Here are a few transition drills from head coach George Gwozdecky of the University of Denver.
These drills add to the growing library of drills given to us from Division 1 head coaches. Hope they can bring some benefit to your team.
Transition Drill #2 (3 Passes)
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During the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, I did a video dissection of Ryan Carter’s game-winning goal against the New York Rangers. The video got quite a few hits that night, and I had a number of requests to dissect the play from the defensive point of view. People wanted to know what went wrong, and what the Rangers could have done differently to prevent the goal. So I put together a follow up video, showing how I would have beaten the 2-1-2 Forecheck the Devils were using. Since we’re ramping up for the new season, I thought it would be a good idea to brush up on beating the most commonly run forechecking system, the 2-1-2.
2-1-2 Stack vs Spread
There are two types of 2-1-2 set-ups; the “stack,” where the first two players enter the zone on the same side of the ice, the first player hits and pins, the second player takes the puck (this is the set-up the Devils use in this clip). In the “spread,” the first player attacks the puck carrier, and the second player eliminates the D to D pass.
See our video on the 2-1-2 Forecheck here: 2-1-2 Stack & Spread Explanation
How to Beat the 2-1-2
The first step to beating the 2-1-2 is for the puck-side defenseman to determine whether the opponent is using a stack or a spread. If he reads stack, he MUST get the puck to his weak-side partner, no matter what it takes! That’s where the open ice is, and that’s where the highest likelihood of a successful breakout lies. If he reads spread, he’ll need to beat his strong-side attacker, either with a misdirection or a reverse pass to the centerman, then break out the strong side.
What went Wrong?
In this clip, you’ll see the Rangers defenseman was more worried about jockeying with the Devils’ first man in, than he was about getting the puck to the weak side. Because of this, he ended up with poor body positioning, and got bombarded by the Devils’ aggressive forecheck. The 2-1-2 worked out in text-book fashion for the Devils, first man hit and pinned, second man picked up the puck and hit the third man coming into the slot for the game-winning goal.
Kevin Shea is back, this time writing the autobiography of none other than Derek Sanderson. Derek Sanderson: Crossing the Line
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca
Derek Sanderson had it all – fame, fortune and adulation. Sadly he lost it all too.
Sanderson made quite the impression on the Bruins faithful before he actually played with the Bs. In 1966 with the Bruins mired in cellar of the NHL, Bruin management held an exhibition match between their top 2 Junior teams, the Niagara Falls Flyers, led by Derek Sanderson, and the Oshawa Generals led by Bobby Orr. The game was to give Bruins fans a look at the future in Orr, but Sanderson had his own agenda. He was determined to get into a fight with Orr in that game. He was just making sure the fans would remember the name Derek Sanderson as much as they remembered Orr’s. Despite his attack on the “franchise,” Sanderson actually gained a lot of respect from fans and management for his style of play that game. Sanderson would go on to be a quintessential Boston Bruin.
A moment in time.
It’s rare for a person to remember exactly where he or she was at a single moment in time, some four decades past. It’s rarer still for an entire nation to hold a collective memory of such a moment. This kind of hardwired retention usually results from group trauma — the shock of assassination, large scale tragedy, or natural disaster.
Occasionally, the event that galvanizes a population is a happy one. Such was the case when Paul Henderson scored the memorable goal in ’72, that won the game and united Canada.
This book contains 72 stories that revolve around the ’72 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. Viewed separately, they are very personal, even intimate in nature. When they are strung together they begin to tell a larger story, a uniquely Canadian story of love for our country and its game.
The Summit Series becomes the focal point for Canadians to express themselves. Their comments are sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, often passionate, and always engaging.Some saw heroism, some patriotism, some a kind of coming-of-age for Canada. Some saw or heard Game Eight from the tops of telephone poles, others in coal cars or cardiac care units.Some were lucky enough to see games in person, either in Canada or Moscow. But the physical vantage point didn’t matter as much as the viewpoint they brought to the event and the one they came away with. It’s a diversity of thought and opinion that reflects the best of who we are as a people.
“It was the greatest tournament ever played in sports. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.” — Don Cherry
“We sang Oh Canada. I started to leave the arena, only to see a young Russian boy in tears with his mother trying to console him. I wanted to stop, and try to explain — but I couldn’t. We were worlds apart.” — Jim Herder
“That didn’t even come to my mind – that I was a descendant of the Russians. I never ever thought of it. It was just ‘I’m a Canadian and we won! We beat the Russians.’ Absolutely no mixed allegiances!” — Walter Gretzky
“…you could pretty well point to anyone across the country and you knew they were all watching the same thing. That doesn’t happen very often in our country, as big as we are and as diverse as we are. But on that day, they were, and whether it was in a little school in Winnipeg or somewhere else in the country you knew it was that kind of feeling.” — Peter Mansbridge
There are several great options for 1972 Summit Series fans when it comes to DVD shopping.
