(Transcribed from How to Play Hockey: Our Minor Hockey Coaching Course.)
This video is going to take an overview of back checking on the entire ice. Back checking can be quite technical but I want to touch on a few key points.
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How important back checking is to help your defensemen. Even with an attacking FWD knowing there’s backside pressure coming, it takes away some of their confidence to attack our defenseman. Most teams have a rule that goes something like this…
- Through the neutral zone, the back checking FWD is on their puck carrier and can put that pressure and chase that player until the blue line. So, if I can catch up and knock this player off the puck and my defenseman can come and retrieve it before the blue line, then great!
- If that player has gotten to the blue line and our D is still backing up and I continue to stay with that player, now there’s myself and my defensemen on that one player. And another attacking FWD is inevitably going to be open.
- By the time we hit the blue line you probably have to hand off that player to the defensemen.
- So our D1 in this scenario should be saying, “I got this guy. I got this player.” And this forward then can turn around and identify another player from the opposing team. So, backside pressure through the neutral zone and release to the defensemen the blue line.
Another key that is a really simple point on the backcheck is, ‘forwards should backcheck through the middle in between the dots.’ Backchecking down the boards doesn’t help clog up anything in the middle which we really addressed in the neutral zone play sections. So as you’re backchecking, you want to come back through the middle. And passes that the other team try to make may very well just hit your stick, or hit you in the skates, or you could intercept that pass or even deter them from making the pass or making that pass perfectly. So just being a presence, coming back hard through the neutral zone is very helpful.
Example 1:
Let’s say we have an attacking FWD that is clearly ahead of you. They have another FWD coming hard… and then they have their third coming as well to be an option, a full on attack.
- The attacking puck carrier and our D1 are an obvious one-on-one down the wall.
- And then our backchecking F1 needs to identify and communicate with this weak side D2 who he/she is going to take.
- Often times the D want to work in conjunction with his/her partner so this D1 would say, “I’ve got this player.” And he could call or direct you or communicate with you to take the wide player and you would take them all the way back and stay with them. This also works with that back checking F1 as well.
- Now this backchecking F1 becomes the low forward in the defensive zone. Basically he/she plays as the C until the C either calls a switch or until the next whistle or you get the puck out of the zone. So the first backchecker is really important. He/she must communicate with his/her D.
Example 2:
Here you are the F3 in the offensive zone and you’re the high forward.
- You can either be the wedge in the middle of the ice to deter the play to either side or you can peel off and take the weak side of the play.
- The D work together, D1 being strong on the puck side and D2 slide over in support behind and now we peel off and back up on the weak side. Basically now you’re going backwards like a D.
- You want to see the play coming at you, especially if they have players coming up a little bit later trailing.
- So that’s a decision you have to make. Whether you will skate forwards with an attacking player and backcheck or turn around early in support and get back like a D. So those are a couple things to think about.
- F2 and F3 from our team then back check hard into the defensive zone and fill in the remaining positions.
- You will be thinking,“Should they be filling in a right wing or left wing because our first forward back should be the C.” Ideally if it’s a RW that has become the C. Then our C wants to take their RW once back in the zone and let the LW stay on his/her side and not confuse anything even further.
So those are a couple of key concepts:
- Backside pressure through the neutral zone
- Everybody coming back hard
- Defensemen trying to hold the blue line…(which I didn’t mention in this specifically)
And with some hard backside pressure and some aggressive D that are able to hold the line we may force them to dump the puck in or turn the puck over, coming back through the middle in between the dots, communicating with your D who’s picking up.
The final little trick that I’ll show you that some teams use and are actually quite effective is that the last back checker can pretend to be a little bit lazy and is available for a quick transition.
Example 3:
We have both our D backing up in good position and two FWD’s coming back hard. And let’s say the F3 coming back feels that we’re going to win possession. They may slow down and get to the wall, either posting up or getting to the middle lane and if we win possession it’s a quick counter off the boards or pass up the middle and perhaps we get a chance to attack again.
So that’s how we can create some potential offence in the backcheck that would be covered in the quick counter section of this course. And you know there’s a lot to backchecking in terms of specifics as the level gets higher. But there are some key principles here that are really important and I hope I have covered those for you today!
Thanks for reading! Why don’t you take the course and watch the detailed video instead?
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