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In regular play, two defencemen complement three forwards and a goaltender on the ice. Exceptions include overtime during the regular season and when a team is shorthanded (i.e. has been assessed a penalty), in which two defencemen are typically joined by only two forwards and a goaltender. In National Hockey League re...
Organized play of ice hockey originates from the first indoor game in Montreal in 1875. In subsequent years, the players per side were reduced to seven per side. Positions were standardized, and two correspond to the two defencemen of current six-man rules. These were designated as cover point and point, although they ...
According to one of the earliest books on ice hockey, Farrell's "Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game" (1899), Mike Grant of the Montreal Victorias, describes the point as "essentially defensive. He should not stray too far from his place, because oftentimes he is practically a second goal-minder ... although he should r...
Each year the NHL, the premier ice hockey league in the world, presents the James Norris Memorial Trophy to the best defenceman in the league. Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins – an eight-time Norris Trophy recipient – is often considered to be the greatest defenceman in NHL and ice hockey history. In addition to his Norr...
Conversely, according to the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team (also chosen by "The Hockey News"), the greatest defencemen to play in IIHF-sanctioned international competition are Vyacheslav Fetisov and Börje Salming.
Defence players are often described by the amount they participate in the offence. The extreme of non-participation in offence is a "stay-at-home" defender, who takes few risks and does not score much, instead focusing on defending against the opposing team. A good example is Rod Langway, who won the Norris Trophy whil...
The extreme of participation is an "offensive defenceman", who gets aggressively involved in the team's offence. To accomplish this, the offensive defence player often pitches in to keep the play from going offside and moves towards the halfboards and high-slot area for scoring opportunities. This makes it difficult fo...
In the neutral zone, the defence hangs back towards his or her own blue line, usually playing the puck up to other teammates. According to Jay Leach, who writes for NHL.com's "learn to play hockey" section, the defence must "Move the puck hard and quick to the open man. Join the rush, [but] do not lead it." Because of ...
In the offensive zone, the defence skaters usually "play the blue line." It is their duty to keep the puck in the offensive zone by stopping it from crossing the blue line that demarcates where the offensive zone begins. Should the puck cross this line, the offence cannot touch the puck in their opponent's zone without...
Essentially in all three zones of the rink, the defence is the backstop for the puck. It should never go behind the defence, unless the player lets it. The defence keeps the momentum of play squarely directed towards the opposing goal, or at least away from his own.
Because defencemen are often expected to shoot on the opposing net from long range, these players often develop the hardest and most accurate slapshots. This is because taking a more stationary position on the blue line rewards pure accuracy and patience, rather than the adept hand–eye coordination attributed to forwar...
When a team is on a power play, a defence player can set up plays in the offensive zone, and distribute the puck to the teammate that he or she feels is in the best position to score, similar to a point guard in basketball, a playmaker in soccer, and a quarterback in American football and Canadian football. For this re...
During faceoffs in the defensive zone, most teams have their defence players pair up with opposing wingers to tie them up while leaving his team's forwards open to move the puck, though this is at the discretion of the individual coach. In the offensive zone, the defence player acts in his or her usual role, keeping co...
In the first organized ice hockey, (see Amateur Hockey Association of Canada), defencemen used to line up in an "I" formation behind the rover (defunct) as "point" and "cover point". Defence is still referred to as "playing the point", though this term now refers mostly to the role of defencemen on the power-play.
The forecheck is an ice hockey defensive play made in the offensive zone with the objective of applying pressure to the opposing team to regain control of the puck. It is a type of checking. Forechecking is generally executed in one of three situations: recovery of the puck after a dump in, after the rebound on a scori...
In ice hockey, butterfly style is a technique of goaltending distinguished by the goaltender guarding the lower part of the net by dropping to the knees to block attempts to score. The butterfly style derives its name from the resemblance of the spread goal pads and hands to a butterfly's wings. The "butterfly style" i...
Many factors helped make it a "de facto" standard style of play today, including the popularization of the goalie mask by Jacques Plante, Vladislav Tretiak's outstanding use of the style at the 1972 Canada–USSR Summit Series, the National Hockey League (NHL) emergence of Tony Esposito in the 1970s and Dominik Hasek in ...
There are few who exclusively employ a stand-up style in the NHL.Although it is effective and popular among goaltenders, the butterfly style can leave the upper portion of the net more vulnerable to scoring attempts.
