Modern Forechecks

An introduction to modern forechecks

The forecheck is, for me, the most interesting part of the sport of hockey. It's a fun inversion of what everybody usually does. Saturnalia on ice. Forwards create scoring chances not by passing and shooting, but skating, stick-checking, and laying hits. Defensemen keep the puck out of their goal not with smart positioning and shot blocking but by reading the ice and making decisions quickly.

It only exists because of the weird historical development of the offside rule. Since it's so hard to get the puck over the damned blue line, teams are willing to push 3, 4, and 5 players up ice to try and keep it there. Even the name is archaic. Nobody talks about defense in terms of checking these days. It used to be that all of defense was called checking. A person you were assigned to defend, that's your check. How do you take the puck from your check? With a shoulder check or a poke check, of course. What do you do to make sure you haven't lost your check? You check! What is your team doing? Checking. It was possible to tune into a radio and hear a man in a mid-Atlantic accent say, "He's checked for his check, and checks the puck away, but they're still checking."

I digress. Today, we're going to talk about some of the most commonly used modern forechecking tactics. By the end, you're going to know what to look for and have a new reason to dog that no-good overpaid forward you don't like.

It's an old meme, it's no good. I'm sorry. I photoshopped a black eye onto him though, how cool is that?
If this is you, you can skip this entry. I want you to learn, so come back when we're talking about something that's new to you.


1-2-2

Every sport has their "classic" strategy. Kids learn it when they first start playing. Uncles the world over wish it was the only way the sport was played. In soccer, they have the 4-2-2. In gridiron football, the I-formation. Hockey has the 1-2-2.

San Jose Sharks playing a 1-2-2


It's important to understand how coaches talk about forechecking. In modern hockey, left wing, center, and right wing are positions that only exist in the defensive zone (and increasingly less, but we'll talk about that another day). Instead, positions are assigned based on where the players already are on the ice. The forward closest to the puck is called F1. Whether you want "F" to stand for "forward" or "forechecker" you're right. The second player to arrive on the scene is F2, and the straggler is F3.

The reason the strategy is known as "1-2-2" is because of player positioning. That first number is how many players are at the level of the puck. The second is how many players are supporting, and the third is how many are defending the blue line. So a 1-2-2 has one player on the puck, two players supporting, and two defending the blue line.

 
1-2-2 on a whiteboard


In a 1-2-2, here are the jobs:

F1: attacks the puck, taking an inside-out line if possible

F2: defends the strong-side (closer to the puck) boards

F3: defends the middle and weak side of the ice

D1: defends the strong-side point

D2: defends the middle and weak side point


The key to a good 1-2-2 is the F1. If F1 can't get pressure on the puck, the breakout has all the time in the world to do what they want. Pressure, in this case, is not necessarily stealing the puck outright. More important is the ability to funnel it to F2. 

A well-executed 1-2-2 ends up with a 2v1 at the hash marks


From there, F1 and F2 can double team the puck.

If F1 can't funnel the puck wide, and the breakout can switch sides, then players rotate to keep applying pressure. F3, being closest to the puck now, has to react quickly and become F1. The old F1 and F2 need to figure out amongst themselves who goes where, but typically F2 will make a beeline across the ice and F1 will fill in high.


A common 1-2-2 rotation

Okay, I promised I'd give you a chance to complain about players you don't like. Here are some common bad habits:

  • As F1, pushing the puck towards the middle instead of towards the outside. This takes F2 out of the play, gives the breakout more time, and can force a rotation of the forecheck, which benefits the team breaking out.
  • As F1, not skating hard enough to apply pressure to the puck. This is obvious. Just giving the other team time and space defeats the purpose of this strategy.
  • As F3, staying high and forcing the other forwards to cover more ground off of a rotation. This is a common habit for "skill" players. If the team turns the puck over, they will want to pass to F3 for a shot, so a player who likes to shoot will gravitate towards the F3 position, sometimes to the detriment of actually winning the puck back.

Traditional 2-1-2

"We don't have some soft team," you say to yourself. "We are a physical team. We are gritty." And so, your team plays a traditional 2-1-2.


