4 on 4 defense

[haelwho]

So I play roller hockey, and we play 4 on 4, and every time I'm out there, I end up roving around and getting pulled out of position chasing the puck.

Is there a good way to play defense in a 4 on 4 situation?

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[Trumanperro]

So I play roller hockey, and we play 4 on 4, and every time I'm out there, I end up roving around and getting pulled out of position chasing the puck.

Is there a good way to play defense in a 4 on 4 situation?

Divide the rink into four quadrants. You play your man or puck whenever on your side, try to push him into one of the corners and force a low percentage shot or pass. If your chasing the man on your side, the opposite d man should move forward to cover the net or skater moving in. Forwards cover the points but hang back to catch and mis-read passes or players moving through the zone.

 

[ChiTownHawks]

We have the same issue with our ball hockey team. Playing 4 on 4 D is tough b/c you want to be able to help on offense but then you get caught out of position a lot. We actually just discussed our new strategy last night and this is what we came up with. It is kind of like playing man on man with a little flexability:

We make sure that 1 dman always stays behind their cherrypicker (b/c there is no offsides in this league). The other dman takes the other side of the rink that the cherrypicker is not on. We then have 1 forward taking up the middle of the rink to help with passes out of our zone and also to block any shots from the point that the other teams dman might take if he tries to help on offense.

We were getting blown out the last game we played in the first half and we switched to this set up and we only gave up 2 goals in the second half. By the way I forgot to mention we play 2 25 minute halfs instead of 3 periods, not that it matters.

 

[noobman]

A lot of the offense in 4 on 4 is generated by the defenseman jumping into the rush. Think of your team as having two forwards, one "midfielder" and a defenseman.

The midfielder will switch between both positions in a sense... he'll act as both the offensive-minded defenseman, and the defensive minded forward. If you're going to forecheck aggressively, use this guy as the forward playing high. If you're forechecking conservatively, use this guy as a defenseman.

In your own end, play man to man if your team has wheels, and a zone defense if you don't. The more room there is, the harder it will be to play a zone defense.

 

[Timmer44]

In your own end, play man to man if your team has wheels, and a zone defense if you don't. The more room there is, the harder it will be to play a zone defense.

You need to play a Hybrid of the two. The wingers need to cover the pointmen and the D cover the 2 players down low. The weak side winger needs to drop a little lower to take away the high slot and be able to support the strong side winger if the puck comes to him (What the centre would normally do).

Also, a little thing to try, I've always had a Defenseman take the draw if the two opposing pointman line up high in the D zone. That way he can cover the centre as well as it allows the wingers to be able to get to their points if we lost the draw.