The modern profly derivative was made most popular by Patrick Roy and is the style most commonly used and taught. The profly style is a specialized progression of the butterfly style. The name derives from a goaltending leg pad model designed specifically for the use of the butterfly. The term eventually evolved into a...
The term "hybrid" is commonly used to measure how far a goaltender strays from using the butterfly technique as a base save. Some goaltending circles use the term "hybrid" as a middling term from a pure butterfly goaltender to a pure stand-up goaltender.
As in many arts, there is no universal agreement on style classifications with modern goaltending techniques. Modern hybrid coaches such as the late Warren Strelow worked with goaltenders associated with the profly style such as Miikka Kiprusoff. The butterfly is not a style but a save selection used by most goaltender...
The butterfly style is contrasted with "stand-up" style goaltenders. The "profly" and the "hybrid" are more specialized progressions of collections of technical moves enveloped within the modern "butterfly" style. The butterfly term is often used to describe the newer "profly" style of goaltending refined by players in...
The original "stand-up" style is considered obsolete by modern goaltending circles. However, there are still a few remaining goaltenders who are commonly said to be in the furthest hybrid spectrum opposite of a pure profly goaltender. These few are often considered to occupy the "modern stand-up" style of goaltending. ...
There are a number of other recent technical innovations in response to the puck and shooter position on the ice.
A hallmark of profly is the puck-side leg staying down when recovering to the skates fully upright, to reposition for a rebound or second shot. Rather than picking up the leg closest to the puck, the leg furthest away from the puck is raised, then pushing the puck-side leg toward the puck. At this point, the goaltender...
Profly goaltenders tend to have an easier time "skating" on their knees, also known as the "backside push", or the "butterfly slide". This term describes where one leg is down, and one is up. The goaltender pushes with his/her leg up laterally from the heel, laterally toward the down leg. This allows for a slide from t...
The V-H move (also called the Split Butterfly or loading the post) is a move with which profly style goaltenders identify. This is a relatively recent tactical response to a shooter that is advancing from behind the net towards the front of the net, and has the option to pass. The goaltender places the knee farthest fr...
Enforcer is an unofficial role in ice hockey. The term is sometimes used synonymously with "fighter", "tough guy", or "goon". An enforcer's job is to deter and respond to dirty or violent play by the opposition. When such play occurs, the enforcer is expected to respond aggressively, by fighting or checking the offende...
Enforcers are different from pests, players who seek to agitate opponents and distract them from the game, without necessarily fighting them. The pest's primary role is to draw penalties from opposing players, thus "getting them off their game", while not actually intending to fight the opposition player (although exce...
At present in the National Hockey League (NHL), teams generally do not carry more than one player whose primary role is that of an enforcer. Enforcers can play either forward or defense, although they are most frequently used as wingers on the fourth forward checking line. Prized for their aggression, size, checking ab...
Enforcers sometimes take boxing lessons to improve their fighting. Some players combine aspects of the enforcer role with strong play in other areas of the game. Tiger Williams, Bob Probert, and Chris Simon are examples of enforcers who showed an occasional scoring flair, with Williams and Probert playing in the midsea...
Sometimes enforcers can do their job by virtue of their reputation. Clark Gillies was among the best fighters in the NHL during his prime, but over time he rarely had to fight because opponents respected and feared him enough that they would not go after his teammates. Some skilled players, such as legends Gordie Howe ...
In the 1970s, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers were known respectively as the "Big Bad Bruins" and "Broad Street Bullies", for stocking up on grinders and enforcers.
Retired enforcer Georges Laraque has suggested the National Hockey League Players' Association provide counselling to enforcers, and sports journalist and writer Roy Macgregor opines that in light of recent tragic events there should be more done about it, including eliminating the role altogether. "New York Times" spo...
The inventor of the saucer pass is commonly credited as the Finnish ice hockey legend, Raimo Helminen. According to the book "Raipe - vaatimattomuuden lyhyt oppimäärä", he invented the pass when he was playing against grown-up men from his neighborhood when he was a young child in Koivistonkylä, Tampere, Finland.
A breakaway is a situation in ice hockey in which a player with the puck has no defending players, except for the goaltender, between himself and the opposing goal, leaving him free to skate in and shoot at will (before the out-of-position defenders can catch him). A breakaway is considered a lapse on the part of the d...
