As a regular contributor to The Coaches Site, I field a lot of questions from coaches about different aspects of the game. I love answering them and I'm always happy to help a coach in need.
Recently I had a questions sent to me not by a coach, but a parent. A question I felt warranted a response to both the parent, but also to coaches.
“Hi! My son is a squirt. 2nd year of full ice. He plays defense. I don't have a hockey background. I'm not completely sure he (or I) know what he should be doing in front of the net or on puck retrievals. He gets lots of skills/skating training but not much on the finer points of his position. Where could I look for some insights on the regular duties of a D man? He's a sponge and I don't want to give him bad info. Thank you!”
For a parent, watching hockey with your kids and finding a defender they really like is a great way to learn a lot about what a position is supposed to be doing. Spend a period of that game watching that defender. I know younger kids don’t always love watching three hour games on TV, but if they can focus for a bit and pick a player to watch, the key is to then pick out two or three things they see that player do.
I don’t recommend looking on YouTube or other sites for highlights, a lot of what players do right and do best don’t make highlight reels. It’s the little details that make the biggest difference and you won’t find those on highlight reels.
Drills created with Hockey Coach Vision.
In this quick clip, you’re watching a defender, Kris Letang, tie up players in front of the net and take away a shooting lane, getting a shot block in there.
This little play, for a young player, is great. It’s not overly fancy and easy to understand. Take away players' ability to score, and don’t be afraid to get in front of a puck.
For coaching this, I love to use what I call the Rainbow Drill.
In this drill, you can put a player in the “rainbow” drawn on the ice with no stick, or even an upside stick as they battle the attacking player entering the area. This begins teaching them some up close body contact battles in front.
To then continue this and teach how to tie up a player, you can use a high low battle drill.
In this drill, the puck is spotted behind the net and three players battle for it. Whichever player wins possession and gets the puck to the point becomes offense and the other two play defense. One defender should play high covering the point shot, while the other should be in front of the net taking away the forwards chances. The players at the point can pass or shoot at any time.
Another key aspect worth teaching at all ages is angling into the zone. At younger ages, especially when learning to transition backwards, a lot less defending is played skating backwards. Even at the older ages, it’s a critical skill to angle if you’re caught having to transition back into forward skating for a faster player who is getting by you.
The technique in this drill also teaches the same angling concept for those skating backwards just looking to learn how to take a forward to the boards and out of a scoring opportunity.
Tracking Drill. On the whistle, the inside player, who is a defender, passes the puck to the player on the boards who will play offense.
The offensive player will skate along the boards and then drive the net, working on their puck protection. The passing defender will skate to the cone and pick up the attacking player from the other side of the ice.
The focus of the defender should be to use their speed to catch the offensive player and meet them shoulder to shoulder and drive them out of a shooting lane and keep them on the boards. If the defender gets there earlier and decides to transition to backwards skating, they will need to ensure they manage the gap between them and forward so as to not allow the forward to gain enough speed to blow past them.
Lastly, with puck retrieval, simple breakout drills go a long way. Teaching players how to pick up the puck and then make the right pass to get the puck out of the zone will help any team creating better scoring chances.
Teaching the breakout comes in a few forms, and I have written about a few approaches to doing so. There is the 4 step plan to teach breakouts over the course of a few practices, and a couple of drills to reinforce good breakout habits.
These techniques to watch for at the NHL level and then teach at the youth level go a long way to educating young players to play defense.
You don’t want to overwhelm players who are too young with anything outside of playing the body and helping keep the puck away from the goalie. As they get older and progress, you can add new layers of complexity to defensive positioning.
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