The coolest part about consuming so much hockey content over the last few months and listening to really smart hockey people talk about their values is that many times they align with mine.
I highly recommend listening to the Darryl Belfry interview on the Hockey Think Tank Podcast. One of the topics of discussion struck a cord with me. They spoke about how it’s hard to teach offence, but the main reason it is that way is too many times we play directly into what the defence wants us to do. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I’ve always wondered why many kids are taught to play like this.
Much of the reasoning is that most coaches are very risk-averse. They find it embarrassing if a puck is turned over or mistakes are made. They can’t separate themselves from their role as a teacher and the performance of the team designated by wins and losses. They teach kids to “keep it simple” at such a young age, that the creativity is sucked out of them and they never develop the proper reads and hockey sense that would prepare them to continue to grow as a player. Sure, you can win a lot of games coaching a bunch of 9 year olds to rim the puck out every chance they get, dump it in and never turn it over, but you are doing a serious disservice to their development. Their parents will be happy that you are winning games and outwardly to the uneducated you will look good as your team is high on MyHockeyRankings. But realistically, you aren’t doing your job. You aren’t giving your players the education and experience by changing situations and challenging them to problem solve. They don’t have to think. Rim puck. Chip out. Dump in. Skate hard. In essence:
“The desire to win is more important than the desire to do what’s right.” - Darryl Belfry.
Absolutely, there is value in winning games. But the real value comes from doing it the right way. Focus on the habits that will prepare them the best for the future, understand their thought process and correct when necessary, and winning will be a by-product of that. There are also certainly situations in a game where you have to manage the puck. That also comes down to preparing your players by showing them what to look for. Are you late in a shift? That’s going to change how much risk you can take. Are we defending a lead late in the game? Then jumping for a 50/50 puck may be inadvisable. Again, if you’re a coach, it’s your job to build their sense by showing them what to look for and when to look for it. This will change their reads.
But back to defence based offence. What I mean by this, and what was discussed on the podcast, is a lot of times we play right into the defending teams hands on where they want us to attack strictly because the coach wants everyone to keep it simple and protect from the major mistake. But it never made sense to me.
On the breakout, at the earliest of ages, it’s taught for the defencemen to ring it around the boards to the wingers. Wingers stop the puck and try and find the centre (doesn’t happen usually) or chip it out. I’ve seen practices where coaches are teaching players to go glass and out at 8 years old! Again, there’s a time and place. But not when they are 8. Teach them how to problem solve and find better solutions. The time will come for them to learn when to manage the puck with a chip out (end of shift, extended defensive zone time etc.). Think about where the forechecking team wants you to move the puck. How does your team forecheck? I bet you try and cut the ice to angle and steer players to the outside. So why are we voluntarily playing the puck up the outside of the ice, outside the dot lines, and right into their hands. Let’s play the puck away from where they want us to. Let’s force them to react to us.
If it’s started at younger ages it’s much easier, but for the team I coached last year (Minor Midget AA, 16 year olds) our defencemen were not allowed to rim the puck. They had to find a stick. They had to try and escape and exit in the good ice inside the dot lines. Because if you allow them to rim it, too many times that will be their default read. Any sort of pressure and it’s fired up the boards and the problem is transferred to the winger who has to handle a bouncing puck, get hit by the pinching D and then get yelled at by the coach for “not getting it out”. But he shouldn’t have been put in that situation in the first place. Take away the option to rim it, and watch how quickly your D, C or supporting W use better reads to escape pressure. They will realize all they have to do most times they gain possession is cut the net and head up the middle of the ice with the puck. It’s that easy. They will look to find their D partner and the C will know that they have to stay low to support. Will you have extended D-zone shifts sometimes because passes aren’t completed? Probably. But the net gain from all the controlled exits you will have and rush chances created will heavily outweigh the negatives.
But again, it’s not taught enough, or the coach doesn’t have enough confidence to lay down this rule because it may lead to a so called “embarrassing” turnover that will end up in the back of your net. But as a coach you need to live with these occasional mistakes and instead focus on the thought process you are establishing and proper habits you are creating.
Now, we are out of the zone and attacking through the neutral zone with speed. But once we have speed, where are we taught to attack? DRIVE WIDE! Yes, if you have a step drive the D wide and take that puck to the far post. But a lot of times and especially as you move up levels, it's not that easy. And in an attempt to “drive wide” we end up playing the straight line, risk-averse hockey that our coach wants us to and skating ourselves into the corner. Sometimes we have a 2v2/3v2 with a net drive and we can throw a puck on net. Sometimes we even get a rebound to pop out and we score. BUT, why don’t we try and attack in places the other team doesn’t want us to? Why don’t we get the blue line and immediately try and cut across the dot line diagonally to the middle. Why can’t our “net drive” guy instead run a scissor/pick play with me and we can 2v1 one of the D. If we think about it fast enough, we can pick the weaker D to 2v1. Then our weak side player can hide his route and arrive at the far post for a back door tap-in. Once they catch on to this, and the D tries to jump our scissor, the middle F can jump right by and we can slide it through for a high danger chance. Make the D react to us instead of the D dictating where we go. Let’s base our offence on how we want to attack, not how the D wants us to.
Ultimately, if you prepare your team all over the ice for these situations, and instead of “keeping it simple” you show them ways they can dictate how the game goes, they will be creating situations that will stick in their memory for when they move up levels. Situations that they will now have experience in and will be even more prepared for when they happen again. They will know the adjustments the other team then makes to our routes, and how we can counter their adjustment. Sometimes AT THE SAME TIME as they are making it. This give and take is what hockey is about. Constantly jumping to get on the correct side of the puck. Constantly trying to get in the good ice and push to the bad ice. Don’t make it easier for the other team by playing where they want you to. Eat the mistakes as part of the process and instead understand why they happened. Sometimes all the thoughts were correct, the execution was just off. You will find this often in minor hockey. THAT’S OKAY. Go out and do the same thing, just execute better. While also keeping in mind the situational nature of each play. Each situation is different and demands different reads and thoughts. But as long as they are thinking then they are learning. The thoughts will start to process faster and you are doing your job as a coach in making a better hockey player.