Receive Rim Passes Like a Pro

This video tutorial sparks debate!  Once you learn to receive rim passes on your stick, you’ll never go back to using your feet.

As a strong-side winger you may choose a few different ways to pick up a puck rimming around the boards. Choosing to use your feet or your stick to receive rim passes can depend on a few variables. These include: from where the pass originated, where you stand when the pass initiates, or in what direction you might be skating when your teammate makes the pass.   As you will see in the video below I have a preference.

Every year I see more and more top hockey players in the world use their sticks rather than their feet to receive rim passes.  This trend validates my position on the matter. I wonder if the increase in European players in the NHL (30%) has influenced this technique’s adoption.  Receiving a rim pass with your stick rather than feet requires spatial awareness and a good read of incoming pressure to be sure.  As a professional player in the Swiss National A and B Leagues ‘back in the day,’ I found the large ice surface prevented wingers from having time to get tightly to the boards to receive rim passes from the defenseman the way many North American players often do it.  Instead, we would make a quick shoulder check as we headed to the boards to take a soft rim on the blades of our sticks.

Why receive rim passes with your stick?

1. Feet are up ice when we receive the puck.  We can get our speed quickly to clear the zone.
2. We don’t have to dig a puck out of our feet with our head down while a defenseman or F3 pinches down.  Players who know the feeling of looking for the puck in their feet while under pressure will agree that it might be the worst feeling in hockey!
3. 

   If you try to receive the rim pass like this and miss it, get to the shooting lane first, then out to the defenseman

   If we miss the puck because it takes a bad hop and jumps our sticks, we can get quickly out into the shooting lane, AND THEN attack the defenseman on the blue line who likely received it.  NOTE: Don’t chase straight to the defenseman as this leaves the shooting lane wide open for the opposing player to get a shot or take it to the net.  Great defense always starts with defensive side positioning so get that first, then worry about closing the gap.

4. The ideal pick up results in the puck on your stick with your feet in motion, your head up, and you are ready to make your next play.  Options for this next play include: passing to the centerman in the middle lane, getting off the wall and chipping it past the defenseman who may either hold the line or pinch on you, carrying the puck cleanly out of the zone, or passing to a completely open weak side defenseman in front of your own net (my favourite).

Naysayers on receiving rim passes with your stick:

Naysayers who don’t like to receive rim passes like this often believe they are ‘going to get cranked’, or checked with their heads down looking back for the oncoming puck.  Done incorrectly and they make a good argument.  You have to move to the puck.  Don’t sit and wait for it to arrive with your feet up ice but your head turned back to the corner.  The winger waiting to receive the rim pass must check for oncoming pressure from F3 or a pinching defenseman.  If pressure exists, the winger should roll back towards the corner to protect the puck, and his/her safety.  A bump or hit on the wall with your body close to the boards in a good athletic position rarely results in injury.  The winger may in that instance also ‘jackhammer’ or bump the puck back the strong-side defenseman or even over to the quiet zone in the far weakside corner.

Try to receive rim passes like this in your next game or practice.  If you have any questions, Contact me or comment below!

Ready to truly learn the game of hockey inside and out?

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