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Coaches.

After recently watching a few minor hockey games , i noticed the lack of support in all zones of the ice.in the defensive zone most pucks were fired up the boards with no receiving player in position. no support D to D or supporting center man. long passes that were rink wide also.
players panic with the puck witch usually leads to a turnover.this is at AAA level also;

hockey is a team game , so how do we as coaches teach support and short passes as a team?.

most coaches struggle with this problem at all age levels.

Tom has posted many times on the ABC s of Reading the game. a very good starting place.

thanks
RookieCoach
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I would love to read other coaches thoughts on support.
Tom

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We teach the big principles.
Good offense creates to good defense and good defense creates good offense.

  • this requires a five players in compact but balanced form
  • e.g. offense in NZ F1 and F2 creating 2v1 and F3 takes care of the balance by stying on the weak side, Ds supporting the attack close keeping the five players compact. So on the turn over we tight and ready to defend with close gaps etc
  • on the defense F2 and F3 need to backtrack with speed from inside the dots to keep the defending unit tight. so when we get the puck we are close to each other => so we can attack with short fast passes with speed.
5 men should always play the "same game". By this I mean that e.g. in break out situation when our D picks up the puck and try's to play up our F's are still skating back towards our DZ.

This of course demands a lot skating and work.
I hope this makes some sense.


Kai

   
Active Member
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 158
Location: Finland
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Kai, it makes sense to have close support.

I was at an NHL Flames vs. Red Wings game last night and they give close support if there is pressure on the forecheck in their zone, or if they are defending in their zone.

When the opposition dumps the puck in or is changing and the D can get their skates up ice with time then the breakout is more like a power play breakout. The Flames have two players far up in the neutral zone and Detroit had one forward at the far blue line and one swings back through the middle of his zone for a pass.

It works if the far player gets a stretch pass and another player gives him close support but other wise he just tips it in and there is no pressure on the puck.

In Salzburg we would have 2 D and one F fill the three lanes and come up parallel and one high one medium stretch forwards. I will paste some links to show what I mean.

T2 - B4 Chip Puck in On Stretch Pass - Pro
http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20150523123510365

T2-4, D100 Breakout vs Nzone Trap-Detroit
http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20101207105916272

T2-C3 Breakout the Beat the Passive Trap - RB
http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20090814073711288

Kalle Kaskinen who was here with the Finnish U17 and U20 team and now helps coach Jokerit in the KHL gave me a pdf. of his breakout with close support.

I agree with you that 'you must defend so that you can attack and attack so that you can defend.'


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Admin
Registered: 06/25/08
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Tom and Kai , great information from both as usual.

A question for the both of you as well as other coaches.
How would you teach young hockey players support in all zones of the ice. ?
we all know , once young players pick up bad habits they"re tough to correct.

The defensive zone is probably the zone where most young players struggle with individually and as a team.

D to D support for starters and understanding the breakout calls seems to be lacking.
Is this because most practices now seem to be about flow and keeping players moving?

All young players know what the shape of a triangle is. Hockey seems to be about support in a triangle of some sort.
Break it down in zones in triangle form so players understand their support role.

Also using the ABC s method for reading the game would be a great start also.

Tom , i'm trying to ask the questions that many coaches in minor hockey have problems with.

Hockey starts with our young players , playing games (one puck) helps with the read and react skills too .

thanks
RookieCoach

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For offensive support I would start with puck possession games and 5-0 passing drills in a 1/2 or 1/3 of rink. In those passing drills I would use multiple pucks (2-4 pucks) so there would be perception - action situations and decision making.
For puck possession SAGs we've unashamedly borrowed from soccer. they a lot of great games that you can modify to your ice sessions or you can use them off ice (same as those unit passing drills).


Kai

   
Active Member
Registered: 06/10/09
Posts: 158
Location: Finland
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Rookie Coach and Kai, I agree.

Flow drills have a place in the warm-up but shouldn't dominate the practices. Hockey is a game of reading and making decisions and then acting on them. In flow drills you tell the players where to be, how to get there and what to do. It is totally coach directed command style teaching. The game is won and lost in the area in front of the net and in flow drills most of the skills are done in the neutral zone.

Stressing the nervous system with passing and competing in small areas, using multiple pucks, playing games that require good habits are much more effective ways to practice how the game is actually played.

We are developing players with very little hockey sense who have good skills when they is no opposition but struggle to make anything happen under pressure.

It is a pleasure to be able to watch Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary. He constantly is making fakes, spinning away from pressure and then finding the open man to pass to. I saw him do 3 tight turns in a row the last game and then pass through the seam for an assist. The sequence required great skating and puck handling skills, the ability to read pressure with the head up and then make a quick disguised pass. These kind of skills are not developed skating full speed down the ice versus zero pressure.

