(Transcribed from How to Play Hockey: Our Minor Hockey Coaching Course.)
Welcome to the checking section of this course. The first three principles are extremely important. We’re going to combine them together in this video:
- Steering
- Angling
- Tracking…after the check has beenmade.
[maxbutton id=”2″ ]
Steering
This is the idea of dictating where you want the attacking player with the puck to go. If you think of cutting the ice in half and limiting their options it will really help you be able to dictate and apply pressure.
- If the D from the other team is walking out from behind the net and we go straight at that D then he/she can go right or he/she can go left.
- So instead, as the first forechecker or F1, you want to come from one side and immediately start to give the D one half of the ice.
- You have now essentially taken away one half of the ice so we say, “I’ve cut the ice in half,” because as I come in with an active stick in one lane this D is very unlikely to pass it back through me, especially in front of his/her own net.
- It may happen but in general we’re trying to dictate the options. So we’ve steered him/her to one side and cut the ice in half. Imagine as kids play trying to catch a dog or a cat or a squirrel. Generally they are smart enough to take away one option, start to reduce those options and eventually that animal they’re trying to catch is in the corner.
- That’s exactly what we’re trying to do on the ice. So it begins with steering.
Angling
Angling and steering are very connected. So number two is saying, “Look, if I go straight at that player they can go left and right. I’ve blown my coverage and I’ve lost that battle.”
- We have a D skating up the middle of the ice in his/her defensive zone and as this D has passed to his/her W who is now along the wall skating with the puck to break out.
- Now as we come, we’re coming from the inside of the ice and a little bit from behind the W and we’re again eliminating the middle lane option for that W.
- We dictate that they go forward. We come in and over time we narrow that option until they run out of room.
- That is angling. Don’t go straight at your opponent and let them fake left or right. Instead, angle and take away options and use the boards as your helper because naturally the W can’t go through the boards. So they’re going to be limited in their time and space and you take it away.
Tracking
We’ve cut the ice in half, steered into the side we’ve angled off. We’ve applied pressure partly from behind, partly from the side and pressed them to the outside of the ice.
Now we eventually force this player to get rid of the puck one direction or another. We can’t forget about the player so the idea of tracking is then that becomes my man and I will stay with him until I decide the play has developed and I may be of better use somewhere else. So we can just angle and then chase the puck. Again, angle and chase the puck.
We need to communicate and decide who we are going to take. When we do the forechecking section we will see how one player angles or steers and F2 jumps in and help outs and F1 does retreat back to the middle. But for now, in talking about the principles of steering and angling and tracking we’ll assume that we’re going to stay with this player and finish off that check. This happens all over the ice but this is an example of how we would steer and disrupt a breakout from the other team.
We’ll see in the next video!
Looking to download half ice hockey practice plans, goalie drills for teams (not a goalie coach?!) or small area games drills? We’ve got you covered too. Click here. Perfect for recreational level coaches.
