How the University of Michigan is Revolutionizing Neutral Zone Transition
How the University of Michigan adapted its offensive zone philosophy to create a unique neutral zone structure
This is the first part of a two-leg collaboration between Hockey’s Arsenal and Sam Stockton’s Gulo Gulo Hockey.
In part one at Gulo Gulo Hockey, head coach Brandon Naurato sat down for a one-on-one interview for a full and thorough review of the state of the University of Michigan men’s hockey team following its third successive Frozen Four and national semifinal exit.
In part two at Hockey’s Arsenal, you can read a thorough breakdown of the way Michigan adapted its offensive zone system to the neutral zone, setting the stage for cleaner entries and another extended postseason run.
I. The Problem
As Brandon Naurato reflected on his team’s 9-7-2 start to last season, he saw a problem he wanted to address:
“I didn’t like our neutral zone routes on build-it situations, so I had an idea, and I was telling [assistant coach Matt] Deschamps, ‘eh, we can’t do this at the break. It’s too much. Nobody does this.’ And Deschamps is like, ‘dude, nobody does anything you talk about. Let’s just do it.’ And we did it.”
The idea was to adapt Michigan’s Pep Guardiola-inspired system in the offensive zone to also function in the neutral zone. It’s worth naming what Naurato identifies as three layers of neutral zone (NZ) possession:
From the red line to the offensive blue line is what Naurato calls “the Rim Zone,” where players are instructed to rim the puck along the boards and forecheck.
From the red line back to the defensive blue line is the “North Zone,” where players are instructed to quickly move the puck up-ice.
The top of the defensive zone is the “Build-It Zone,” from which Michigan could get into the structure described below.
As Naurato sums it up, “I have this much space so I gotta rim it. I have this much space, so I gotta play fast. I have this much space, so now I can expose people.”
II. The Solution
The plan was to adapt the same formation Michigan used to lethal effect on the power play and in the offensive zone (OZ) to neutral ice. As Naurato explains:
“Basically, in simple terms, on the power play you’re in a 1-3-1, so it’s net-front, bumper, flankers, I’ll call it follow your pass guy, and D. We did that in the neutral zone. Nobody caught onto it.”
A standard approach to the neutral zone “build-it” situations involved two defensemen standing beside one another on the defensive blue line, as two wingers push high and wide with a center in the middle of the ice between them.
Michigan wanted something different that would be difficult for traditional NZ defenses to handle. For inspiration, they stole principles from their 1-3-1 Power Play.
One defenseman serves as a quarterback/ orchestrator. Another winger and defenseman become the outside flankers near the boards/wall. Another forward would go to the center faceoff dot to become the bumper player. The third forward would be in the middle of the offensive blue line.
The objective is to have multiple zone-entry threats that are in awkward spots for the defense.
As Naurato explained, the reason he felt comfortable making such a radical change to his team’s neutral zone in the middle of the season was that the new approach borrowed on language and concepts at which the group already excelled:
“They know the O zone so well, and that’s our bread and butter that I felt like if I taught the O zone in a different area of the ice, they could grasp it quick.”
One crucial aspect of making this system work is positional fluidity (another staple of Guardiola’s tactics). As Naurato says:
“We fill spots. It’s not D, D, forwards.” In other words, each skater (whether a center, winger, or defenseman) must be comfortable in each spot within the formation.
III. Why it Works
What makes this 1-3-1 NZ offensive transition structure an effective tactic? The key benefits are twofold.
First, the unique structure confuses the opponent, whose coverage rules are meant to account for a 2-1-2 or 1-2-2 formation.
Then, the idea is to lure the opponent into the middle of the ice, where they will be stationary, only to kick the puck out wide to speed underneath having done so.
If a pass is sent into the middle bumper player, they can play a pass to a player with speed on either side. As Naurato describes it:
“Now it’s speed underneath to where we can bump these pucks to speed on both sides, and we’re bringing everyone into the middle, so then we can kick it out.”
“What does every team want to do?” asks Naurato. “They want to protect this area [between the dots]. So, we’re bringing everyone in there, and you can sit there, and then we’re gonna fly by on this side.”
That net-front player is still trying to tip pucks, but instead of redirecting them past a goaltender, his objective would be to simply tip the puck into the O zone and initiate the forecheck. In broad strokes and in Naurato’s words:
“It’s always in motion, filling space…but at the end of the day, we want to be in the middle of the ice with the puck, and we want two people inside, and somebody traveling down the weak side. That is our system in a nutshell.”
