Pyry Lukkarila, Head of Coach Development for the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, shares his secret 10 Golden Rules for Defensive Play.

Pyry Lukkarila, Head of Coach Development for the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, is becoming a household name for members of The Coaches Site.

First, Lukkarila appeared on our Glass & Out Podcast, which was one of our most popular listens ever. Then, during that interview, the 40-year-old from Jyväskylä, Finland, mentioned having helped create 10 Golden Rules for how hockey is played in Finland.

This caught the attention of listeners.

As you can read in part 1, 10 Golden Hockey Rules for Offensive Play, we were able to coax the offensive rules out of Lukkarila. Once again, the feedback was tremendous. But one thing we heard a lot: what about his rules for defence!?

Touché.

Since Lukkarila is a gentleman and a scholar, he was okay sharing those rules as well.

Without further ado, Lukkarila’s 10 Golden Hockey Rules for Defensive Play.

For those unfamiliar with Lukkarila, listen to his Glass & Out episode here to get caught up!

1. Defensive Play Starts as Soon as the Puck is Lost

“This is the transition phase. For small kids, you want five of them running around the puck, like there’s a swarm of bees where the puck is. A lot of times coaches try to get kids away from that too early. Let them play that way! If there’s a transition and they’re all after the puck, that’s good. Better that way than having decided positions so they skate to where they are told to be.”

2. Always Have One Player Pressuring the Opponent With the Puck

“We go from everyone defending the puck, to one player. Who is the closest to giving pressure.”

3. Guide the Opponent Towards the Boards and Corners

“Now it’s about how you give that pressure. You want to get the opponent to the boards and corners, so think about what small area games you can use to promote this.”

4. Defensive Compactness – the Entire Team Defends

“Everybody defends because it’s everybody’s job. That’s a big one for us. What our teams do well is that we don’t have hard defined roles, so there’s no one who is more of a defender than anyone else. It’s everybody’s job.”

5. When Entering the Neutral Zone, HaveThree Players “on the Puck”

“There’s no direct translation for what we call this in Finnish, but this means having three players on the defensive side of the puck.”

6. Position Yourself Between the Opponent and Your Own Net

“This one is important, and so is the next one, and they kind of go together. You want to have this position all the time, but you can’t lose sight of the puck either.”

7. Keep an Eye on the Opponent You’re Marking AND the Puck

“Let’s say I’m defending you, and you’re the weak side D on the team on offence. I’m the winger who is covering you. And the puck is on strong side, in the corner. So I have to position myself so I’m between you and the puck, so at the same time I can see you out of the corner of my eye and I can see the puck. If someone draws lines from above, there’s a triangle from me to you then to the puck. That triangle should always be there.”

8. Above All, Play Stick on Stick

“When you’re playing a player with or without the puck, playing stick-on-stick is the number one thing we work on.”

9. Win Pucks in the Goal-Scoring Area

“Of course you want to win pucks in the goal-scoring area, but for us this is more than just a principle. It’s about what’s behind that and how you put that into a small area game environment.”

10. As Soon as You Gain Possession of the Puck, Think Offence – Play it Forward!

“All these things have a role in promoting good defensive awareness and smartness. We work on this stuff a lot. For us, team tactics and systems are not the thing. Systems comes later. What I really believe is it’s about five players understanding the game; it might look like we’re defending 1-2-2 in the offensive zone forecheck, but actually, when you think about it, it’s one guy going to pressure (rule 2), and he’s going to guide his player to the boards or corner (rule 3). Everyone is defending (rule 4) and rules 5, 6 & 7 are also coming into play. It’s basics and playing smart.”

“Like I said with the 10 Golden Hockey Rules for Offensive Play, there is no magic pill here,” Lukkarila reiterated. “Hopefully nobody will lose too much air out of their tires over that. These are the principles and there’s not an exact right way to do a lot of these, but that is the goal. Some fast and smaller players will do things differently than bigger and stronger players with a better reach. So it’s different kinds of skills, but both understand what they need to do. They need to find a way.

“For the coach, it’s about finding the environment and the setting up so the players understand these are important things. Simple stuff, but not simple. Sounds simple, but it’s not.”

Clear as mud, right?