It's not just a basketball tactic.

Screening, the act of blocking a defender in pursuit of a teammate, is crucial to the offensive game of many sports.

In basketball and lacrosse, attackers can interfere with opponents either covering the ball-carrier (on-ball screen) or other players away from the play (off-ball screen). After passing to a teammate, the carrier can also close off the path of a defender chasing that teammate.

The purpose of screening is threefold: involving off-ball attackers in the play, opening more space, and forcing switches in coverage. As screens create the extra second and the defensive breakdowns needed for scoring chances, coaches have developed a wide variety of strategies around them.

Contrary to basketball, hockey is played at a constant fast pace. Rarely can players station themselves in an area and plan the attack. But when used in the right context, a pick remains a great on-ice tool to create offence.

Skaters aren’t allowed to shift laterally to stop the movement of defenders. They also can’t outright hit them away from teammates. But an attacker with body positioning, standing in between an opponent and the puck, can slow down defenders by lengthening their path to the puck, provided there is no grabbing or hooking motion and the stick isn’t used as an extra wall. Skaters are also entitled to the ice they hold; they don’t have to move to let a defender go through.

Those conditions are restrictive, but appear more often in a given sequence than one might think.

Faceoffs

Faceoffs are maybe the one area where screens can be integrated systematically. In the offensive and defensive zone, on a won draw, attackers can plant their feet and force defenders to circle them to reach their assigned coverage and/or pressure the puck.

By blocking opponents, the offence buys the necessary time to organize itself.

Offensive-zone

To use picks in the middle of the action, players have to read and react. They have to watch puck movements, anticipate defensive responses, and time themselves perfectly to block the path of opponents.

Screening opportunities happen the most off the offensive cycle. A forward supporting a puck-carrying teammate on the back-wall can create an escape route for that teammate by either anchoring next to a defender at a short distance from the wall or by moving inside that defender’s path. The opponent is then forced to dodge the body-barrier to pressure the puck carrier, allowing enough space to slide away from the battle.

The pick can also create breakdowns in coverage. If a defender’s pursuit of the puck-carrier is cut off, another opponent will have to leave coverage to pressure that carrier, opening up a passing option.

Similarly, when attackers give the puck to a teammate on the wall, they can create space for that teammate by placing their rear-end in the path of chasing defenders. For example, in a scissor play, a forward passing the puck to the defenceman up the wall can slow down opponents on his/her tail before the handoff, preventing them from pressuring the blue-liner as he/she goes down.

Picks aren’t exclusively selfless offensive acts. They can create a domino effect that frees the screener.

In the clip below, Mark Stone skates to the blue-line and passes to the defenceman. Instead of repositioning immediately as a pass target, Stone predicts the movement of the opponent coming to check that defenceman and moves inside the checker’s path. His screen delays the opponent’s course at the top of the zone and blocks a second defender racing to cover Stone. The play gives the winger open ice to score off a return pass.

Transitions

Screens can help a team move the puck up-ice. As the puck gets dumped in the defensive zone, forwards can move in front of forecheckers to slow down their approach and help the team win possession. And on the back-wall, defencemen can  absorb the momentum of the opposing F1 to protect the puck and allow their partner to sweep in and carry the puck up-ice.

Off the rush, attackers can cut off defenders by choosing skating routes that bring them either behind the backs of the opponents, walling off their retreat, or ahead of them to slow down their backcheck. And by driving the net, those same attackers can push defenders back, take their sticks away, and imbalance them to create space for teammates in shooting positions.

A stick pick can sometimes prove just as effective as a full-body screen. By lifting the blade of a defender, an attacker can allow a pass to go through and connect with a teammate.

Screening is an under-utilized tool in hockey that can provide a great offensive edge. Coaches should work with their players to help them identify when and how they can use screens to enable offensive movement, create defensive mismatches, and scoring chances.