When you are on the penalty kill the only thing that you should be doing is preventing a goal. Coaches will do this in one of two ways. They will either have players defend against passes by getting in the passing lanes, or they will have players defend against shots by getting in the shooting lanes. In this article we will talk about how the diamond forces players in the shooting lanes and how it can easily be adjusted to accommodate a new situation.

First we are going to start with the standard positioning on the diamond. When you are in the diamond you are going to have a player in front of the net, a player at the point, and two players around both face-off dots. Where players are positioned exactly depends on the location of the puck. What makes this effective is that the other team has to figure out a way to get the puck down low.

Another good thing about playing in a diamond penalty killing system is that when you are in the diamond you can easily change to the box. This can also be done the other way around, but we are going to focus on changing a diamond into a box.

To change the diamond into a box all you have to do is shift. Make sure that the entire team is shifting in the same direction. You do not want two players to go to the same spot. There are many ways that this can be done, but the most effective is by having the entire team do the same shift as the person going for the puck. If the person covering the puck carrier shifts to the left, then the rest of the team should do the same. However, make sure you do not leave a man open in front of the net. This will cause disaster for your team.

When you are playing in a diamond you have to keep an eye on what the other team is doing. If you see that they are about to send the puck down low, then you have no choice but to shift the box. This is one of the most important things that you will have to learn in your drills. You have to make sure that you can shift. If you cannot shift then you will give up many goals.

more [+]

Offensive D vs. Defensive D

If you had the choice to draft the first overall pick in the NHL and there were two defensemen available one was offense-minded and the other was defensive-minded, who would you choose?

Personally, I liked the Paul Coffey run and gun style of play so I would go for the offensive style of defenseman. Creating offense almost always starts from the back and works its way forward. In today's game, it's all about creating offense so what better way to keep with the times by going for an offensive defensemen.

For the fans, everyone loves to see the excitment of a Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, and Al Iafrate blast forward with the puck zipping in and out of the opposition to create a scoring chance. Like Ovechkin, it's all about the offense that gets people on the edge of their seats.

Defensive defensemen are great assets but if you have a good goalie - which most teams have today anyway - you can get away with cheating a little bit by allowing your d-man float a little. The opposition's offensive will get a scoring chance but the goalie could feel confident to make the save knowing that his d-men would clear the puck quickly on the transition.

Obviously the best of both worlds is a Nick Lidstrom or Ray Bourque but in light of this upcoming weekend's Hockey Hall of Fame induction of Brian Leetch, it's only fitting to debate this topic.

more [+]

more photos [+]

more photos [+]

more photos [+]

more photos [+]

more photos [+]