Laura Schuler, Head Coach of the Minnesota-Duluth women’s hockey team, took the TCS Live stage in 2025 with a clear message: innovation in defensive structure can transform transition play and create offensive opportunities.

Schuler has seen it all in a long and distinguished career on both sides of the bench. Prior to taking the reigns in Minnesota-Duluth, she spent time with Dartmouth and Quinnipiac as well as a stint as Assistant Coach at Minnesota-Duluth. She's also been involved with Team Canada in international competition, and also spent four years as the Head Coach at Northeasten University.

Schuler started her presentation by reflecting on her mentors and the coaches who shaped her approach. She emphasized that much of what she knows comes from being willing to learn from others and adapt ideas to her team’s needs.

She then introduced a defensive zone rotation designed to help teams exit the zone faster. Against Wisconsin, her team spent too much time hesitating in their own zone, limiting opportunities to transition into offense. Schuler noticed that when the puck switched sides, players weren’t getting to pucks quickly enough, creating confusion and missed chances.

Her solution: a triangular read and rotation. When a winger battles for a puck in the corner or along the boards on the weak side (after the puck switches sides), that winger becomes the low F1. The original F1, probably the centre, and the weak-side winger rotate and head out of the zone. This rotation allows all players to read and react instinctively, reducing hesitation and keeping the team structured for a smooth breakout.

“Without this rotation, hesitation in the defensive zone can cost you opportunities. With it, reads become instinctive, and transitions happen naturally.”

Schuler also showed video examples from her team and the NHL: teams who react triangularly fastest break out with numbers, while those who don’t often give up scoring chances or get trapped in their zone. She stressed that these principles also apply in the offensive zone. It's vital to make reads instinctive rather than rigid to help the team regain possession faster and create offense.

Finally, Schuler shared practical drills to train this mindset: players skate in the defensive zone as the coach places pucks, reading who is first and adjusting their positioning before breaking out. Every play changes depending on the read, reinforcing adaptability and decision-making.

Her overarching point: innovation and calculated risk-taking can be the difference between winning and losing, especially in teams with strong culture and trust.

Coaching Challenge: This week, identify one area of your defensive zone structure where players hesitate or overthink. Design a triangular read or rotation to simplify the decision-making and improve transition speed.

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:00 The importance of coaching conferences
• 2:10 Triangular reads
• 3:55 Defensive zone rotations
• 9:45 What NHL teams are doing
• 13:30 Numbers game
• 15:10 Roles and puck reads
• 16:50 Proximity/layering read
• 19:20 Same layering/shortest distance
• 22:20 How do you teach it?