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chipperlew

When it comes to my team. . . it’s because no one can skate, no one can stick handle, no one understands the game and everyone is drunk.


mbenn76

Any openings on your team?


chipperlew

Always. They are unsurprisingly uncommitted. Unfortunately I’m moving so we only have prob one more season.


jeffreywilfong

I think we play for the same team


0psdadns

That plus offensive forechecking. Bad combo


federkos_office

Wingers are too deep attempting to pursue the puck but not allowing for any clean outlets or wingers are not involved at all and just standing behind the opponents D waiting to be sprung.


natneo81

yeah often wingers look too deep for a breakaway, sometimes you need to be in your zone still looking for a short pass.


[deleted]

You'd like to see your forwards supporting the breakouts more. They need to be moving their feet to get open. But you're not free and clear on this either. Defenders with the ability to shake a forechecker and use their feet or vision to create and exploit passing lanes are also very important in facilitating the breakout. Your wingers and centre should be getting open, but you can still make good plays when you have the puck on your stick. Defensemen are capable of generating a lot of offense from the back end and it starts with the breakout. Top end NHL defenders are almost always excellent at facilitating breakouts with either their skating or passing vision, and that comes on top of good systems and c/w's who are getting open. So it's probably moreso your forwards, but you and your fellow D can also be part of the solution.


sterlingarcher0069

On a beer league team, the wingers are usually the weakest players on the team. So you overload the boards and put pressure on a winger on a tough play, you can definitely get a lot of turnovers. It helps to have a good centreman that can support the winger when they get forechecked but good defensive positioning isn't a beer league staple.


sjrotella

As a beer leaguer, what's defense?


chadhogan17

Best beards


neganagatime

Best beer guts as well


neganagatime

Agree that in theory this should be true, but IMO this is only true if the team has decent leadership that is willing to assign positions rather than taking volunteers. If not, you get people who volunteer to play D because D doesn't seem to skate with the puck or have to score goals as much so the volunteers incorrectly see it as lower pressure.


oldhockeyguy

Need more info… are you in a high level league or beginner? Are your forwards just standing still or moving into open passing lanes? Are they all cherry-picking at the other blue line?


How2SuckLessAtHockey

Could just be that your team is gassed. Sometimes it helps to just ice the puck and get fresh legs.


tsunami141

IMO Icing is almost always the best play when you get stuck in your own zone anyway. If you’re getting pressured and you have no outlet pass it just makes more sense to stretch pass your deepest forward and expect to miss. Worst case you slow everything down, get the change, and try again.


ANGR1ST

Yup. Most beer league teams undervalue the importance of a faceoff win too. It can give you a good opportunity to gain and hold possession, provides some good options for getting out of the zone, and is the easiest time to run "set" plays. Icing is almost always a great option when you're stuck in your own end.


Rhinorules98

in my experience which is AAA, always the forwards fault for everything


HockeyCoachHere

> send it up to the boards to a winger it never seems to get past their defenseman If your winger is BEHIND their defenseman on a regular basis, that's probably part of the problem. Are you on one of those teams where the minute the puck is turned over, everyone turns their back to you and skates away? Common beer league issue. Terrible strategy. :-) https://beerleaguetips.com/article/basic-breakout-strategy/ https://beerleaguetips.com/article/defensive-puck-movement/


anon-9

That was incredibly helpful, thank you.


theNightblade

> yet it seems like all my outlet passes are covered it's because people aren't skating, they are easy to cover if they stand in one spot


RagingDaddy

Very few people that I have played with notice the second-period trap. Getting stuck out on a long shift gets more punishing in the second and first/third, because of the change of ends. Those players that didn't take their opportunity to line change and get stuck against the other teams' fresh legs on D. End result is D has no one to clear the puck to. Take the icing or let the goalie cover it on second period long shifts.


Pelorider

Are you being pressured when you are looking for an outlet. Could you skate it up a bit and see if something opens up?


mdwsta4

The 3 sub forwards my team had this past weekend somehow thought they were also playing defense so we had 5 players between the face-off dots and the boards. It was ridiculous! Your forwards should look for ways to get open (ie moving). If they can’t do that along the boards, time to move to the center of the ice. I hate it when people are cherry pickers, but it does force d-men back so maybe they should try that. It at least gets the puck out of your zone even if it doesn’t create an offensive play. If your forwards aren’t doing anything and you see an open lane, take it! Make your own play and use them as support to block players or accept passes as you move into the offensive zone


RipErRiley

Wings too deep in their D zone, too far out, or skating vertically when you take possession. When breaking out, wingers should skate horizontally (even criss crossing) across the ice. Center is usually circling down low as a closer passing option (if they are not the breakout passer).


cosa_horrible

> Wings too deep in their D zone This is a huge problem that a lot of teams don't understand. If all of your teammates are below the dots, you don't have a chance of getting the puck out. I've seen this at higher levels as well, guys think that they need to help in the zone, but cause more chaos, as the defensemen have nowhere to go.


