Defensive skills and drills

Hey folks

For my club team I usually play forward but due to necessity, I'm starting to find myself having to play as a left back\left winger more often.

Would anyone be willing to share any good defensive tips from their vast experience ?

I like to think I'm reasonably competent but would obviously like to improve

are there any good defensive drills that I could be practicing ? (any good 'get out of jail' skills)

are there any good solid ways to steal the puck other than what we already know?

any good tips for cutting down the attackers options, making them go the way you WANT them to go ?

the best advice for a left handed person (me) tackling a right hander ? (ie on a chase away to goal with the puck a full body width away from me, what are my best options)

how do I make an opposing attacker off balance ? trick him into giving me the puck ?

How much attention should I be paying to their body shape when they are attacking ?

these are just a few questions off the top of my head to hopefully start the thread discussion off, any advice you guys can give will be really appreciated

(and bear in mind I will be trying most of these out against Benson)

cheers !!

If you're going against Benson just study his drawings and then don't let him go there. It's pretty simple as he comes right by your spot.

As far as stealing the puck in a solid way other than the ways we already know, Uh... not possible. Perhaps a rephrase is needed.

This could go into tons of details so to keep it simple... For the most part think about what you do as a forward that works and then don't do what the defender did, think of what sort of things defenders do to you that prevent you from being effective, and be sure to experiment. Between those things you should come up with a workable plan.

Get scored on and stop some goals and learn from both.

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Hi Duck

Thanks for the reply

Yeah that makes no real sense...my bad

I meant that as kind of an overview to my post as in

If I'm in a situation when I have to get the tackle in, rather than just diving in and smashing the guy and finding out I've put myself under more pressure, what else can I be doing to make the situation easier for me.....How do I get the attacker to go where I want...is there a way to put him off balance and make it easier for me to steal the puck.

I guess what I'm saying is there are 2 schools of thought on how defending is played.

One guy might adopt the 'I'm going to smash you to hell' approach of defending not allowing you a second, and is quite prepared to swim through you (risking a foul)

Others are more subtle, and don't go diving in but would rather shepherd you to the wall and seem to effortlessly squeeze you out of the puck.

I'm after the best of both

Thats the plan

I like to think I do ok when asked to play at the back but I would like to go from being just an ok defender to being a good defender, as you say most of it will come down to just playing in that position and learning the hard way, but it would be nice to get some pointers from those with a lot more experience.....kind of a 'golden rules to defending' or a 'hints and tips to watch out for'

Thanks again.

You can't do it all alone. You have a team to play with. Usually that is what makes the desicion to attack hard or "play soft" defense. If you are the last man... er.. person back you want to slow them down with body position and mild pressure, when your teamates catch up to the play one of them will either attack the puck hard, or you switch from soft D to smash D.

To play soft, you must be aware of pool position and the position of the opponents. You must let them do something with the puck, the key is to "let" them do what you want through body position. By getting into a passing lane, pressuring one side, showing your stick ready to knock down a pass in one direction, give them one and only one easy option, like swimmig to the wall... mmmmm safe wall.

To play smash D. HIt the one in the middle and don't stop kicking.

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