Unorthodox Forechecking Tactics

 Unorthodox Forechecking Tactics


Last time, we covered historical forechecking strategies. This time, we're going to look at some unusual strategies that teams have used to win the puck back.

2-3 Power Lock

The left wing lock never completely died. Instead, it evolved. Defensemen have gotten too good to just funnel them to their backhand, but the idea of using an extra high player to hold the blue line still works. So coaches made adjustments. Instead of fixing the left wing to be eternal F3, the 2-3 system uses modern fluid positioning. Norwich University in NCAA DIII has been using the system for years, with great success.

Potato-quality image of Norwich University playing a 2-3Potato-grade image of Norwich University playing a 2-3

Instead of playing just on the left, the F3 can fill in on the left, right, or center of the defensive line. Generally, teams will look to have F3 in the center though, since they want to have their defensemen pinching. The forecheck involves pushing the opposition to the outside, then having a defender or the high forward come downhill for a pinch. Having a player closing down head-on can panic opposing wingers, who don't have much time to react if they get the puck on the halfwall.

Diagram of the 2-3



F1 and F2 still play a free-flowing attack, constantly switching between pressuring and supporting by keeping up their speed. Because of that, it could be argued that a better name for the system is a 1-1-3.  Some teams even get F3 involved in this rotation: F1 makes a pass at the puck carrier and retreats all the way to the point, F2 rotates over to attack the puck, and F3 fills the space F2 vacated.

Moreso than other defensive systems, the 2-3 lets defensemen line up big body checks. Because they have two players back to help them absorb a counterattack, they have no concerns about the puck when they pinch- just about making solid contact.

Here is what everyone is assigned to do:

F1: Attack the puck, then rotate back to be F2
F2: Keep speed up, then rotate to attack the puck
F3: Defend the middle and/or strong-side point
D1: Pinch to take the puck away
D2: Defend the middle weakside point

Some things you don't want to see if your team is running a 2-3:
  • F3 who is not comfortable defending the point or skating backwards to defend a rush. They don't need to be Nicklas Lidstrom, but the whole point of the system is to have solidity there.
  • A Greedy D2. With D1 pinching and a forward on the point, the team will need their D2 to stay home and be ready to defend the rush. If D2 decides to cut to the net, the team could easily give up a breakaway shot.
  • A D1 who is not aggressive enough. The system relies heavily on D1 coming downhill to make contact. If the D1 hesitates or flies by the puck carrier

1-3-1 Trap

In 2006, when the NHL changed its rules, people thought that they had defeated the trap. For the most part, they had. Teams used the 1-2-2 trap here and there, but teams had adjusted to it and knew how to counter it at this point. That is until Guy Boucher concocted this soul-sucking strategy.

The Tampa Bay Lightning famously used this system under Guy Boucher

The underlying principles are the same as the 1-2-2 trap, except that instead of trapping at the red line, the goal is to trap the opponent at your own defensive blue line. Bringing up a defenseman into the "midfield" part of the trap helped make it tougher to speed through- there is simply less space between the players, and someone trying to go through the middle has to face against both the strong side forward/defenseman and the central forward.

Functionally, everyone's assignments are the same as if they were in a 1-2-2 trap, their positions are just different:
F1: Harass the puck carrier, force them to pick a side of the ice
F2/D1: Angle the puck to the boards, cut off any East-West passes
F3: Double team the puck, force the puck all the way to the boards
D2: Sweep up any dumped pucks

With less space to skate through, it means that teams can only really break past by "springing" the trap, then sending the puck into space elsewhere. It's actually a pretty simple read- because of how structured the defense is, the puck carrier can know exactly where defenders will be at a given moment. But that risks turning the puck over, and if you have the lead...why bother? 
 

2-2-1 Torpedo

If you went into a laboratory, and mixed in all of the things that make hockey fun Powerpuff Girls style, you would come out with the torpedo forecheck. It's fluid, it's physical, it's aggressive, and in my life I have only ever seen the Swedish national team use it. Djurgardens IF is known to have used the system, but we barely got the NHL on TV at my house, I don't think it would have been possible to watch Allsvenskan in the early 2000s.

D1 isn't where we expect him to be, but this system is really chaotic



To envision what the torpedo looks like, imagine your team is playing a 1-2-2. Then, F2 comes down and attacks the puck, and your strong-side defenseman fills in the strong-side boards, becoming a fourth forward. The breakout then has to contend with four players applying pressure instead of the usual three. The goal is to apply so much pressure that it doesn't matter that you only have one player back. The pressure doesn't just come from having two players on the puck. Rather, it comes from the near-positionless flow that this setup allows.

General Torpedo positioning


Should the breakout manage to move the puck East-West, the rotation is basically the same as the 1-2-2 rotation, except that the weak-side defender now becomes the fourth forward. F2 and F2 pursue the puck, and F1 comes high to rest and support. 

Relatively simple rotation from an East-West pass



The best thing about this strategy is what I call the "second wave" of the forecheck. If F1 and F2 get tied up and the puck gets by them, D1 and F3 pursue the puck, and the other two fill in for them. I honestly didn't know that was something they did until I re-watched the 2002 Sweden vs Canada game specifically for this post. It was like watching a more evolved version of hockey, one from the future.

The future is now, 2002 team Canada. D1 and F3 can join the attack as a second wave of forecheckers
If a team had versatile players- forwards who can help D2 on the backcheck and a D1 who has the skillset to angle and pressure on the forecheck, they could theoretically make third, fourth, even fifth waves of attacks- an extended shift of 2-on-the-puck pressure.

The reason nobody has tried this in the NHL yet is obvious- D2 is on an island, all alone. Just one good pass is an odd-man rush against, potentially even a breakaway if they get the jump on the defenseman. Nobody with their job on the line has enough heart medication on hand to be comfortable taking that kind of risk.

Yet.




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