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PHASE 4 - The breakout.
Again, there are two possibilities we have to think about: we get the puck in the slot, and we get the puck in the corners or along the back boards. These are exactly the same as the two cases in Phase 1, except now we are the ones trying to break out. There is the other possibility of getting the puck along the side boards, but that is the same as a pass from the back boards or corner to the forward along the side boards. We get the puck in the corner or along the back boards. At this moment we should have at least two players in front of the net. They should stay there, or at most move only a little towards the blue line, until we get the puck moving out of our zone. The two forwards covering the points (not the forward helping in the slot) should quickly move to the side boards on opposite sides and turn toward the corner, ready to receive a pass. Ideally, they should be about halfway between the point and the corner when our puck-carrier looks to make his pass. See Figure 7. As you skate to this position, watch your teammate with the puck carefully to see what he's going to do with it, because that tells you what your next move is. This gives our puck-carrier three moves to choose. He can skate out. He can pass up the boards to the forward nearest him. Or he can pass behind the net to the forward farthest from him. If our puck-carrier skates out, the forwards at the boards should turn toward the slot and skate hard in a direction diagonally across the ice towards a point on the blue line about a quarter of the distance from board to board, looking for a pass. This will confuse the other team's defensemen and provide maximum opportunity for a good SHORT pass from our puck-carrier. See Figure 8. Note that our puck-carrier is now acting as a forward, even if he is normally a defenseman. This means that our two players defending in the slot are now defensemen, even if one of them is normally a forward. If you are a forward in this position, you must continue to play as a defenseman until the attacking defenseman signals you that he is taking over his job as a defenseman again. We have gotten a lot of two-on-ones because forwards have forgotten to do this. I emphasize - if one of our defensemen skates out on the attack, he is acting as a forward, so one of the forwards must stay back and act as a defenseman. If our puck-carrier passes, and he is a defenseman, he will normally return to his defensive position in the slot so the forward defending in the slot becomes free to join the attack. If he is a forward, then he will continue to be part of the attack after he makes his pass. If our puck-carrier passes to
the forward on the near boards, the forward on the opposite boards turns
and skates diagonally across the ice towards the red line on the opposite
boards, ready for a pass. Make this move as soon as you see which
way the pass is going. Our third forward skates towards the point
on the same side as the new puck-carrier. This gives the new puck-carrier
TWO targets for a short pass, both on his same side, thereby avoiding a
long pass across the middle, which
A pass behind the net to the forward on the far boards creates the same situation, but switched left-for-right. It takes more time to pass behind the net, so the forward in this case will have to skate deeper into the corner to get the pass. If you see this happening, don't just wait for the puck to come to you; skate hard towards it. If you are way out by the point, you don't make a good target for a pass, so keep skating in until the pass is made, either to you or to the other side, or until it is clear that our puck-carrier is skating out. Once the forward receives the
pass from behind the net, he has the usual three choices. The other
two forwards should both be skating diagonally across towards the same
side as the puck-carrier, as above. Our puck-carrier can then either
skate
If the puck-carrier is fore-checked while in the corner and can't make a good pass forward or skate out, he has one other reasonable choice: pass it back behind the net. In this case one of the defenders in front of the net must move to the corner to get the puck and the former puck-carrier MUST GO TO THE NET TO DEFEND. DON'T FORGET THIS. Then everyone returns to their original breakout positions and we start over. We get the puck in our slot. Clear it to the boards.
Again - clear it to the boards. The nearest forward goes after it, and
we continue as above. In rare cases you may get the puck high in
the slot near the blue line when no opponent is near enough to be a threat.
Then you can skate it out, while the other two forwards skate out as fast
as possible trying to get ahead of you in the neutral zone to give you
a target for a pass. Look for them.
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(c) Copyright 2000 Don Wilkins All rights reserved.