These dynamics seek to create numerical and/or speed differential advantages through a congested space. Michigan can create situations where skaters are receiving the puck with speed and the chance to attack a defense that is often more stationary.
For an example of this in action, let’s look at this goal from Michigan’s February 24th win over Notre Dame:
As the clip opens, you’ll see defenseman Ethan Edwards (73 in maize) recover a puck the Irish have chipped out of their defensive zone. He gains possession in what Naurato referred to as the “build-it” zone. He proceeds to send a pass to his partner Marshall Warren (77). Warren is a defenseman but he is operating in the bumper role here. Again, each player must be comfortable in each role to maximize the effectiveness of the approach.
You’ll see the players filing roles with T.J. Hughes (13) working from right to left across the neutral zone to become the left outside player as Gavin Brindley (4) builds up speed along the right side of the rink. The “net-front” role is filled by Dylan Duke (25) who smartly turns and skates away from the puck side to clear space for Brindley (4). All of this positioning and movement leaves Brindley (the Big Ten’s Player of the Year) in an ocean of space to attack a single Irish defenseman.
Brindley has built up speed against a defense that has been reduced to a standstill. This allows him to blaze into the offensive zone largely unabated and eventually score via a perfectly placed wrist shot.
IV. Teaching/Learning & Growing Pains
To teach this new neutral zone, Naurato and his staff utilized a small area game-based activity that perfectly suited their needs. The staff will often come up with a drill or game for practice that doesn’t wind up sticking, but this one became a staple to open practice throughout the second half.
It worked as a five-on-five game in the neutral zone with a line a few feet past either blue line. A coach would chip a puck in to start the drill, and the two sides would essentially begin a game of keep-away, with the chance to earn a point each time they carried the puck across the line on the opposite end of the neutral zone.
While teaching team structure, this activity also serves as an individual development environment for other aspects. As Naurato put it,
“Really I’m teaching puck support and puck management. But inside of that, guys are working on stick detail and all these other things. So it’s offense and defense. It’s development. It’s not a structure or a system just to win; it teaches better angling, it teaches better stick detail, offensively it teaches better puck support and puck management, which is what you want.”
For more on the intersection between this neutral zone structure and individual development, be sure to check out the Gulo Gulo Hockey side of this collaboration.
The goal is not to create robots who can excel in a single system but rather equip players with transferable skills that will benefit them in any system; as Naurato frames it,
“I’ve got to put the habits, not structure,...in guys that have been here for years to make them the best version of themselves.”
Though Michigan generally found early success with this new neutral zone, there was still a need for tinkering to perfect it as the season wore on. The Wolverines lost 6-2 at Minnesota on the first of March, and Naurato saw another problem:
“What was happening is we were working on this, and we were playing too slow. And I’m like, ‘guys, the whole intent is this is just built-in option, a read.’ We got away from playing fast, so then we worked on playing fast again, along with the build-up and reads, and I think that helped a ton going into the playoffs.”
That adjustment spurred a run of six wins from the next seven games on the way back to the Frozen Four.
V. The End Product
The defining play of Michigan’s season and likely the most memorable play from the Wolverines ‘23-24 campaign came in the 5-2 win over Michigan State to avenge a Big Ten championship game loss from a week earlier.
Frank Nazar authored what he would later call “the Michigan 2.0” by sending a between-the-legs pass to Brindley. The pass immediately lit up social media and highlight reels, but what you might not have noticed amidst the fuss around Nazar’s audacious pass was the neutral zone play that created the chance.
The play begins with a clean face-off win for Michigan at center ice. Defenseman Luca Fantilli (63 in blue) recovers the puck in the “build-it zone.” He is unable to complete his pass in for Rutger McGroarty (2) in the bumper spot, but a mishandle from Michigan State effectively bumps the puck wide for Edwards (playing as the flanker along the left side).
This clip shows the way that Michigan’s 1-3-1 is a challenge for the Spartans’ neutral zone 2-1-2 structure. MSU is caught with three skaters trying to defend two Wolverines (McGroarty and Edwards), but Edwards accelerates past that pressure with a big speed differential and leads Nazar (here, serving as the net-front player at the top of the 1-3-1) into the offensive zone as Brindley once again builds speed as the weak-side player/flanker. Nazar has a two-on-one with the last Spartan back as Brindley arrives on the scene at speed, and Nazar finds him with the spectacular feed for Brindley to finish.
Of course, it’s the pass itself that is most memorable about the play, but it’s the neutral zone structure that afforded Michigan the scoring chance that essentially clinched Michigan’s return trip to the Frozen Four.
To simply put it… this is hockey innovation and modern poetry in motion.
Further Reading