Puck Protection: How to Protect the Puck When Skating Through Contact
On becoming a more confident and proficient transporter of the puck
Much of the general discourse surrounding puck protection is in the context of using your butt and body to shield the puck from an opponent.
But that is only one element of puck protection. Another key element is fending off contact, from body to stick checks. Here are a few other concepts that will take your puck protection skills to the next level:
Lift Your Stick
Here we see Mika Zibanejad absorbing a stick whack by simply lifting his stick while still firmly in control of the puck.
Lifting your stick is an effective way to absorb contact, free up hands, and cut through opponents.
It also ensures you’ll be in full control when blowing the barn doors off the defense who make last-ditch defensive plays.
As we know from “When and How to Go 1v1 in Hockey,” defeating the opponent’s stick is critical to surviving high-level hockey.
Through Physical Contact
At the highest levels, basically 100% of players play through contact, but if you’ve been around youth hockey for any amount of time, you’ll know this isn’t always natural and intuitive. Many times any bump or stick check results in a player losing control of the puck.
Tapping or guiding the puck into a space and then building a wall physically allows you to absorb the body check and drive through to valuable space.
Or, even engage physically yourself instead of simply waiting for the contact to arrive. Often you’ll be able to get a shoulder in front and ride the leverage through the physical contact.
What is very impressive is when players guide and catch the puck into a perfect glide path upon reception.
Getting players used to tapping and guiding pucks to space is a great first step to mastering great puck protection habits.
This is an ode to the puck moving first then the skating adjusts relative to the puck, practicing with multiple pucks, and separating your upper from your lower body. More reading on these topics below:
Further Reading