Offense Made Simple

I started doing some thought exercises to simplify some ideas for players.

Here's what I came up with for offense:

• Skate to white space between the dots

• Stop in between 2 opponents

• Skate towards teammates (create switches)

• Skate towards opponents and stick pick (create picks)

• Set passing lanes near current 1v1's to make them 2v1

• If a teammate makes a run (soccer term for an intentional move to create or compress space), go skate to where he is leaving

• Draw 2, play through (attract the attention of 2 opponents, pass through 2 to create a numbers advantage)

These 6 quick statements are what successful offensive principles are based on.

Fergus Connolly outlines 3 principles of offense in Gamechanger.

Construct, Penetrate, and Execute.

I think of them as:

• Build space

• Fill space

• Finish pucks

It makes a cute BFF acronym for processing fluency if you're into that. Offense can be your best friend.

Build usable space for yourself or a teammate to get into, space creates time to finish the play yourself or pass to a more dangerous player on the ice.

Teach Principles, NOT systems, learn more below: