Playing wing

[Hockeylover]

I love to be on the wing. I would like to have some advice on how to play that position.

I've noticed that I often end up in front of the net waiting for a pass. Isn't something that the center should do? I am trying to as much as possible to screen the goalie's view when I'm pretty sure that my teamate behind me is going to shoot. If I have enough space and time I can have a good shot at the net from the blue line.

Click to read more...

 

[technophile]

Basically, whichever wing is on the opposite side from wherever the puck is should be in front of the net for passes/rebound opportunities. The center should be between the two wings looking for open lanes, and the other wing should be on the side with the puck. Bad ascii art:

/------------------------------\
|_____________/--\______________|
|                               |
|  LW          RW               |
|   o                           |
|        C                      |
|                               |
|  LD          RD               |
|_______________________________|

/------------------------------\
|_____________/--\______________|
|                               |
|              LW            RW |
|                            o  |
|                      C        |
|                               |
|              LD           RD  |
|_______________________________|

That's really rough, but should kind of give you an idea of the basic positions. (/--\ is the goal, o is the puck, and the bottom line is the near blue line.)

There are other possibilities, crashing the net, etc, but generally if the puck is on one side the other winger should be near the crease.

 

[Hockeylover]

Thanks Techno. If I am in front of the net, I assume I should always try to get out of the defenseman's attention. It's when uncovered that I should be the most dangerous. I tend to stay in front with the defenseman on my back and try to push him away. Of course, it depends on the situation.

 

[Hockeylover]

How about my defense duties? I think that in my defensive zone I should always stay close to the pointman at about a stick lenght to avoid that he gets shots on goal. What I find funny is the players blaming me for not helping out in defense! Well, I'm just doing my job, I'm covering my man. Maybe it's THEM who don't do their job???

 

[technophile]

Thanks Techno. If I am in front of the net, I assume I should always try to get out of the defenseman's attention. It's when uncovered that I should be the most dangerous.

Yes, although IME it's more important to be close enough to the goal than to be far enough from the D. Plus, if the defenseman is paying lots of attention to you, he's less likely to be able to block an incoming shot or interfere with another offensive player, so really it's win-win. Except for the bruises, anyway.

I tend to stay in front with the defenseman on my back and try to push him away. Of course, it depends on the situation.

I'm not really sure what's best here; I haven't played enough yet, I guess. Watching an NHL game or three and paying special attention to the winger near the crease is probably a good idea.

It might depend on whether you're expecting/wanting a pass or a shot. It's easier to get open to receive a pass if the D is behind you (between you and the goal). But it's easier to screen the goalie and hunt for rebounds if the D is in front of you (you're between the D and the goalie). Between the goalie and the D is a much more uncomfortable place to be, of course.



As far as defense duties, you probably should be up high, though not so high that you can't collapse down if necessary. Stay between the point man and the puck, cutting off as much of the passing lane as possible. The center should be the one down low supporting the defensemen; again, watch an NHL game and keep an eye on the wingers. You shouldn't be down in the corners of your own defensive zone, or even really mixing it up in the slot -- your job is to both prevent cycling the puck up high and be ready to make a transition move in case of a turnover.

You don't necessarily have to be within stick-length of the point man; even if you're a few feet lower down than that he won't be able to shoot before you can move up and block the shot, assuming you didn't manage to cut the passing lane. Plus if you're a little lower down you can pressure the passing lanes between the center and his winger, which helps to limit his options and force the other team into a turnover. Just make sure you're close enough to stay between the point and the puck, and close enough to get in to block a shot if the point does get a pass.

 

[Wolfpack]

This is a good topic and one that I'm going to bring up with my rec hockey teammates before our next game. We have a few guys who have played very little hockey previously, and we run around like crazy in our own end - especially off the face-off.

For example, let's say the face-off is in your own end and your centreman loses the draw. His job is to tie-up the opposing centreman and keep him from screening the goalie or going to the net.

If you are the winger lined-up on the inside of the ice, IMO your job should be to get out to the point and take away both the shot on net or the pass across to the other d-man. The only option he should have is the dump into the corner.

If you are the winger on the boards, you should NOT be going out to the point. You should be getting in between your man and the net - he's unlikely to score from the boards.

We had a game last weekend where we had all three forwards chasing the puck to the point on a face-off loss, and the d-man just dumped the puck past them and it was a four on two down low.

 

[phillyphan]

A screen is good as long as the puck is atleast above the faceoff circles but if your in front and the puck is down lower then faceoff circle then try to get behind the defensemen and look for a pass. when in front always stay low and in the three point stance(see john leclair) it is much harder for a defensemen to move you.

 

[Cappy76]

I play LW and my duties are as follows (on my team)
when in the Offensive zone and the RW has the puck along the right side boards my team really has me just kinda float around on the left side lookin for a pass...if you play your off wing its a nice way to get set up for a big onetimer! when the points get the puck my team has me set up in front for the deflection or the screen and when i get the puck on my side i go down into a corner where you can see everything and try to set somone up infront if you get there and the D is pressuring you, you can go down behind the net to buy some time to look around if you see nothing power into the net on a wrap around and then look for the rebound. Really the key on offence always no matter what position and to stay calm and have patience no idea how many people loose chances because they dont take a sec and look around. and just like Wayne said "100% of the shots you dont take go in" so shoot!

On the defensive side my team is really kinda lax on me they dont give me much resposibilites on that side because of my speed they tell me no matter what if they get the puck to take off...so im usually floating around between the blue line and the top of the circles. My team has our other winger go in deep and i again because of my speed cover both points just jumping back and forth....have 4 guys down low really screws up some teams the only draw back is one of there point men getting of a big blast from the point but with our goalie he usually is in good enough position to stop it and he doesnt give up to many rebounds.

Ive also found that if your left handed play the right side or if your right handed play the left. You find that you hav emore to shoot at from your off wing and you can set up pretty quickly for a one timer.
Just remember patience is everything in the offeinsive zone!
and good luck

 

[buckyhockey8]

How about my defense duties? I think that in my defensive zone I should always stay close to the pointman at about a stick lenght to avoid that he gets shots on goal. What I find funny is the players blaming me for not helping out in defense! Well, I'm just doing my job, I'm covering my man. Maybe it's THEM who don't do their job???

My take on this is only one forward should cover the point in most situations the other two should be down low working the corners and helping the D. The guy up high should be in the very high slot so as to get in between the pass from D to D.

 

[Hockeylover]

My take on this is only one forward should cover the point in most situations the other two should be down low working the corners and helping the D. The guy up high should be in the very high slot so as to get in between the pass from D to D.

That was speciality of CH's Brian Skrudland. It was incredible how fast he could go from the pointman 1 to pointman 2. I look forward to trying that!

I played some offense last night. They beat us 8 to 1. What the pointmen did, and I've never seen that before, was to have one of the pointmen to rush unexpectedly in direction of our net. I was fooled two times. The pointman waited that I turn my back on him. I will make sure that it never happens again.

I deflected a shot from the blue line. It went up in the air, over our goalie's head, and landed in the net!

Advice: Never lose your temper on the ice. There was quite alot of roughing toward the end of the game. I arrived at the rink when there were only 5 minutes left in the game. In five minutes I succeeded in getting TWO penalities because I wanted to play rough too. Bad idea! Being rough is never a good idea anyway because you never know what can hit you from the back... "Just an accident!", the guy will say while you're bleeding or get a broken wrist...

 

[Hockeylover]

Just back from our first playoff game of the Fall season (BALL HOCKEY). The bad news: We did not win. The good news: We did not lose! We had a tie. We`re playing the final game on Sunday morning. The best thing that happened tonight is actually the pizza and the beer!

Joking apart, I think I played a good game. I did not get any breakaways tonight. The obsession with breakways played a trick on my mind. When we were in our defense zone, I was thinking so much about them that I forgot several times the pointman I was supposed to cover... Fortunately, this did not cause any harm. But the guys surely had two words for me tonight... I forgive them because I know they do it for a good reason. We play to win, not just for the fun. They also brought the point that the wings on our offense line found themselves several times at the same spot. We did not know anymore who was playing left or who was playing right! Maybe it's not a good idea to have two inexperienced guys on the same line?

Also, the play on the boards was pretty bad. Their players passed pretty easily between our players and the board, with the result that they found themselves deep in our zone. I also noticed that they often had a guy all by himself in front of the net waiting for the ball. Who knows what was our centerman doing!!! We should never have two guys on the same guy! My advice: Follow your man as if you were his shadow, hit him with your elbow in his back, play with your shoulder, and hit his stick, and even insult him to make him lose his concentration. If you stay there doing nothing but waiting for a pass, then you're useless. That's what I did tonight. But it's not too bad because there was never a goal when I was on the floor. So I was lucky.

Another observation: I had a good shot on net. Unfortunately, it was was too high. It was on the goalie at the vertical post level. If I had shot lower, I could have shot between the legs or in the holes in the bottom corners. I need to keep my shots low.

Last comment: We almost won the game toward the end of the game. First when I was in front of the net. The ball was bouncing around. I stayed calm, and took my time to stabilize it. Then I shot. Everyone thought I would get it in. No goal, but I was happy to find out that I am able to control the ball even though there is a crowd fighting for the ball. I just need to stay calm, take an extra second, protect the ball with my stick and feet while blocking someone trying to push me to get the ball, and shoot.

