Highlander Hockey Club: Winter 2004

General

Every stick sounds the same. Don't expect a pass if you're just beating your stick on the ice. Call for it.
Hockey Vocabulary
It's tough to hear and comprehend more than one or two syllables when you're in the corner fighting for a puck. Stick to simple commands that everyone understnands:

On Offense:
- "slot": Your teammate in the slot (between the circles) is open.
- "point": Your Defenseman at the blue line on the boards on YOUR SIDE of the ice is open.
- "center": Your Defenseman at the blue line EVEN WITH THE NET is open.
- "back": Your teammate behind the net on the other side is open.
- "drop": Your teammate is trailing you, drop him the puck and crash the net.
- "chase": You're about to dump the puck into the zone, your teammates should hear this and bolt for the corners.
- "dump it": Time for a line change, dump it into the zone softly, and get off.
On Defense
- "slot": There's an open man in the slot.
- "point": There's open defensemen at the point.
- "switch": A teammate is chasing an opponent into your area. Drop back and take his space.
- "shooter": An opponent is preparing a shot. The closest man to him either take him out or get a stick on it. Everone else get out of the way so the goalie can see it coming cleanly.
- "drop": The play is moving faster at the defense than they are moving, or there's an odd-man rush in the works. This means to SPRINT back on defense.

Offensive Zone

Don't be afraid to kick it back. 8 times out of 10, the point man on your side of the ice, or the one in the high slot will be open. If you're behind the net, or in all sorts of traffic, kick it back for a point shot and crash the net.
No more than 2 guys should be down below the circles. One guy should always be in the slot, looking for garbage.

Defensive Zone

Have an active stick. A lot of really good poke-checks happen by accident. Get your stick in front of you, close to theirs, and move it around. They can deke around a stationary stick, but it's tougher when it's all over the ice.
Go for the man, not the puck. Get in the way, lower the shoulder, make it harder for them to keep their balance and get off a good pass.
Wings: Stick with their point men. Your position should be in front of their point man ... keep yourself between the play and the man. This is critical for a number of reasons:
1. If you sag down, their points will be open to receive a pass and take a quality shot on our net.
2. If you sag down, it gets too crowded in front of the net. This makes it much harder for the goaltender to see incoming shots, and increases the chances for a puck to bounce a leg (maybe yours) and into the net.
3. If you're guarding your point man, they won't be able to shoot, so there won't be a shot to bounce off a leg ...
4. When we do recover the puck on a rebound, steal or whatever, we'll be looking to get the breakout started, which means that you can expect a hot pass up the boards. If you're not there to get it, then the point man you should have been guarding gets an easy and clear shot on net.

Transitions

When coming to the offensive blue line, read the defenseman.

If the defense is skating backwards and giving you room, take it in on your own, since they're allowing it. Look to take a quick shot, or drop the puck for your trailer (who should be yelling "drop" if they're there for you). If you drop, take an arc'd path towards the goal so that your teammate has a shooting lane. You're there to pick up the junk. If you're taking the shot yourself, your teammates should be crashing the net.

If the defense are standing up at the blue line preparing to take you out, or check the puck, be smart. Yell "Chase" and throw the puck into the zone, hard around the net. Your teammates, skating forward, have a 90% chance of beating a backwards skating defenseman to that puck. Once you dump it in, head for the net. The teammate that gets the puck should kick it immediately to the slot where you'll be waiting for it.
In the neutral zone, don't skate straight. It's much tougher to defend against forwards that are passing and zig-zagging (the figure-8 drill) than it is to hone in on someone that's coming right at them.

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