of the guys I play against. So I'll stay home, preferring to hang out at the center line to break up the rush or to catch a cherry picker. I try to use the stick to poke check as a first line of defense and then try to push them to the outside. Is there anther such as what you told the guy above (granted he's a winger) that I could do or is this about it, and well, if you are slow, you are slow.

Andy in peoria

p.s. we have a few new guys on the squad who are put into the wing slot. What we tend to do is to keep them up near the blue line looking for a breakout and a long pass. We play in a low-level league so if you have some skill, you can get by some guys. My problem on D is that I can stop most of the people but those who are, in reality, too good for that level.

[Stewie 721]

When I play D, and I see a guy with speed greater than mine approaching hard, my number one goal is to push them to the outside. if they are on the attack quickly and I am playing the puck, thats time to wrap it around the boards either side depending on the probability of a good outcome, or sometimes i turn around quick and protect the puck with my feet.

[hunt3rsean 44]

As for being the slower skater vs faster back-checker/defender. . . .I will position myself to protect the puck or look to move the puck to a teammate at zone entry. The other thing is to bait the back-checker. Learn to feel him coming and give yourself a little back pass off the boards. It's a risky move, but if you can time it correctly it often causes the back-checker to fly by or hold up giving you a second or two to move the puck. But, again, you have to do it in a manner that allows you to protect the puck with your body.

My experience, playing defense against faster players, is gap control. The defensemen on my team LOVE to jump in the offensive zone. This means I'm usually the guy who rotates high to fill the spot. I'm often caught playing defense after a turnover and am not a strong backwards skater. I've learned to combat faster/better offensive players is to learn better gap control and push them to the boards. This causes him to slow up and allow your other defender to support or play the pass. Also, no second guessing. Make your decision and stick to your guns. You get in big trouble second guessing yourself against a faster player. I know from experience....oops!

[crispy92 14]

(Let it be known I play D mainly and have trouble with this myself, so by all means tell me I have no idea what im talking about.) As a D-man my understanding is positioning is key. You want to mainly prevent the forward from cutting into the middle of the ice and getting one off. So while backing into the zone you want to give him enough space that he won't just skate past you on the outside and have a breakaway, while also being close enough that if he tries to cut inside, your there with the body, a poke, etc. Now if your not as fast like me, using angles can help a little. Meaning if he is skating to the outside and hes right against the boards, cut the angle a little bit while making sure your also not overplaying.

But then again that is my problem too that I am too slow. So maybe someone who is better can chime in here.

As for forwards you can do what has been stated already as well as keeping your head up a little more and watch out for the player coming. When you can see someone high tailing it in your direction it is much easier to avoid them.

[Souldriver 64]

All of what others said plus positioning for you and your stick. Not only where your body is but where you put your stick will affectly greatly what others can do to you and what you can do to them.

[Chadd 916]

Great question. What if you are a D-man, which is my position .I am not as fast going backwards or even forwards as some of the guys I play against. So I'll stay home, preferring to hang out at the center line to break up the rush or to catch a cherry picker. I try to use the stick to poke check as a first line of defense and then try to push them to the outside. Is there anther such as what you told the guy above (granted he's a winger) that I could do or is this about it, and well, if you are slow, you are slow.

Andy in peoria

p.s. we have a few new guys on the squad who are put into the wing slot. What we tend to do is to keep them up near the blue line looking for a breakout and a long pass. We play in a low-level league so if you have some skill, you can get by some guys. My problem on D is that I can stop most of the people but those who are, in reality, too good for that level.

On D, you just try to take away the middle of the ice and push them to the outside. If you have a guy that is really fast, just try to buy some time for a backchecking forward (in a beer league?) to come back down the middle and help out. I tend to keep my stick back a bit as well, until I'm ready for the poke check. If I am standing up and facing the guy, I take my bottom hand off the stick and keep the elbow of my top hand right on my hip. That encourages the guy to get too close and allows me to poke or sweep the puck off his stick as I suddenly have an extra 2-3' of reach that he wasn't expecting. Bait them in and then knock it away. I also like to time my challenge to be at or near the blue line. It doesn't take much to create an offside play and you can stop a rush with a play that would otherwise allow them to keep possession of the puck.

(Let it be known I play D mainly and have trouble with this myself, so by all means tell me I have no idea what im talking about.) As a D-man my understanding is positioning is key. You want to mainly prevent the forward from cutting into the middle of the ice and getting one off. So while backing into the zone you want to give him enough space that he won't just skate past you on the outside and have a breakaway, while also being close enough that if he tries to cut inside, your there with the body, a poke, etc. Now if your not as fast like me, using angles can help a little. Meaning if he is skating to the outside and hes right against the boards, cut the angle a little bit while making sure your also not overplaying.

But then again that is my problem too that I am too slow. So maybe someone who is better can chime in here.

As for forwards you can do what has been stated already as well as keeping your head up a little more and watch out for the player coming. When you can see someone high tailing it in your direction it is much easier to avoid them.

