Defencemen - 1v1 common mistakes (continued)

I forgot to mention a 2nd topic yesterday so it will be the tip of today. When your going with the 1 on 1 on one side of the ice, it's usually preferred to have the oppenent go down the boards then through open ice as he is a lot easier to take out along the boards. So when this is happening you as a defensemen usually try to "sell" your preffered spot to the oppent instead of the open ice. This is done by giving him more room to blast by you on the boards so he picks that side, then just cream him, but one thing we do as defense is give too much room on the boards if he doesn't pick the side quickly. Going down he stays aligned with you and doesn't pick open ice or boards so you continually give him more room on the boards till he rips by you. But why? The thing is, if your going down on a 1 and 1 and your openent isn't picking either side, you have nothing to worry about. If you have given him a fair gap on the boards so it's a good choice, and the open ice is still possible, you shouldn't try to give him more space. Just keep skating down the ice straight. He has to pick a side, its his duty to get by you, not yours to give him a chance. This is a smaller mistake but its more important then you would think. Just don't give him too much room and let him decide, if he doesn't chosing either side, keep with him, make sure your gap is nice and small and take him out before he can choose.

Defenceman - 1v1 common mistakes

When your a defenceman and your doing a one on one, theres a lot of common mistakes happening. The first one is the gap size and timing. If you are sitting on the opposing teams blueline during the game and you see a rush is going to be coming up your end, most defencemen start to move instantly backwards, putting no pressure on the rush coming up the board to him and almost always giving the rusher a free skate out of his zone, through the neutral zone all the way to the defensive zone.
-Two major things are wrong with that
1. When you see a rush coming and you are on the blueline, keep the gap close so he is pressured, but not close enough that you will be caught as he blows by you. You don't want to be too far, that leads to the 2nd thing.
2. Why wait? What is the point of taking the oppenent out once you hit your own blue line if you can take him earlier? So many defensemen are trained to skate backwards with the oppenent to their blueline then take them out. Theres no sense in doing that if you can take him out at the redline. If you have that gap small from the second you identify the oppenent rushing you, you can make sure he feels pressured, and you have the choice of when you want to take him.

To take him out, slowing down and blocking him is the best thing you can probably do..


So keep that gap small and don't wait!