As you say Kai, we can borrow a lot of small area games from soccer. Play Taka Taka, one touch, two second games, make an escape move when you get the puck, score only on one touch or one timer shots, only on give and goes.
Tom


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Here is an example of a small area game from a pro practice. Only the players with quick moves, puck protection skills and great hands are effective because there is so little time and space.

In this video demo watch Red 53 Gaudreau and 63 Bennet, who have exceptional tight moves. Gaudreau scores a few goals because he does things so quickly. [/i]

http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20140706173522508


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I think one problem that exacerbates teaching support concepts is the skill level of younger players. Skating, making and receiving passes, timing ... are all required for them to experience success with supporting the play the same way an older player would. I think support for the younger ages looks a lot different then it does for the older kids. Coaches need to keep this in mind when introducing support concepts on the ice to avoid a lot of negative reinforcement from failed attempts. I think this is why so many players seem to struggle with support and needs a LOT of attention from coaches at the younger ages. Coaches should use small areas and teach CLOSE support to the players first in small 2v1s.

Coaches can separate the skills from the concepts by working them off ice with soccer balls or whatever. Now that we've reduced the skills required, we can introduce some of the aspects of "longer" support concepts. As the ice skills improve, the coach can bring these concepts back to the rink. The players buy into the concept because they've already had success with it in dryland and their belief in the concept will survive many more failures on the ice.

   
Newbie
Registered: 03/24/12
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dajmitch,

I agree with you regarding the skill level of young players and being able to have the confidence to make good decisions.
If the skill level isn t there , usually young players panic with the puck. So with sometimes two games a week , and one practice it is very hard for coaches to bring out confidence in young players.
But watching young players making the same mistake from Novice through Bantam because they formed bad habits at a young age shows to me something is wrong the way we do things.
When teaching skating. I like you use the slide board first with young players before moving to the ice. there I can SLOW down the movement and work on the fundamentals . they get the feeling of how the stride works focusing on one task.
on the ice there are to many distractions sometimes.

thanks again Tom and Kai.

RookieCoach

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Playing many sports helps athleticism and game understanding.


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Hi Tom et al,

Interesting conversation.
I agree on the difficulty ion teaching support but want to comment on something previously mentioned - use of flow drills. These are for the most part as you describe black and white drills. Skate here, get pass, no thought and lots of speed and reps. That is why they like them, even at my level. That being said we run drills black and white and then try to introduce the grey. If for example we were doing a D to D pass, forward swings and gets return pass and then goes for a shot then we would add a coach on either side of the ice as it runs. The coach then steps between the D (read no D to D pass but hit the player as they fill the far lane), or coach shadows the forward so they are always between the passer and the forward then forward should call for a chip off the wall.

This is just one example but the point is the same. Add grey to black and white drills can suddenly make them game like because the speed of the flow drill is very quick. Players will need to read, make adjustments. At our level we do not tell the players when this is going to occur but simply do it. They do tend to start expecting it though.

Small area games are still great and we use them all the time but I think at looking at old drills in a new way can provide opportunities to make them game like as well.

All the best, let's keep the conversation going.

PM

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Thanks Peter. I agree that having the coaches take away options forces the players to read the play and look for other options. His/her teammates must be available.

The best practices I have seen were when I was with the Red Bulls and they had top coaches from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, USA and Canada. They did a lot of things I had never seen before or since.

Routsalainen would blow the whistle in the middle of a rush and that meant they offense had to regroup. It was random so everyone had to be on their toes to give the appropriate support and if it was a situational drill like a 2-2 the defense also has to adjust.
1-1 http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?s=20150627110308625

Page expanded the standard 1-1 at one end and then the D join and the F backcheck to make the new 1-1 a 2-2. He did all situations up to a 3-2. So a 2-1 became a 3-3, 2-2 a 4-4, 3-2 a 5-5. This caused the defenders to really communicate and the attackers to read if they were 1-2-3-4 or 5 and he always had 4 on the attack.
http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2015063010505453

I like random situation drills where you would take the above situation and send 1 or 2 defenders and 1-2 or 3 attackers. This changes the situation and the players have to recognize the numbers and play accordingly.
Random Transition Game http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2013022010052621

Another option is to teach Total Hockey where everyone plays all positions in every situation. We did this with a U18 girl's team. http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2013012209054791
My favorite pro drill was from last spring. It is a 2-1 with the players at the 4 blue lines, F and D diagonal lines. The D's start the next rep by watching the previous 2-1 which ends when the D passes to a coach at the top of the slot, a goal or frozen puck. The D sees this and passes up to a F at the far blue line who is joined by a F at the parallel blue line and they rush 2-1. Sometimes the 2-1's happen at the same time and other times the play lasts a long time before it is over and there may be 3 quick 2-1's at one end before the next one starts. This engages the players more in the drill. Now is the situation became random it would require even more decision making.
http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20130717135909954

