Reply To: The Art and Science of Coaching

[Eric Fink]

TomM wrote:
I am starting a new topic on the Art and Science of Coaching.

I would like to read the views of lots of coaches that come to this site from various countried. I know that a lot of coaches are just looking for drills, lots to read the articles that Dean and others post. Share your ideas on coaching, share your on ice drills and games as well as team play ideas.

How do you orgaizie your team. Do you have everyobne practice every skill or is everything position specific?

I will start the discussion in the next post and discuss Team Covenanat.

I wanted to jump in but not sure on if this is what you meant.

In regards to style of play… We start off teaching the D-Zone and we teach it as follows….(age 16-20)

We start with a 1 on 1 below the top of the circles and not past the far post (so the corner). Once we feel we have a good start with that we progress to 2 on 2 in the same area. We play in layers so the second defensive player has two main responsibilities, 1. He must watch the supporting offensive player and be close enough to arrive at the same time a pass does. 2. He must watch the closest defending player in case of a break down he must play the 2 on 1 until his teammate gets back into position. Supporting players stick must always be on the ice until he is in a position to commit. After we feel we have a good taste of 2 on 2 we move on to 2 on 2 (still in the corner) but we add a point man and a defending wing (3 on 3) We play on one half of the ice were the wing works on eliminating passes to the point and covering the offensive man rolling off the wall. We work on body position and keeping a shoulder on both the d-man and also the puck with the stick in the passing lane. Once we have this down, we add the 3rd low player, still half of the ice. In our system he plays half way to their third man with his stick on the ice. He also plays the dual role of watching for a breakdown and being able to jump the pass to his man. After this we add the fifth player and play full zone. All players take turns on each role and we make sure to mix in multiple forwards playing defense at once so they see more reps.
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Eric it looks like a good sequence to teach the dzone. thanks for jumping into the discussion.