How to make opponents look like traffic cones

Speed differentials, heels, saving ice, and skating at players

Apr 03, 2022

I wanted to expand on a tweet I sent last month, and this forum is an appropriate place to build out the concepts put forth.

Greg Revak, CFP® @CoachRevak

Rules of thumb - Player skating at you? Skate at them - Player skating backward or flat footed? Skate slightly to the side. Once they commit, play off their heels https://t.co/UrbT9uYImZ

Greg Revak, CFP® @CoachRevak

Excellent work by Lucas Carlsson Reading and creating heels 👠 to work off of https://t.co/LkwWjwelA0

Weaponizing Skating

Skating is obviously an important tool, but what are ways that we can go about weaponizing skating to beat opponents? Ultimately, this is the question I wanted to explore.

The first item would be to simply skate faster.
The second item would be to create a speed differential, either positive or negative, by creating space between the skater and their opponent.

Going beyond the first two ideas, there is trickery that can make opponents look like traffic cones: (1) Creating Heels and (2) Offensive Angling.

Creating Heels

If a player is standing flat-footed or if a player is skating backward, they are in a position to guard ice/space. At this point, the goal is to dislodge them from that space and encourage them to commit.

Getting them to commit first is the key. A great way to do that is to skate or fake one direction when you really want to go the other direction. Their body orientation and skate direction go one way and you go the other off of their heels. Here is an example from our piece, Playing off the heels

In the above clip, Alex DeBrincat effectively turns the Dallas Stars’ defenders inside out with a simple weight shift to the boards (bonus points for putting the back quickly on his backhand for additional deception). The defender commits his heels/hips towards the boards, which allows for DeBrincat to cut back to the ice he always wanted to gain.

Offensive Angling

If a player is actively seeking to close your space and angle you to bad spots on the ice, they are attempting to take your ice/space. At this point, the goal is to keep your space and create or save ice that you can use.

When a player is angling they are dictating play, so it’s important to find ways to take back the initiative. A great way to do that is to skate directly at the player. Depending on the angles, you can give a small fake one direction. Here is an example from our piece, offensive angling.

What are some other ways we can weaponize skating to our advantage?

Further Reading

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