Finnish Olympic coach Erkka Westerlund (he is now coaching Helsinki Jokerit in the KHL) was brought here by HC to do a booklet on transition. He put a great one with a video together but I seldom see transition games used. They can be full, half, cross or 2/3 ice and the players come in and out with zero whistles. In my opinion these games are the best way to simulate a real game, because they are a game, give players the rest needed to recover and create whatever situation the coach wants to work on.
Half ice IIHF symposium http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20131204162617698
Full ice Detroit http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20101208083750407

Just some thoughts. Thank you for contributing and I would love to read other coaches ideas.


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I'm coaching a PeeWee ( U-12) Rep hockey team this year, and our main topic this year is Support in all areas. Thanks to Tom I came across my favorite all time drill, The Attack Defend Rest drill, I run this drill at almost every practice, mostly 3 on 3 from behind the red line. Players must carry the puck over the blue line and make a pass to the next group.

I have one coach that is focused on the defensive side, and another coach is focused on the players offensive play. With the main teaching point being Close Support in the Defensive Zone and the Offensive Zone. I my opinion this is the best breakout drill you can run. Players are moving their feet, and getting into the proper spots to be an option.

During the drill you can even hear some of the players yelling out " Support Support "



   
Chatty
Registered: 06/28/12
Posts: 37
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Quote by: peter

I'm coaching a PeeWee ( U-12) Rep hockey team this year, and our main topic this year is Support in all areas. Thanks to Tom I came across my favorite all time drill, The Attack Defend Rest drill, I run this drill at almost every practice, mostly 3 on 3 from behind the red line. Players must carry the puck over the blue line and make a pass to the next group.

I have one coach that is focused on the defensive side, and another coach is focused on the players offensive play. With the main teaching point being Close Support in the Defensive Zone and the Offensive Zone. I my opinion this is the best breakout drill you can run. Players are moving their feet, and getting into the proper spots to be an option.

During the drill you can even hear some of the players yelling out " Support Support "

Peter it is a great way to teach support on both offense and defense. Sometimes I have tournaments during practice and there is only enough players for two games of 2 on 2. A short video with a U18 girl's team I coached two years ago is here. 4 teams of 4 and they play each team once.

http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20140610132358226

In a 2-2 you have all three game situations 0-loose puck, 1-offense, 2- defense. The players also end up in all 4 game playing roles.

Offense - 1-puck carrier, 2-support the puck carrier.

Defense - 3-check the puck carrier, 4-cover away from the puck.

Like you stated it is a great game because the defenders must defend then breakout of the zone and the attackers have to use puck handling, puck protection, passing, shooting, cycling etc. to score a goal. Playing 3-3 adds triangles and more communication and team work.

Another transition game with the same attack-defend-rest that I picked up coaching in Austria is a game of 'Quick Transition'. The players pass right away to teammates who attack right away and players have to quickly switch from offense to defense and defense to offense.

Here is a link to my last seasons U!5 team playing a game at each end. I like my asst. coaches to participate and model good technique.

http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=20141224104512232


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I love that you mentioned the Quick Transition Game. On the days we don't run the Attack Defend Rest, we run the 2 on 2 quick transition game. I just call out the drill name and the players yell " Pucks on the Blue Line" Thanks Tom

   
Chatty
Registered: 06/28/12
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This transition game is a great way to practice 'reading the play' and recognizing where the support is needed on offense or defense.
------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a transition game my former asst. coach Sean Kibyuk ran that requires decision making by the players and is a great example of how transition games can be used to teach the game and free the Coach to coach.
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DT100 Read-Act to Situation 1-1 to 3-3

Key Points:
Transition game where the players must read the ever changing situations and act to make them even. Transition happens on a turnover, a goal or the goalie freezes the puck. The closest player support to create an even situation.

Description:
A. B1-2-3 attack R1-2-3.
B. R5-6 support the attack and B4 the defenders.
C. On transtion B4 attack R4-5 and B1-2-or 3 support the attack making it 2-2.
D. Blue Coach sends B5 to support the attack.
E. Red Coach sends R6-7 to support defense.
F. On transition R6-7 attack B5 and B1 or B2 read the outnumber situation and backcheck to make it a 2 on 2.
G. Coaches continue to randomly send 1 to 3 players to support.
H. Players read the situation and support to make it a 1-1, 2-2 or 3-3 attack.

http://www.hockeycoachingabcs.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2013022010052621


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