Greg Cronin, who was named Head Coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild at the start of the 2025/26 season, presented at TCS Live 2025 on how to better teach individual forecheck skills.

Cronin pointed out that every coach has their own way of communicating. He’s honed his methods over a long professional career in stints as Head Coach in the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks, five years as Head Coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, six more as an Assistant with the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs, and a distinguished college career before that.

For Cronin, there is no single correct method to get a message across, only the one that connects with your players. He also drew from other sports to show how mechanics can transfer into hockey. A surfer, for example, turns their body before turning their board: eyes up, shoulders turn, hips turn. That same sequence shows up in a defenseman’s movement when evading pressure.

Forechecking, Cronin explained, is a two-sided coin. Players are either hunting or being hunted. The forechecker is the hunter, with the stick blade down, pressuring the puck carrier. The defender is the hunted, twisting and turning to avoid contact and move the puck. For the hunt to be effective, shifts must be short and executed with full intensity.

Cronin also shared the five stages of development in hockey, introduced by Skills Coach Shawn Allard:

• Awareness: recognizing success or failure and communicating it.
• Illumination / Ownership: taking the message and making it personal.
• Repetition: practicing until the skill sticks.
• Reaction: reading the game under pressure and adjusting.
• Manipulation: reaching the point where players dictate the game with strong pre-battle habits and effective stick use.

In one practice clip, Cronin highlighted the details: F1 led with his stick positioning, F2 read F1’s body language to retrieve the puck, and F3 finished the play with a shot.

To close, Cronin showed NHL examples of defenders under pressure, including Anaheim Ducks rookie Jackson Lacombe. Under Cronin’s guidance, Lacombe developed the ability to twist tightly and move the puck cleanly out of the zone, much like a surfer carving through a wave.

Coaches’ Challenge:

This week in practice, focus on stick habits during the forecheck. Is your F1 hunting with his blade on the ice every time? Track it, talk about it, and help your players understand the difference between hunting with purpose and simply chasing the puck.

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:00 Journey into coaching
• 2:55 Surfing
• 7:40 5 stages of development
• 11:50 Forechecking technique
• 13:50 Hunting
• 15:25 Forecheck details - walk through
• 20:55 D manipulating forechecker
• 24:55 Ideal routes and technique