Reply To: Daily Drill Section Fifteen

[Tom Molloy]

Penalty Kill 'The Shrink'

Great example of pk using the shrink in Major Jr.

I think the video on here titled D Zone "Swarming" is a very important concept. We have spent a lot of time and focus on this with my junior team this year on the Penalty kill… we use the term "Shrink" which refers to a deliberate play on the PK when we can pressure the puck but don't have an opportunity to have an immediate clean 200 foot clear. As soon as the puck is stalled all 4 players swarm the puck or as we call it "shrink". What we have taught our players is that if you can't clear the puck stall it with 1 pinning the man in possession of the puck. The 2nd and 3rd PKers immediately move to seal both sides of the battle with the purpose of keeping the puck in the pile…. the PP player will likely be trying to move the puck out either side of the battle so the PK players 2 and 3 just keep pushing the puck back into the pile killing time unless they can get a clean clear (refs seem to be more and more reluctant to blow the whistle on these type of plays). PK player 4 moves in very tight so that when the puck becomes loose he is able to make a hard forehand clear down the ice.

I'm attaching a couple of examples of our team using this "shrink" on the PK…. since we started stressing this concept our PK has been much more effective.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1di3JzcCCoylVbN-7EvPn3N9Zpa7AO5Kc/view

Brad McKenzie

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'