If it is a guy coming down a wing or off center, I will line up my outside shoulder with his inside shoulder. That little cheat buys a couple feet of reaction time when he tries to cut to the middle. It works the vast majority of the time and is especially effective against guys on their "off" wing at mid and lower levels as they want to get on their forehand, especially towards the middle of the ice, more often than not. As a forward in that situation, I fake a move to the middle and do a Gretzky curl to the boards and come off the wall on my forehand. Hopefully by then I have someone driving the net.

[akravetz 29]

First off, amazing advice. I think I actually do that. We have a no-checking league so we can't really use the body but what I usually do is start backwards, throw in poke check with the stick and then try to move the guy to the outside. The issue comes when the guy is a stud for the league and can pivot and change direction faster than me. What I have learned to do is watch the body, not the puck. I find that if I can watch the guy's hips, I can generally figure out where he's going and avoid the head fakes and dekes. And you're right about the forehand, I find that very few people want to use their backhand which, for the life of me, I don't get. No one knows where it is gonna go (not you or the goalie) so that's a powerful tool not to use. We try to do a D to D pass if we get the puck in our own zone but like I said, this is a low-level league for newbies, old farts like me and well, there is a mix of 50 something guys who are studs but old and people who can't stand or stop.

I don't sweep the stick much on poke checks but rather "poke it out there" in a back and forth motion as I find I have more control. Just hard to get good at the age of 43 when you have only been playing for about five years and don't get a chance to practice beyond games. Such is the life of a beer league. That said, we are sponsored by a bar and they seem to like it better when we lose than win as well, we drown our sorrows more. :)

andy in Peoria

[IPv6Freely 2096]

Lots of quick passing. If I know I'm not going to have the puck long, I need to make sure I make a good pass to get rid of it and feed it to the faster/skilled guys. Then head straight for the net and hope for a rebound.

My effort lately has gone much more into passing than actually shooting or stickhandling. Making heads up, smart passes.

[ktang 34]

You could J-hook turn or quick stop to get some distance between you and the backchecker, which will buy you some time to hit a trailer, feed the puck ahead, soft dump to the corner for a give-and-go, or power in for a shot.

[moteef17 7]

I'm pretty much always the slower skater.....so it all comes down to position and gap control as explained above. I play on 2 different rec teams, and I play D on one and F on the other. It's a good balance and it lets me focus on each position for an entire game, rather than going shift by shift. I'm not a great puck handler and have average (at best) speed. But, I've worked on passing/shooting religiously over the last 2 years (which is 1/2 my total hockey career). That's allowed me to make good, solid passes from the D zone, or clear out of D zone without icing puck (which can be a challenge when newer F's are a little lost around the red line and not ready along the boards). When I'm playing F, I use the boards a lot to get pucks to other players, or dump and chase my own pucks, since I'm not likely to stick handle my way through any decent D players.

I'm 5'11" / 240lbs, 'husky' to say the least. When I'm on D (or even covering a point position as F in defensive zone), I just try to take up as much space as I can, have a 'busy' stick and force guys away from having a good line for a shot.

[chk hrd 164]

If your playing D, know when to turn on the play so you are skating forwards with the other guy. I see a lot of guys trying to skate backwards with a forward coming through with full speed. That is as bad as getting caught standing still. Buy the time they get turned around the other player already has a few steps on them.

If your playing forward your teammates should be talking and letting you know if your getting caught. Since I am one of the older guys in my league and most of my team are young enough to be my kid I use their skill and speed to make up for my loss of speed. If we are in the D or N zone I usually look for a pass right away to keep the speed moving forward. I will usually be last in the O zone so I come in high slot and drift to the dead spots if I'm not near the play. Look for open spaces to create passes and scoring chances. If I'm carrying the puck in I tend to take it wide and go deep with it. That limits how they can attack me and if I turn the puck over they either have to skate 200 feet or are on the outsides making it easier for the D man to cover.

[Chadd 916]

First off, amazing advice. I think I actually do that. We have a no-checking league so we can't really use the body but what I usually do is start backwards, throw in poke check with the stick and then try to move the guy to the outside. The issue comes when the guy is a stud for the league and can pivot and change direction faster than me. What I have learned to do is watch the body, not the puck. I find that if I can watch the guy's hips, I can generally figure out where he's going and avoid the head fakes and dekes. And you're right about the forehand, I find that very few people want to use their backhand which, for the life of me, I don't get. No one knows where it is gonna go (not you or the goalie) so that's a powerful tool not to use. We try to do a D to D pass if we get the puck in our own zone but like I said, this is a low-level league for newbies, old farts like me and well, there is a mix of 50 something guys who are studs but old and people who can't stand or stop.

I don't sweep the stick much on poke checks but rather "poke it out there" in a back and forth motion as I find I have more control. Just hard to get good at the age of 43 when you have only been playing for about five years and don't get a chance to practice beyond games. Such is the life of a beer league. That said, we are sponsored by a bar and they seem to like it better when we lose than win as well, we drown our sorrows more. :)

andy in Peoria

The sweep check is usually what happens when I miss with the poke and the guy goes wide. I just swing the stick towards the outside and hope to knock it off his stick. They often still pick it up in the corner, but it gives me time to recover my positioning. As for the sandbagging studs, I play the body. Most refs will give you a little extra leeway when the guy is obviously better than everyone else and as long as you don't drill him (and sometimes, even if you do).

