{"id":569,"date":"2010-04-26T14:29:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T20:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hockeyshare.com\/blog\/?p=569"},"modified":"2010-04-26T14:29:52","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T20:29:52","slug":"2-on-1-dissected-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/2-on-1-dissected-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2 on 1 Dissected (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in December, we broke down the offensive side of a 2 on 1 rush in our 2 on 1 Dissected (Part 1) post<\/a>.\u00a0 In part 2, we will be discussing the strategies and common mistakes made while defending a 2 on 1 rush.\u00a0 The general rule of thumb for defending a 2 on 1 rush is: the goaltender should take the shot and the defender should eliminate the pass across.\u00a0 While this is a good general rule, there are more instances to look into and a couple key additions to be made.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

General Responsibilities<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
2 on 1 – General Responsibilities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The diagram above shows the general responsibilities on a standard 2 on 1 rush.\u00a0 Player 1 is the puck carrier, and the defender wants to prevent shots from the red highlighted area.<\/p>\n

Rule Addition #1: Stay between the attackers<\/h3>\n

First let’s dissect the rule’s intention.\u00a0 By allowing a pass to the weak-side player, the goaltender is forced to move laterally.\u00a0 A quick pass and shot to the back door will often times result in an easy “tap-in” goal where the goalie has no chance of making it across in time. In addition, when goalies are forced to move laterally there are gaps in their coverage – or openings for a shooter to score.\u00a0 Forcing the puck carrier to shoot gives your goalie the opportunity to square up to the puck and play angles properly.<\/p>\n

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2 on 1 – Strong-side Coverage Mistake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An important point to consider while defending a 2 on 1 rush is the location of your stick, and its role in clogging the passing lane.\u00a0 Defensemen should keep their stick in the passing lane in order to expand the amount of space taken up.\u00a0 The more space a defender covers, the more difficult it will be for a forward to slide a pass through the middle of the ice.<\/p>\n

Rule Addition #2:\u00a0 Force the puck to the outside<\/h3>\n

By defining the areas we don’t want shots to come from, we get a better understanding of the general rule.\u00a0 Often times inexperienced defensemen will make the mistake of drifting over to the weak-side player, giving the puck carrier a better scoring opportunity by cutting to the middle of the ice (into the red in the first diagram).\u00a0 The diagram below shows how this mistake often plays out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2 on 1 – Weak-Side Coverage Mistake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When this mistake occurs, player 1 has an opportunity to shoot the puck in a high-quality scoring area – thus he\/she has now become more dangerous than the weak-side player. As the puck carrier gets closer to the middle of the ice, the more dangerous he becomes and the less dangerous the weak-side player becomes.\u00a0 The weak-side player’s threat is deteriorated because as the puck carrier moves to the middle, the goaltender should be tracking with the puck and becoming more centered in the net.\u00a0 The more centered the goaltender is in net, the less distance he will have to move across for a weak-side pass.<\/p>\n

When properly executed, as the play gets deeper in the zone, the defending player should provide increased pressure on the puck carrier.\u00a0 This is accomplished by subtly angling closer to the puck carrier while maintaining a good coverage of the passing lane via an active stick.\u00a0 The diagram below illustrates this basic skating pattern.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2 on 1 – Angling the Puck Carrier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h3>\n

The above rules work well for standard 2 on 1 rushes with a forward cutting down one side with the puck and another down the weak-side while driving the net.\u00a0 Now, let’s take a look at two non-standard scenarios and discuss how to approach the defense of these rushes.<\/p>\n

Criss-Crossing<\/h3>\n

One of the most confusing plays for inexperienced defenders is the criss-cross play.\u00a0 A natural reaction to the criss-cross would be to take one player, however making that decision will most likely lead to a prime scoring opportunity.\u00a0 The key to remember while handling a criss-cross is to hold the ground in the middle of the ice and attempt to stay between the players.\u00a0 We’ve already explored how committing to one player too early can lead to disaster – hold the ground and force the puck to the outside.<\/p>\n

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2 on 1 – Defending a Criss-Cross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Delays<\/h3>\n

Another favorite tactic of forwards is to have the puck-carrying player delay and allow the weak-side player to continue driving the net.\u00a0 This often creates confusion for the defender as he struggles to know how to defend the increasing gap between players.\u00a0 The delay is one of the hardest tactics to defend, and requires proper body and stick positioning.\u00a0 The goal still needs to be staying between the players.\u00a0 In order to cover the increased distance between the players, a defender’s stick becomes essential in taking away space for the pass.\u00a0 As the puck carrier gets closer to the net, the gap should decrease.\u00a0 Defenders also need to be sure to not turn their back on the puck carrier.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2 on 1 – Defending a Delay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in December, we broke down the offensive side of a 2 on 1 rush in our 2 on 1 Dissected (Part 1) post. In part 2, we will be discussing the strategies and common mistakes made while defending a 2 on 1 rush. The general rule of thumb for defending a 2 on 1 rush is: the goaltender should take the shot and the defender should eliminate the pass across. While this is a good general rule, there are more instances to look into and a couple key additions to be made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24,224,279],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.hockeyshare.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}