Systems and Situations
How five players act as one
Team structure in every zone and every situation. Where a system determines your job, the system is named and an alternative is given — because most breakdowns are two players working from different assumptions.
The 10 documents in this section
BreakoutsA breakout — your team's organised exit from your own end — is run several times a shift, every shift, all game.Zone EntriesA zone entry is the moment your team brings the puck across the opponent's blue line into the third of the ice containing the goal you are shooting at.Offensive Zone PlayOnce you already have the puck at the other team's end of the ice — carried or dumped in, or won back on the forecheck — the problem changes shape.Forechecking SystemsForechecking is the pressure your team applies at the other team's end of the rink while they have the puck and you do not — the opposite of racing back to defend your own net.Neutral Zone SystemsThe neutral zone is the middle third of the ice, between the two blue lines — fifty feet of it, and about three seconds for a strong skater.Defensive Zone CoverageCoverage is the agreement your five skaters have about who protects what while the other team has the puck in your end, and it is the single most system-dependent part of hockey — two…Defending the RushA rush is an attack that arrives before the defence is set, and coaches and analysts widely treat the chances it produces as the highest-danger chances in hockey, with published…Special TeamsSpecial teams means any situation where the two teams do not have the same number of skaters on the ice.FaceoffsA faceoff, or draw, is how play starts and restarts: an official drops the puck between the sticks of two opponents, and whoever wins it gives their team possession.Game ManagementGame management is the layer above systems: how the score and the clock change the risk you take, the speed you play at and the decisions you make.