The 2-1-2 forecheck, or pinch on a wide rim is an ice hockey forechecking strategy which uses two forwards deep in the offensive zone, with the remaining forward positioned high in the offensive zone, and the two defencemen positioned at the highest part of the zone near the blue line. This forecheck is used to apply b...
Each of the five skaters has a specific role in the execution of the 2-1-2 forecheck.
This system of forechecking needs to have good skaters in order to be successful. The Edmonton Oilers during their dynasty years were such a club and made use of the 2-1-2 forecheck.
In ice hockey, power forward (PWF) is a loosely applied characterization of a forward who is big and strong, equally capable of playing physically or scoring goals and would most likely have high totals in both points and penalties. It is usually used in reference to a forward who is physically large, with the toughnes...
Historically, "power forward" was not originally a hockey term, finding comparatively recent origins from basketball. Harry Sinden, former president of the Boston Bruins, claims "power forward" first became part of hockey terminology because of the style of play of Cam Neely, an NHL player from 1983 to 1996, who could ...
Charlie Conacher was the first player to pioneered the style of a power forward in the 1930s, while Gordie Howe is likewise considered a quintessential example of a power forward in the decades before the term entered hockey vernacular.
In February 2001, "Hockey Digest" published a list of the NHL's best pests. They were: Bob Kelly, Matt Cooke, Esa Tikkanen, Tomas Holmström, Darius Kasparaitis, Ian Laperrière, Tyson Nash, Todd Harvey, Matthew Barnaby, Kris Draper, Bill Lindsay, Jamal Mayers and Steve Staios.
In 2009, "Sports Illustrated" also compiled their own list of "Notable Pests of the NHL". Their list was: Sean Avery, Claude Lemieux, Steve Ott, Jordin Tootoo, Jarkko Ruutu, Matt Cooke, Alexandre Burrows, Chris Neil, Ian Laperrière, Darcy Tucker, Chris Simon, Matthew Barnaby, Theo Fleury, Pat Verbeek, Esa Tikkanen, Ken...
This position is commonly referred to by the side of the rink that the winger normally takes, i.e. "left wing" or "right wing." The side of the rink the player played on traditionally related to the side of their body they take a shot from (i.e. left-shooting playing left wing) but in recent decades more wingers have p...
The wingers' responsibilities in the offensive zone include the following:
Wingers should be playing high in the zone (close to the blue line), typically covering the defensemen of the opposing team, meaning they block passes from going to the defencemen and block shots from the defenceman. Wingers should always be vigilant for a breakout pass or a chance to chip the puck past the defenceman ...
Wingers are usually the last players to backcheck out of the offensive zone. On the backcheck, it is essential that they cover the last free opposing player rushing in. Once the puck is controlled by the opposing team in the defensive zone, however, wingers are responsible for covering the defenceman on their side of t...
Prior to the puck being dropped for a face-off, players other than those taking the face-off must not make any physical contact with players on the opposite team, nor enter the face-off circle (where marked). After the puck is dropped, it is essential for wingers to engage the opposing players to prevent them from obta...
Once a team has established control of the puck, wingers can set themselves up into an appropriate position.
Some wingers are also employed to handle faceoffs.
In ice hockey, cycling is an offensive strategy that moves the puck along the boards in the offensive zone to create a scoring chance by making defenders tired or moving them out of position.
In ice hockey, a screen is obstruction by a player of the goaltender's view of the puck. The word can also be used as a verb, commonly "don't "screen" the goaltender", or "the goalie was "screened"". Screens can be both planned, as when an attacking forward positions himself in front of the net, or accidental, like whe...
The most recognizable implementation of the trap sees the defense stationing four of their players in the neutral zone and one forechecker in the offensive zone. As the offensive team starts to move up the ice, the forechecker (generally the center) will cut off passing lanes to other offensive players by staying in th...
Checking in ice hockey is any of a number of defensive techniques aimed at disrupting an opponent with possession of the puck or separating them from the puck entirely. Most types are not subject to penalty.
New NHL standard of rule enforcement, 2005–06.
For the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted stricter enforcement of many checking violations that in previous seasons would not have been penalized. The intent of the new standard of enforcement was to fundamentally alter the way ice hockey is played, rewarding speed and agility over brute strength, as well as increasin...
New USA Hockey rules on checking, 2011–12.
