1 on 1 Defensive Skate

Drill Diagram

Animation #1   

Description

D-man starts with the puck at the blue line. Skate backwards carrying the puck to 1st pylon, pivot around pylon then skate forwards passing the puck to the forward in the corner. After the pass, the D-man must control the gap by not pivoting too early, then skating backwards with the proper gap control. D-man - important to play from the dots into the middle as the puck eventually comes to the net.

Notes: D-man to face up ice at all times
D-man to control the gap between the forward
D-man to play from the Dots to the middle of the ice (give the forward the outside)

Tags: -gap control, -backward skating, -d-man facing the play, -1 on 1 skills