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Playing Defense with Gordie Roberts

By Minnesota Hockey, 12/06/16, 1:00PM CST

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Two-time Stanley Cup champion and current high school coach shares basic concepts of good defense.

In a sport where even the best players have the puck for less than a minute, playing defense is a key part of being a good hockey player, regardless of position.

Before looking to hone in on any particular skills or concepts though, former Minnesota North Star defenseman and two-time Stanley Cup champion Gordie Roberts emphasizes that playing defense all starts with the right attitude.

“Be tenacious, be hard to play against,” said Roberts, who has spent nearly two decades in player development including four years as the boys varsity coach for Elk River High School. “When you get into games, those forwards, they’re not feeling sorry for you. They’re trying to make you look bad.”

“You don’t have to put them through the boards into the second row, but you have to let them know that they’re not going to beat you. It’s a compete one on one battle.”

Roberts went on to share five key skills and concepts that helped him become the first American defenseman to play 1,000 games in the National Hockey League and eventually earned him a place in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Stick on Puck

One of the main differences between hockey and many other sports (besides ice!) is that players get to use sticks. While it’s fairly obvious players need to learn to stick handle and shoot in order to score goals, they also need to learn how to use their stick defensively.

“Your stick gives you a lot more range to your game compared to what your body can do,” said Roberts. “You still want to play the body, but you want to be really involved. You want stick on puck so you’re taking away time and space and poke-checking and being able to angle players into positions.”

Players that stay aggressive and have an active stick are more likely to force opposing players into turnovers and regain possession. By taking away the opponents’ passing option, players at the Bantam levels and up also put themselves in a good position to make a body check if the opponent keeps the puck and skates it.

“Contain him, not only ride him out but find the puck and then make the next play,” said Roberts. “That’s kind of the perfect combination.”

Defensive Side

Another key defensive concept is maintaining defensive side positioning. Important for forwards and defensemen alike, playing on the defensive side is simply positioning yourself between the opponent and your own net or goalie.

For young players, the key to playing on the defensive side is working on their awareness.

“The most important part with young defensemen is to have their head on a swivel,” said Roberts. “Be watching the open man and the player with the puck just as much as each other so you can know where the open man is.”

When it’s your job to challenge the puck carrier, then players have to learn to recognize when to be aggressive and when to focus more on steering the play away from a scoring area.

“I teach sometimes go half way and keep your feet moving, stick in good position and trying to take away lanes and things like that,” said Roberts, who is serving as an assistant coach at Maple Grove High School this season. “When the player is fumbling the puck and you see his numbers, there you can be more aggressive and try to take away that time and space.”

Communicate with Each Other

Walk into any locker room and you’ll notice one skill players of all ages have in abundance: talking. Unfortunately, it often takes some practice to transfer players’ enthusiasm for talking onto the ice.

“It is frustrating for coaches because players then don’t talk as much on the ice to help each other,” said Roberts. “The more you talk, you know – I got him, I got him, your man – little things like that is going to make communication that much better because the offense is trying to fool you in a sense and make it difficult.”

 Like a catcher in baseball, Roberts believes hockey teams often benefit if the most vocal person on the ice is the man in the mask:

“The goalie has the best seat in the house as far as reading and seeing the play in front of him. He can definitely help the defensemen out.”

Playing the Rush

In a recent article, we discussed how playing multiple positions can help players learn to read certain situations. Odd man rushes may be one of the best examples of that because each side wants to take control of the play using certain strategies.

Two of the most important strategies for defensemen are managing the gap and controlling the middle of the ice.

“Don’t lunge forward whether it’s poke-checking or trying to body check,” said Roberts. “That’s why gap is so important. You want to be able to have good gap, be able to move laterally, have your stick on puck and play the body.”

Playing with a good gap isn’t easy though so it’s critical for players to work on it in practice.

“It’s the old Herb Brooks philosophy,” said Roberts. “In practice, when you’re doing one-on-ones and two-on-ones and three-on-two’s, be uncomfortable. Youth coaches should be pushing their players to play out of their comfort zone a little bit so that they can keep improving and in games, they have that confidence in being able to have a better gap.”

The same goes for controlling the slot area in middle of the ice. That’s where forwards want to go to create scoring opportunities. If defensemen can work on forcing their opponents to the outside, they will give up fewer high quality chances and less goals.

“Your goaltender should be able to handle the outside shots,” said Roberts. “Two-on-ones are really two-on-two’s using your goaltender. Obviously, you want to try to take that back door pass away.”

Switching to Offense

Last, but certainly not least, players should practice transitioning quickly from defense to offense. Many times the difference between a good breakout and staying in your own zone is making a good first pass.

“Understand that there’s two or three options you should be able to make quickly,” said Roberts. “A lot of defenseman just throw the puck back up the strong side into pressure. Is your partner open? Is the weak side open? Is the center open? As you continue to play more minutes in that division, the poise and the experience go along with it.”

Once you make that tape to tape pass with a teammate, be ready to join the rush and create some offense of your own.

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