Beginning in the 2011–12 season, USA Hockey moved the age of legal body checking from 12U to 14U. The discussion of this rule change began with a look into Peewee (12U) and Squirt (10U) levels of hockey. Through observation, it was clear that Squirts skate more aggressively and try to play in the correct manner. Peewee...
An extra attacker in ice hockey is a forward or, less commonly, a defenceman who has been substituted in place of the goaltender. The purpose of this substitution is to gain an offensive advantage to score a goal. The removal of the goaltender for an extra attacker is colloquially called "pulling the goalie", resulting...
The extra attacker is typically utilized in two situations:
The term sixth attacker is also used when both teams are at even strength; teams may also pull the goalie when shorthanded by a player, in which case the extra attacker would be a fifth attacker. It is exceptionally rare for a penalized team to do so during five on three situations.
Also, in overtime, an extra attacker is added automatically when a team down one player because of penalty is penalised again for a second minor penalty; the team on the power play will play five on three for the rest of the two-man advantage, and until the next whistle. In leagues with a three on three overtime, each ...
Russian and Soviet coaches are known for refusing to pull their goalies when behind late in games, as was the case in the 1980 Winter Olympics medal game between the Soviet Union and the USA.
The extra attacker concept was first utilized in the NHL by Art Ross, coach and general manager of the Boston Bruins, who picked up the idea from experimental incidents in amateur and minor-league hockey. In a playoff game against the Montreal Canadiens on March 26, 1931, Ross had goaltender Tiny Thompson go to the ben...
A 2018 model by Aaron Brown and Cliff Asness based on the 2015–16 NHL season suggested that, for a team down one point where losing 2–0 is no worse than losing 1–0, the ideal to time to pull the goalie is somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes from the end of the match.
Each team has three forwards on each line:
The left wing lock is a defensive ice hockey strategy similar to the neutral zone trap.
In the most basic form, once puck possession changes, the left wing moves back in line with the defencemen. Each defender (including the left winger) plays a zone defence and is responsible for a third of the ice each. Since there are normally only two defencemen, this tactic helps to avoid odd man rushes.
With the reinforced defensive line, the centre and right wing forecheck aggressively. Often the forecheckers will try to drive the puck over to the opponent's right wing.
Under coach Scotty Bowman, the Detroit Red Wings began using "the lock" heavily during the 1994-95 NHL season, earning the President's Trophy for the league's best record during the regular season. The following season Detroit was even more dominant, finishing one point short of the NHL record for most points in a seas...
Although "the lock" was made famous by the Red Wings and has been used to great success in their Stanley Cup runs in the past decade, they are not credited with inventing it. The "lock" was invented in Czechoslovakia to work against the dominant Soviet teams of the 1970s. A former assistant coach under Scotty Bowman, B...
The simplicity of "the lock" has made it popular at all levels of hockey and it is not uncommon to see it implemented in youth hockey.
While grinder often refers to a player of lesser offensive skills, this is not always the case. NHL Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Clarke of the 1970s and 80s Philadelphia Flyers was considered a grinder, but was also a highly productive offensive player. While a "grinder" plays a physical style of hockey they are disting...
Indicative of the importance of the grinder is that Bobby Clarke and Mike Eruzione, both grinder-style players, played major roles in their respective countries' victories over the offensively-skilled Soviet Union national team. Clarke was a significant factor in Team Canada's victory in the 1972 Super Series, as was E...
In 2012, "The Hockey News" named Dave Bolland of the NHL Chicago Blackhawks as "Best Grinder".
In ice hockey, a two-way forward is a forward who handles the defensive aspects of the game as well as the offensive aspects. Typically, a player's frame is not an issue in whether he can be a two-way forward. Perseverance is key to being a two-way forward, as it is an attribute that gives rise to battling in the corne...
Two-way forwards that do not have top offensive numbers are sometimes left in the shadows of high-scoring forwards and so are rarely named to all-star games or all-star teams, but commentators often reiterate their importance to a team. The National Hockey League (NHL) presents its best two-way forward with the Frank J...
The system is used in international hockey by the Swedish team, due to the large ice surface, and the lack of a two-line pass offside (which would stop play with a two-line pass). It contrasted the neutral zone trap, which was popular in the 1990s, and which stifled fast skating and playmaking by crowding the neutral z...
