It seems like everyone online wants to deke, dance, and snipe their way to victory. While there are a select few who can actually do that the most important way you can help your team win is to play well on the defensive side of the puck. It all starts with overall team systems.
Systems
Our neutral zone system of choice is the 1-2-2. It really cuts down the ability of other teams to go cross-ice and lets us funnel pucks to one side of the ice or the other. The basic idea is one forward pressures the puck while the other forwards sit back to the right and left side of the ice with the two defensemen behind those forwards. The formation looks like this:
C
F F
D D
The center drives the play forcing the attacker with the puck one way or the other, the other fowards and defense shift towards the side the center drives play towards. By doing this it cuts off easy passes through the middle and provides a lot of support around the puck. It also doesn't allow the other team to work up speed coming through the neutral zone. If done correctly you can basically have both forwards and both defensemen stand up in a line across the blueline while the center chases and forces the other team to dump the puck or make a risky play to enter the zone.
If it isn't possible to setup in a formal 1-2-2 we try to keep one forward high in the zone. By that, we mean one forward who is staying around the dots or higher depending on how high up the forwards on the other team are. The further down in the zone they are the further down our third guy can go. The idea here is to have three total defenders back in most situations.
When defending a rush we look for our defenders to stay in front of forwards and delay the attackers while our forwards back check hard up the middle of the ice to take away cross ice passes and poke check at the puck carrier from behind. We only like our D to go for the big hit when they have clear forward support. Typically going for big hits just puts defensemen out of the play and leads to odd man chances.
Defensive Zone
In the defensive zone we generally play a 2-1-2 zone. Our top two guys kind of chase and be aggressive while our center and two defense cover the front of the net. One defender near the left post and one near the right. The center plays around the hash marks and all three players down low look to cut off passes through the middle of the offensive zone. As the puck moves around the zone everyone shifts to keep lanes cut off and try to keep the puck to the outside.
Example 1: If the puck goes into the left corner, the near side D steps out, the LW crashes down on the boards to cut off the pass to the near point, and the RW moves to the hash marks. The C moves to the post the LD vacated. This strategy keeps attackers out of high scoring areas. It does tend to give up some cross ice one timers from the attacking D but the RW on the hash marks can move to block those and it is a lower percentage shot than something from between the dots and posts down low.
Example 2: If the puck goes to the left point point the LW attacks that D. The C, LD, and RD stay in a triangle in the middle and the RW moves to cut off the pass to the other D.
General Tips for Defensemen
- Turn on colors for both teams. It is under My NHL 12/Settings/Visual Settings then hit RB and set Online Player Indicators to On. This makes it easier to see which forward you are up against and you can figure out tendencies for them.
- Turn off auto back skate. This is under My NHL 12/Settings/Controller Settings then scroll down the list to find it. It is kind of hidden. This will allow you to control when you go into back skating mode (using LT). Pivoting at the right time to defend an attacker going wide is an important skill to learn and you have to have auto back skate off to do it.
- Use the poke check rather than the body check most of the time. Take the puck from people rather than crushing them unless you have clear support. Don't use the sweeping poke check. I find multiple discreet pokes works better than sweeping it. Then again your experience might differ.
- Try to delay forwards until you get back pressure support.
- Don't leave your feet much if at all unless it is a clear desperation situation (trying to trip a guy on the breakaway or blocking a pass you just can't quite get to). Learn to block shots by getting legs in front of them rather than flopping to the ice. Everyone shoots high so it is going over you if you lie down anyway.
- Take away whatever shot the player keeps trying to take.Chances are that player has scored from there before and will want to get back to his spot to get away that same shot. As I am fond of saying, "People take shots they think will go in."
General Tips for Forwards
- Back check hard and down the middle of the ice. At least one forward should back check down to in front of the goalie on each rush to avoid easy crossing passes getting through.
- Use poke check to harass attackers from behind as you are back checking.
- Try to block as many shots as possible. Don't lay out. Try to block them standing up or use the LB button. Shots that don't get to the goalie aren't goals (bad bounces aside).
- Don't cherry pick (hang out in the neutral zone looking for the breakaway while the puck is in the defensive zone). Helping turn the puck over in the defensive zone will lead to offensive opportunities while cherry picking just puts your team down a man.
- Turn on colors for both teams as mentioned above.
- Turn off auto back skate as mention above.
- Take away shots that players like to take between the defenseman and your back checking it is fairly easy to keep players from taking their favorite shots.
- Don't turn the puck over in the neutral zone or just inside the blue line. It makes getting setup on the back check hard and puts your defenders under undue duress.
If you do these things well you can keep your goals against down and give your team a fighting chance to win games even if you aren't the most offensively gifted team. If you are offensively gifted you can start winning games 6-1 instead of 6-4.
I will be putting together a guide for offense at some point but these posts are pretty big so it could be a while. I also hope to get a build of the week out sometime soon. Been running a grinder for a bit and it is a lot of fun.