San Jose Sharks playing a 2-1-2



This is an all-or-nothing strategy. Either the forecheckers swarm the puck and turn it over, or they get beaten and have to skate back. There's not much room for re-setting, rotating, any of that positional nonsense we were worrying about with that stodgy 1-2-2. It's all about getting forecheckers on the puck, and it favors athletic players, ones who can skate and hit and hold onto the puck.

Here are everybody's assignments:

F1: Attacks the puck, taking an outside-in line if possible. Most coaches will insist that this player must make body contact with the puck carrier.

F2: Also attacks the puck. Because they're arriving later than F1, usually that means digging the puck out of everyone's feet.

F3: Defends the middle of the ice.

D1: defends the strong-side of the blue line

D2: defends the middle and weak side of the blue line.

It might not seem like it, but F3 is actually the key to this strategy working. If F1 & F2 get beaten (and they will often), the breakout needs to be slowed down. Forcing the opposition to go wide makes their path to the goal longer, giving F1 and F2 time to get back in the play.

F3 has a shorter route to the goal than an opposing winger


Here are some things to look for that can ruin your beautiful 2-1-2:

  • As F1, not slowing down the puck carrier. A pin to the boards is ideal, a body check is good, getting blown past is bad.
  • As F2, getting bullied out of the contact area by a loose defender. The defense doesn't want a 2v1, but F2 needs to get in there and make one.
  • As F3, drifting away from their position. The middle of the ice gives the shortest route to the backcheck
  • As F3, not backchecking hard. A player who stops moving their feet before they have picked up an opponent, or who doesn't skate back hard and gives up an odd-man rush, has let their team down

Spread 2-1-2

This is the strategy that Darryl Sutter's Los Angeles Kings used to win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. It blends together the other two systems we've talked about today- it relies on a single forechecker angling the puck away like the 1-2-2, but it funnels the puck to the middle like the traditional 2-1-2.

San Jose Sharks playing a spread 2-1-2


Here are everybody's jobs:

F1: Attack the puck, angling it to the middle if possible

F2: Attack from wide, taking away an East-West pass

F3: defend high, taking away a pass to the middle

D1: Defend the strong-side blue line

D2: Defend the weak-side and middle of the blue line

An astute reader might spot that the Sharks' F3 in the picture is not in the middle of the ice. Surely this means he's not defending the middle, and that he's out of position? Maybe. Because the Rangers have two players supporting low in the middle of the zone, I think it makes sense to wait it out instead of trying to commit to defending one pass or the other. Because he has speed, he can close in and make a play on the puck carrier, rather than trying to intercept the pass. That said, a clean pass to Adam Fox (#23) beats the forecheck. He would not have room to carry the puck, but he would have plenty of time to make a pass. Hockey happens quickly, and sometimes you only have time to get into pretty good position instead of perfect position.

Diagram showing how F2 takes away the defenseman to defenseman pass



The goal of this forecheck is to force the defenseman with the puck to make a dumb pass. With puck pressure coming from the outside, the defenseman is going to look either to the middle of the zone or to the weak side, both of which are covered by forecheckers. If all goes to plan, F1 forces the defender to feed the puck straight back to your team.

Defensemen get drilled since age 3 not to fling the puck up the middle of the defensive zone, so a pass behind the net is more likely. That makes F2 the one to watch in this system- they can't let that pass get by them. If there is a defenseman there, that usually means laying a hit, but if not, they need to be focused and ready to block a pass.

Things you don't want your players doing in a spread 2-1-2:

  • As F1, letting the puck beat you to the outside. The defenseman has to be funneled to the middle, or else all three forwards are beaten.
  • As F2, letting the puck beat you to the outside. Again, the puck needs to be funneled inward, and if F2 lets the puck get wide, the forecheck is over.
  • As F3, not defending the middle or not backchecking hard enough. Just like the traditional 2-1-2




If you watch an NHL game in 2024, you are going to see these three systems more often than not. Many teams, like the Sharks in my examples, will run more than one of these in a given game. Sometimes, that's an intentional choice by the coaching staff, other times it's just players reacting to what's in front of them and doing their best.

Next time, we will talk about some old-school forechecking systems


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