Let's hear from all the coaches with young players who skate directly into three defenders during a rush and attempt fancy toe drags, resulting in a turn over and odd man rush the other way! 🙋‍♂️ To me, this is one of the most common and frustrating habits to correct in youth hockey. Here's a straightforward method to handle pressure during a rush:

• If pressure comes from the front, delay and wait for support.
• If pressure comes from behind, drive toward the net.
• If pressure is from the side, try to maneuver their player either behind you to drive to the net, or in front of you to delay and create more time and space.

In the clip above, you can see #55 Mark Scheifele at the end of his shift, running low on energy. He faces pressure from the front and, once he closes the gap to within a stick's length of the St. Louis defender, he begins to delay and wait for support.

Brian Slugocki 2025 TCSlive presentation on puck delays;

In this 2024 TCSlive presentation Developing Offensive Zone Skills With and Without The Puck  by Brian Slugocki, he clearly explains Mark Scheifele's technique. Instead of leaving the puck vulnerable, he shows how to move it to a protected area while waiting for support.

Simplied Drill OZ delays and zone entries:

Description;

• Coach will spot a puck to F1
• F1 will take off wide, attacking the faceoff dot and then delaying while looking for support by either cutting back, or a slide back
• F2 will try to time their attack by buying ice and accelerating right before recieving the pass from F1
• F2 should have stay dot wide, to use the width of the ice making it harder for the goalie to adjust for the shot angle
• F2 is trying to catch and release the puck as quickly as possible, or use a one timer
• Have F1 go to the net for a rebound after passing the puck to F2