 

[Hockeylover]

That's it! Our ball hockey playoffs are over, already! These were the first playoffs I've played in 8 months. We lost 3 to 2. It's incredible the number of chances we had but did not capitalize on them. I had a loose ball in front of me, just for me. I did not shoot... I was too preoccupied to determine to find a spot on the net where I could shoot it. With the abilities I have at this stage, I can't do that. I need to shoot right away. I need to develop quick hands.

The winning goal was scored by the pointman that I was not covering. Yet I had that pointman pretty much covered all game. All that time he was no threat. I left him uncovered just once in the game, and that's when he scored with his hard slap shot. I don't want that embarassment to ever happen again.

I feel I did not play at all today. I got only one pass during the game. I may have touched the ball three times...

 

[Hockeylover]

Another ball hockey game tonight. We lost 2 to 1 because of that f... goalie! I can't believe this guy! I've never played with such a crappy team. Fortunately I play with two other teams. At least, we played against a team of our level. They had slow players and some very bad defensemen. But they had a goalie who made the saves. We were leading 1-0 with 5 minutes left. I got the ball three times in these last minutes. I decided to just shoot it deep in their zone. It worked perfectly well because they did not have the talent to generate an attack from their defensive zone. I was replaced by a teamate, and then happened what had to happen: a goal. It was a tie at that point. And then they got the winning point with a very easy shot to stop. That's depressing. All we had to do is to keep the other team prisoners in their own zone. I was screaming "f... goalie" on the bench a good dozen of times. I know it's bad, but I had to get it out of me. I just hope the goalie did not hear me... It makes a good change to play a team that is as weak as you are because you feel you worth something. Getting beaten up constantly 8-1 or 9-0 is hard on the morale. You think you don't belong to that league and that you might as well play in a kids league.

 

[Hockeylover]

Another game tonight, another loss! We did well in the first half of the game, trailing only by one gaol. We needed another goal, so I decided to rush in the direction of the net between my partner and the goalie in order to block his view. I could see the goalie trying all he could to be able to see the ball. It was then so obvious that I was doing the right thing. He stopped the shot, the ball rebounded, I hoped the other wing would get the rebound, so I screened him again, and there was the goal! Of course, the guys on the bench had all their congradulations for the guy who scored, not on the guy who made the goal possible in the first place. I did not get an assist on the play, so there will never be any trace or recognition for my contribution. That's hockey!!!

Another time, I rushed in the corner, at the back of the net, saw my partner in front, uncovered, passed to him. He shot a "little" too high - 6 feet. The other time, about the same play. This time I did not if there was a teamate there. There was nobody... If we want to increase our chances to score, therefore to win, we need that guy in front of the net who can block the goalie's view or/and shoot it quickly to surprise the goalie. If there is nobody there, then someone is not doing his job: The center.

We lost 7 to 2, but I'm satisfied with the work I've done. I played 1/3 of the game, was on the floor on one of the two goals for us, and was not there on only two of the goals against us. There is nothing I should be ashamed of. The goalie was incredibly bad. We're facing the same team in two days. Our two best defensemen will not show up. It's gonna be a difficult game, I believe. But I dont' really mind. All I want with that team I play with for the first and LAST time, is experience. One more year, and decent teams will be interested in me.

 

[Hockeylover]

This game tonight in ball hockey was pretty good. We were leading 2-1 until the half of the game. Our goalie, for the first time of the season, was solid. But since he is not in a great shape, he did not have much energy left in the second half. So the other team scored 5 goals. 7-1 seems like a beat up, but for a team like ours, it was not too bad. At least they did not let the clock running in the last 10 minutes. I felt partially responsible for the loss. While we were leading 2-1 I took a stupid penality when I slashed their defenseman while I was running after him. I now understand that I should always have the stick on the floor. When you have it up in the air, it may be too tempting to use it on someone's body. You can injure him pretty badly. I got a well deserved 4 minutes of penalty. They scored once. It went downhill from then.

I had the dream breakaway. Nobody around me within 20 feet. Once again I froze when I came in front of the goalie, not knowing what to do. Someone grabbed me from behind with the result that I lost the ball. It boils down to the same problem we already discussed: I have no plan on what to do with the ball. Either I shoot when I am at 15 feet in front of him, or I deck on my right and shoot. It's either one, but I must decide ahead of time. Other than this breakaway, I took a good shot on the goalie who stopped it. It was way too high; it touched his upper chest. I will try to get more of those. If I can keep my shots low, that's gonna be wonderful.

