Playoff hockey magnifies and throttles everything we love about our game. There’s less time and space for defencemen to make plays on the breakout, so the the D with the best habits (shoulder checking, getting their feet around the puck, under-handling) make positive contributions to winning efforts. The best defencemen really stand out, so if you’re playing a team with good D, you have to do something to slow them down.

D who move the puck usually play on teams with an effective rush game. Because they’re competent puck movers, the result is a forward group that gets the puck and turns north quick.

Teams with a heavy mid-lane drive conscience get more scoring chances in the middle of the ice, but it’s important to note that it starts in the defensive zone or at the least deep in the neutral zone.

So how do you stop them? How do you stomp out those dangerous rush chances before they start?

Track: tracking is another word for backchecking, which was basically a curse in the 1990’s.

Forecheck: literally stop rush attacks in the offensive zone before they have a chance to materialize

You’re going to face chances against in the playoffs. Your team can control the severity of these chances by forechecking or tracking. Most teams would prefer to forecheck since it keeps the puck in the offensive zone and puts your team into your offensive play.

Forecheck or backcheck. You choose.