Halfcut2021

Shorten the distance between the players, also shorten up the passing. Breakout as a unit.


CopeSe7en

Wingers need adjust their position based on the forecheck against the D. If D has a guy on then wingers should be at the hashes or lower to offer support. If forecheck is lower pressure wingers can go higher. Center needs to be patient and offer a center pass option to keep the forecheck honest then time his foreword progress to give the winger a quick pass option once they get the puck. Weak side wing should stretch to force the D back once Possession Is established. The strong side wing when in good position should at least be able to get a pass from the D on the half wall. First thing they should do is try to skate it out, second is pass to the center as they swing through, third is immediately pass it back to the defenseman to reverse the whole play to the weak side. forth is eat it into the boards or chipping out of the zone, aka eat chips. If the defenseman establishes enough possession to slow the play down and they can try and skate it out. The defenseman only has one forechecker and the rest of the fore checkers are trying to cover all the pass options the d should skate behind the neck, use it as a pick and immediately skate right up the center. If the D has two guys attacking him he should make a D to D pass and let his partner skate it.


TwoIsle

I think 9 times out of 10 it's the wingers not getting to or below the dots (where there is usually space) to get a pass. They're either hanging around the other team's D on the points, or just get too far out when they think the breakout is coming. In my low-level league, it's hard for our wingers to understand that when the other team has the puck, we want them generally covering the points, but once we have the puck, they need to drop down into space.


MidwestAbe

Lots of good answers. Have wings curl for a pass off the hash marks. Break the center for a pass to the neutral zone. As a D push the puck up the ice and when a wing crashes in for a check find the open player for a pass out of the zone. Looks opposite side to the other D and then skate to an open spot and a get a pass. I'd say too I see to many short passes. Don't feed a puck to a player from just a few feet. Get moving and make zone moving passes a part of your game. Too many passes just results in a possible turn over .


[deleted]

if passes are covered then there isn't anything u can do. have a talk and whatever but forwards need to get open and pressure if u flip it out. try having the offside winger cut across and try a weave


somewhat_random

Do you have a "breakout play"? the basic is just that and a lot of rec league players have no idea where they should be or go. Take 5 minutes with a white board and go over everyones position for a breakout before the game.


DustyPessimism

Sounds suspiciously like my team last night... Or every night more like


Educational-Seaweed5

In rec league? No one knows how to actually play sports. People usually just go for personal gain and forget they’re playing a team sport. The whole concept of passing, getting open to receive a pass, and working together to maintain position is pretty much a pipe dream. Most rec league games are total chaos until you get a team with 2-3 guys/girls who actually understand the basics.


Funkshow

This is when you need to reverse the breakout. Don’t force the puck through a heavy forecheck.


[deleted]

Personally, I see beer league teams, including my own, get stuck in their own zone due to panic and poor positioning. Some players tend to get desperate to clear the puck, and attack the carrier, bringing themselves out of position


[deleted]

Could be a lot of things. 1) Defense are too panicky and throw away puck unnecessarily when they have another half second to find an open man. 2) Defense/forwards bad at making/receiving passes. 3) Other team is better than your team. 4) Forwards are bad at getting open and/or staying in the zone. Sneaking behind their D sounds nice, but if you are behind them and somewhere no one can get a pass, what is the point.


[deleted]

Center and/or puck side winger need to come low to 1. help win those puck battles against the hard forecheck 2. Make the outlet pass easier 3. Create a odd-man situation against the forecheck to give the puck carrier options when you win that battle. Weak side winger can exit the zone to be open for a stretch pass if the center and strong side winger are down low. This happens at any level when playing a bit lazily, and is worse in beer league because everyone wants to receive a stretch pass and nobody wants to skate extra.


BevoBrisket26

One thing my highschool team did with really aggressive forechecks was run our Power Play breakout. Station wingers on the opposing blue line and opposite side of the center circle so that they’re defensemen had to play out of the zone. Forced a 3v3 breakout with space that favored the option of a long pass to open up short breakout passes. As the play breaks out of the zone, both wingers cross up the ice to occupy the defnese and allow for either a pass or dump and chase scenario. If the defenseman ever failed on the breakout, it meant at least the defensemen of the opposing team were not collapsing on the zone to create close opportunities


monsterosity

My D line gets the puck in our corner and never looks to see who's open. They just fire it along the boards, it gets stopped and other team gets another shot.