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(Audio Transcription from How to Play Hockey: Our Minor Hockey Coaching Course.)
Powerplay Zone Entry: In this post we’re going to talk about possession upon entry into the offensive zone on the powerplay. You are either going to be able to carry the puck under possession, under control or you may have to dump it in and get after it if the penalty killers are doing a good job holding the blueline, they may force you to dump it in.
Zone Entry Options
On the powerplay, some teams like to dump it on purpose with the intention that it’s an indirect pass and they’re going to retrieve it. If you’re going to carry it in with possession as I have mentioned in other videos you generally don’t want to try to score on the rush if it is not a great opportunity.
Zone Entry with Possession
You’re going to carry it down through that grey zone below the top of the circles past the hash marks and often delay to the boards to try and set up. Maybe even a little bit lower. But if you carry it in and keep going slowly behind the net it’s a little bit easier for the penalty killers to close in on you. So you want to try to set up on the half wall and then either move into the overload which will be in one video or rotating into an umbrella or rotating into a box plus one we’re going to get all those videos in future sections.
Zone Entry with Intentional Puck Placement
Entry with Dump
If you’re forced to dump the puck in, a very common one is for the puck carrier to be coming up and have pursuit coming at them, having forwards with speed and it’s a hard rim all the way around. We have to get the puck past the goalie that might try to come out and get it and we have two players on the puck hard and a third one coming over to help, get that possession, outwork. Then setup and you can get into your power play structure.
One very similar to this instead of the hard rim is using a cross ice dump. Again hoping that the goalie doesn’t come out to get it and these two players have to be going hard because remember we need to create the 2 on 1 we need to outnumber so we’re getting that puck pursuit and regaining control we don’t here in the corner.
Entry with Soft Chip
The final one is a soft chip so you’re trying to put it into the strong side corner and make it stay down in the corner so these helpers have to be coming across to get on the puck and you have to get in there as well. All this is useless if you don’t have that pursuit of the loose puck.
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https://youtu.be/cU8F6Yg2hjE
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