The best all inclusive package is ’72 Complete gift set is the second major dvd set about the 1972 Summit Series. The first, Canada’s Team of the Century: The Best of ’72
That being said, my favorite 1972 Summit Series DVD is a little known documentary entitled Summit on Ice
A look at the upcoming 2012 hockey book releases:
Accidentally On Purpose
Angela James: First Superstar of Women’s Hockey
A Season In Time by Todd Denault
A Wild Stab For It by Dave Bidini
Barry Melrose: Dropping The Gloves
Battle On The Hudson
Bernie Parent: Unmasked
Best Seat In The House by Jamie McLennan
Breakaway: Untold Stories of Hockey’s Great Escapes
Coach: The Pat Burns Story
Crosby’s Golden Goal by Mike Leonetti
Derek Sanderson: Crossing The Line with Kevin Shea
Flyers Lives by Jakki Clarke
The Goal That United Canada: 72 Amazing Stories
H Is For Hockey: NHL Alumni Alphabet
Hockey Hall of Fame: Book of Jerseys
“Hockey Smut”
Hockey Superstars 2012-13
Journeyman by Sean Pronger
J.R. by Jeremy Roenick
Leave No Doubt by Mike Babcock
Original Six Dynasties: Detroit Red Wings
Marcel Pronovost: A Life In Hockey
Next Goal Wins! by Liam Maguire
Paul Henderson: The Goal Of My Life
Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story
Refereeing Identity: Cultural Work of Canadian Hockey Novels
Reflections 2012: NHL Hockey Year in Photographs
Rookie (YA) by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
Selling The Dream by Ken Campbell and Jim Parcels
Sports Illustrated: The Great One
Stickhandling Through The Margins: First Nations Hockey
Straight Shooter: The Brad Park Story
Sudden Death: 1986 Swift Current Broncos
Tales From The Locker Room
Team Canada ’72
This Sweater Is For You
Titans of ’72 – Mike Leonetti
Wearing The “C” by Ross Bernstein
Year of the Los Angeles Kings
It’s not a free ride to the NHL.
: Paying the NHL price…on and off the ice. – Chapters – Amazon.com 
Selling the Dream takes a hard look at Canada’s national pastime and exposes the real issues faced by parents today; the realities of advancing to hockey’s highest level in an elite system, the increasing costs of playing minor hockey, the expected career duration in each league, and the odds of playing in the NHL.
Jamie McLennan offers us a back-up goalie’s hilarious behind-the-mask look at life in the NHL in his first book, The Best Seat in the House: Stories from the NHLInside the Room, on the Ice and on the Bench
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca
Jamie McLennan spent twenty years playing professional hockey. Sort of. As the backup for such legendary goalies as Grant Fuhr, Ron Hextall, Roberto Luongo, and Miikka Kiprusoff, he saw everything—except much playing time. In The Best Seat in the House, McLennan looks back on his unique career, from breaking into the NHL, to working with the legends, to life on the road and in the league, offering readers an unprecedented glimpse into life inside the locker room.
The NHL and NHLPA may not be able to agree to much these days, but they did get together again for their annual photo-book release Reflections 2012: The NHL Hockey Year in Photographs
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca
A spectacular pictorial commemoration of the 2011-12 NHL season that captures the power, speed, and grace of professional hockey.
Hockey is a sport that inspires passion and dedication in both players and fans. Since its humble beginnings on the uneven ice of frozen ponds, the game has brought people together to rejoice in victory and commiserate in defeat. Reflections 2012 presents a year of hockey”s joys and sorrows, all captured by the sport”s best photographers.
Relive the season through stunning images of the NHL”s brightest stars — Henrik Lundqvist, Claude Giroux, Henrik Zetterberg, Steven Stamkos, Nicklas Lidstrom, Evgeni Malkin, and many others. Revisit the NHL Winter Classic where snow fell on the latest dramatic battle in the historic New York-Philadelphia rivalry. From the first drop of the puck to the hoisting of the Stanley Cup, every moment that matters is here.
With more than 150 thrilling photos, an introduction to the incredible year that was, and a full section of year-end statistics, Reflections 2012 celebrates the speed and strength, the emotion and excitement of hockey played at its highest level.
The monumental spring 1994 face-off between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers is recaptured in Tim Sullivan’s mesmerizing account, Battle on the Hudson: The Devils, the Rangers, and the NHL’s Greatest Series Ever
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca
Arguably one of the greatest series in NHL history, it changed the face of hockey in the New York metropolitan area through 27 periods in seven games across 13 days, during which Ranger captain Mark Messier guaranteed a game-six victory.
The book presents a definitive portrayal of these two determined teams: the Rangers, an original-six franchise desperate to win their first title in 54 years, and the Devils, the underappreciated new kid from across the Hudson River who feverishly wanted to forge an identity of their own.
This in-depth retrospective conducts an unforgettable rollercoaster ride of emotions that lives in the hearts and minds of hockey fans forever.
