Face-Offs

The face-off is one of the single most important parts of the game and in many cases the most overlooked. After every stoppage, play begins again with a face-off and an opportunity to gain possession of the puck.  It’s very important to have a plan when taking a face-off. In most cases when you don’t get a lot of practice time each week it’s good to have one or two set plays that your players can run in the offensive and defensive zones. When you have more time to practice you can add additional plays and more complex plays. Here are some face-off plays that you can run. As always, there are many more variations and options than what I have posted, but I think this is a fairly good starting point to work from. If you have a special play you would like to share please send it along and I will post it.

Defensive Zone

Board Breakout
Fast Break Middle
London DZ Ring
Back Door Sleeper

Neutral Zone

NZ Dump
NZ Ring
NZ LD Curl

Center Ice

Center Curl
D/Wing Switch

Offensive Zone

4 Up
3 Option Draw
Plymouth
Scissor

Man Advantage 6 on 5

Cornell
Predator
Pop Out

Penalty Kill

Release
PK Ring