How to Improve Your Team's Puck Possession
Ways to possess the puck more and control the game better
Control the puck, control the game.
Controlling the puck helps a team dictate play and bend the game in their favor. Coaches love to control the game. And players who possess the puck and limit turnovers are favored over those who struggle to possess the puck.
What are some ways to improve puck possession? A look at prior articles should help consolidate your learning:
Personal Possession
Puck Battles
The best way to win a puck battle is to prioritize “Position before possession.”
And ensure to defeat the oppositions stick while you’re at it!
Puck Races
Like running away from a cheetah on a Safari gone wrong… you need to alter your mindset. You won’t need to be the fastest running away from the cheetah, but rather don’t be the slowest.
With a puck race, you’ll need to worry about your opponent’s line to the puck and own that rather than trying to always maximize your line to the puck.
With The Puck
Once you have the puck, understanding where pressure is coming from is critical. Off the rush, “Defeating the backcheck” is a key concept.
Too many players on the rush simply look ahead and to their sides. Yet, many times the space and teammates are coming late! Many times the best offensive option is behind the puck. This could be late offensive speed differential or can be caused by overbackchecking.
Team Possession
With The Puck
Often the quickest way to better team puck possession is knowing the difference between what situation players find themselves in. Are they receiving a possession puck or attack puck?
One of the great mysteries in ice hockey is getting players to realize they have more time than they realize. Once this is realized, they stop throwing pucks away haphazardly.
I love implementing what I call the “Two Step rule” in the defensive zone, encouraging players to take two steps with the puck before making a decision. This helps create a pause that limits throw-away pucks and improves puck possession.
Puck Support
Playmaking and passing is a two-person endeavor. There must be a passer and receiver. Often we hear and talk about the passer, but the more important person is the player off the puck to make the passing possible.
Support via using “dot support”
Ice geography is a key concept in proper spacing, positioning, and support routes.
OZ Puck support
Offensive zone support can be tricky for players. Below is part one of a three-part series we featured on offensive zone puck support.
Center support
How can a center best support on the breakout? We dive into the details.
Further Reading
Understanding and leveraging the four advantages in ice hockey
What is more important, shot quantity or shot quality?
We explore dictating the game from the defensive side and then flip the coin and look at dictating the game from the offensive side.
Proper shooting technique uses Body Shape