[akravetz 29]

The biggest issue we have is that our rec team has no time to practice. And the stick and puck sessions are during the day and during the week when I am at work. So the only "practice" I get is during game time. :) Not the best. Passing is hard to work on during a game. Trust me. :)

I'm pretty much always the slower skater.....so it all comes down to position and gap control as explained above. I play on 2 different rec teams, and I play D on one and F on the other. It's a good balance and it lets me focus on each position for an entire game, rather than going shift by shift. I'm not a great puck handler and have average (at best) speed. But, I've worked on passing/shooting religiously over the last 2 years (which is 1/2 my total hockey career). That's allowed me to make good, solid passes from the D zone, or clear out of D zone without icing puck (which can be a challenge when newer F's are a little lost around the red line and not ready along the boards). When I'm playing F, I use the boards a lot to get pucks to other players, or dump and chase my own pucks, since I'm not likely to stick handle my way through any decent D players.

[MThockeydad 469]

Any ponds nearby where you can work on your pivots?

Go find some 12 year-olds to scrimmage against!!

(not insulting you...I hit the pond on lunch breaks and just work on skating.)

Pond hockey with kids gives you a chance to practice backwards techniques at a slower speed that would never work in adult league. You don't have to be the big mean guy and seriously outskate them. Play at their level, but be technical about your own skating. I never shoot in pond hockey with kids. Let them do the shooting. You're no hero if you score on a kid. You're a hero if you assist a kid who scores. It's a great chance to work on your own passing. Work on perfect passes right to their blade.

Long strides, full extension, pull your skate back until your boots touch before your stride on the next side. Longer strides are faster than quick short choppy ones.

Practice pivoting on the side that makes you most uncomfortable. When you're playing D you want to pivot facing the puck.

Work on Mohawk turns so you can maintain speed while your opponent changes direction.

That's awesome advice, Chadd, thank you.

[Levsauce 2]

try to keep a tight gap and don't let them go anywhere if they are fast. This is only the case if you are talking about playing without the puck.

[Chadd 916]

try to keep a tight gap and don't let them go anywhere if they are fast. This is only the case if you are talking about playing without the puck.

That's just about the worst advice you could give. If a slower guy gets too close to a fast player without the puck, he's toast and/or in the penalty box.

[Jordan 13]

I have to disagree Chad.

A tight gap, prevents the speedy player from reaching top speed. Back away and give too space and that speedster will make you look like a fool.

The goal is always to take away space and time.

[moteef17 7]

What I've seen when slower players try to close a tight gap on a speedy guy is often times some awkward contact or a bad trip (intentional or not). I tend to keep more space and close down a shooting/passing lane instead of 'going for the skater'. I'm in a no contact league, but I see a lot of contact when speedy guys go hard towards an area and a slower guy tries to get in their skating lane with no real momentum to move along with the play. The speedy guy either has to make an abrupt move or just bowls over the slower guy who's probably not able (like me) to make as much of a drastic change of direction.

I will say, however, that there are times where speedy guys just assume you'll always get out of their way. I don't think that's the right way to play the game either, and sometimes just standing your ground, you'll have a speedster just run right into you and put himself down on the ice.

[wrangler 157]

I'm having trouble with the concept of being close to a faster player and staying in front of him so he can't speed up. Seems to me all he has to do is turn so he isn't facing you, quickly win a foot race, and he's gone.

I work on positioning, forcing him to outrun me in the area I choose to leave open, or pushing him toward a teammate.

[Levsauce 2]

I'm having trouble with the concept of being close to a faster player and staying in front of him so he can't speed up. Seems to me all he has to do is turn so he isn't facing you, quickly win a foot race, and he's gone.

I work on positioning, forcing him to outrun me in the area I choose to leave open, or pushing him toward a teammate.

If you have the right angle on a fast player and you have a tight gap the fast forward is going nowhere

[chk hrd 164]

I completely agree with Chadd. Keep a tight gap on a faster player and you will get burned unless you are playing at the highest level where you have the correct support. If you are skating side by side one quick burst and he is past you, especially if he is not skating anywhere near full speed. If you are trying to pivot from forwards to backwards and the gap is small you are already beat. If you are skating backwards already and they come in with speed just wave as they go by. You play angles with a wider gap not a close gap. It allows you to dictate where you want them to go. The only time a slower player has the advantage is if you have them between you and the boards and you can pinch them off. In beer league or lower levels if you are a slow player it usually means the faster players are better skaters. Try to play a small gap and you will get taken advantage of all night.

[Jordan 13]

Go to youtube and search for "hockey, defence, gap control... there is a particularly good video on the topic with Geraldine Heaney in it, that was done for Hockey Night in Canada.

Gives a good visual of what levsauce is talking about.

(I can't seem to post a link)