The system was used to describe the Swedish national men's hockey team's approach during the 2002 Winter Games, which was punctuated by a preliminary 5-2 win over the eventual gold-medal winning Canadian team.
Loafing, floating, or cherry picking in ice hockey is a manoeuver in which a player, the floater (usually a forward, but occasionally a defenceman who used to play the forward position, but can no longer skate the complete length of the ice at pace), literally loafs — spends time in idleness — or casually skates behind...
The tactic is used sparingly as although it sometimes creates a breakaway opportunity for the defending team should they manage to take control of the puck and pass it to the floater, it also creates a five-on-four situation (during even strength play) for the attacking team. Also, a good defenceman usually keeps an ey...
A deke feint or fake is an ice hockey technique whereby a player draws an opposing player out of position or is used to skate by an opponent while maintaining possession and control of the puck. The term is a Canadianism formed by abbreviating the word "decoy".
One type is the "head fake", using a movement of the head to fool an opposing player over the player's movements or intention.
A more complex deke is the "toe drag", a deke in which the puck carrier brings the puck forward on their forehand, and subsequently turns their stick and pulls the puck towards themselves with the toe of the blade, while moving past the defender, who has presumably attempted to poke check the puck in its previous posit...
On defense in American football, rushing is charging across the line of scrimmage towards the quarterback or kicker in the effort to stop or "sack" them. The purpose is tackling, hurrying or flushing the quarterback, or blocking or disrupting a kick. In both college and professional football, getting a strong pass rush...
One of the most effective methods of rushing the passer is by using a stunt or twist, which is when defensive players quickly change positions at the snap of the ball and engage a different blocker than the offense expected, Defenses typically task three or four defensive lineman to rush the passer on most plays, but m...
A pass rush can be effective even if it does not sack the quarterback if it forces the passer to get rid of the ball before he wanted to, resulting in an incomplete pass or interception. To attack a strong pass rush, offenses can throw quicker short passes or run draw plays or screen passes, which are design to lure de...
The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former high school coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison and refined and popularized by former...
The run and shoot system uses a formation consisting of one running back and usually four wide receivers. This system makes extensive use of receiver motion (having a receiver suddenly change position by running left or right, parallel to the line of scrimmage, just before the ball is snapped), both to create advantage...
The basic idea behind the run and shoot is a flexible offense that adjusts "on the fly," with the receivers changing their routes based on the defensive coverage and play of the defenders covering them. The quarterback then not only reads the defensive coverage to determine where to throw the ball, but must also read t...
In the purest form of the offense, the proper complement would consist of two wide receivers lined up on the outside edges of the formation and two "slotbacks" (wide receivers who line up one step back from the line of scrimmage, so as not to be considered "covered" and thus ineligible) lined up just outside and behind...
The original inventor of the run and shoot, Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, first started out with a formation that overloaded the left side of the offensive line for his scrambling quarterback. He called it "The Lonesome Polecat".
Many of the National Football League teams that used the run and shoot in the early 1990s used true wide receivers in all four receiving positions.
Originally, the run and shoot was set up so the quarterback would be under center with the running back lined up a few yards behind him. Later, during his tenure with the University of Hawaii, June Jones used quarterback Colt Brennan out of the shotgun. In this case the running back is usually offset to the right or le...
Also at Hawaii, Nick Rolovich tweaked the formation to run out of the pistol, thus creating an opportunity for a mobile quarterback to become a second running back. This led to increased success in the running game.
Another formation that can often be seen with the run and shoot is the trips formation, where three wide receivers are situated to the right or left side of the line of scrimmage. Most of the time, this formation will be created out of motion when the W or Y receiver moves to the opposite side of the formation helping ...
The Portland State Vikings under head coach Mouse Davis went 42–24 in his tenure installing the offense and putting the system on the map. Quarterback Neil Lomax set many records including career NCAA passing yards.
At the University of Hawaii, June Jones went 76–41 including seeing quarterback Timmy Chang set a record for most NCAA completions and passing yards in 2004 and quarterback Colt Brennan set a record for touchdown passes in 2006 with 58. In 2018, Hawaii brought back the run and shoot offense under former Hawaii QB and h...
A hard count by a quarterback at the beginning of a gridiron football play is an audible snap count that uses an irregular, accented (thus, the term "hard") cadence. When used, the center will hike the ball to the quarterback on an accented syllable (for example, "hut one ... hut two ... hut three ... hut hut HUT").