 

[Hockeylover]

We have lost all our games so far (8). Tonight, we were beaten up 9-0! I was on the wing and did not do too much. I made sure to cover the pointman in our zone, made an excellent pass to the centerman who almost got a break-away and avoided to get a penality even being a little rougher than usual with the opponent. As long as you don't use your stick, and only using your body to push the opponent a bit, they let you get away with it. The disappointing thing was that their centerman was ALWAYS uncovered in the creast! That hurt us a lot! Next game, I will be centerman, and the centerman on the other team is going to have hard time to touch the ball. At least, I will do my best. The other thing we did not do well are the passes. Because we don't have much talent, we should pass the ball to the wingers using the boards, not the center, as the passes in the middle are usually cut off by the other team.

The team wants to re-create next season. If we keep the same goalie, the answer is no!

 

[ALF AmericanLionsFan]

Basically, whichever wing is on the opposite side from wherever the puck is should be in front of the net for passes/rebound opportunities. The center should be between the two wings looking for open lanes, and the other wing should be on the side with the puck. Bad ascii art:

/------------------------------\
|_____________/--\______________|
|                               |
|  LW          RW               |
|   o                           |
|        C                      |
|                               |
|  LD          RD               |
|_______________________________|

/------------------------------\
|_____________/--\______________|
|                               |
|              LW            RW |
|                            o  |
|                      C        |
|                               |
|              LD           RD  |
|_______________________________|

That's really rough, but should kind of give you an idea of the basic positions. (/--\ is the goal, o is the puck, and the bottom line is the near blue line.)

There are other possibilities, crashing the net, etc, but generally if the puck is on one side the other winger should be near the crease.

Good topic. I'm fairly new to playing as well and always wish I knew more of where I am supposed to be at what certain times. Granted I'm only playing in a rec beginner league,but it would be nice to know my responsibilities. Keep this thread going!!

 

[Kirk- NEHJ]

A** to the glass, baby.

My HS coach used to tell the wingers that when we were working the breakout. As goalie, I would almost always look to my wingers on either side along the boards and get the puck to them if the time and space was there. Getting the puck out with speed along the boards is key for that transition from defense to offense, and you don't want to put your center or defensemen in the position to make an errant pass that leads to a turnover by throwing it up the middle on the breakout. But, you have to be careful against teams who have a lot of speed and conduct an aggressive forecheck. What you are trying to do them, they are most certainly attempting to do the same...

When in doubt, stay in your lane. Do *not* chase the puck around the ice haphazardly and *do* make yourself available to the puck carrier if your team is in possession and looking for the breakout or keeping the play in the offensive end. Communication is always important at all times. Talk to each other and let the puck carrier know where you are. Don't assume that he sees you or realizes that you are a good option if he is under pressure.

Oh, yeah- shoot the puck on net!

 

[firstroundbust]

I needed this thread, thanks to all the contributors...keep the help comin tho!


now...where are the wingers supposed to go on the breakout?

 

[Hockeylover]

We played another ball hockey game. I would say this is my best game ever. I had about 5 good chances to score. I shot on the goalie just once, and missed the net by 4 feet on two occasions. The other times, I could not get a shot because too many guys trying to get the ball. Most of the times, I positionned in front of the goalie and tried to block his view. On the defense aspect, I covered my men pretty well. I forgot about the ball, and tried to make contact with them. For instance, there was that guy with the ball on the board trying to go for the net. I put my arms around him without holding him, and hit his stick, and it worked very well. I was very happy the way I played. Once again, the centerman of the other team was always uncovered in front of the net. I had enough of this, and decided to take the draw, and try to cover him to see if it is that easy. It's not. You just need to forget about the ball and concentrate on him. The centerman got me once, though. He must have realized that we discovered their strategy, and he switched with the winger. I followed the now winger, and the centerman was once again by himself! I was the only covering the centerman. When I realized that, I went to the centerman, but it was already too late. They scored... Anyway, I've learned alot tonight. What killed tonight is also the stupid passes in our territory, those passes right in the middle, without even looking who was around. I could not believe it.

The good news is that all the teams make the playoffs. Our last game of the regular season is this Sunday when we face the second worst team, us being the worst one. They beat us 2-1 a few weeks ago. If we can play like we did tonight, cover the centerman and avoid stupid passes in the defense zone, we should get our first victory. Last point: You'll get your best performance when you play for the win, even there is not really any hope for the victory. Give the maximum you can, desire to be the first on the ball, and use your body to annoy the opponent.

 

[technophile]

now...where are the wingers supposed to go on the breakout?

Towards the other team's goal.

Seriously, if the puck is in your zone and gets picked up by a defenseman, you should skate back towards him a bit, then "curl" in towards the center of the ice. This gives you a good bit of momentum and makes it easy for the D to hit you with a pass. Whether you get the pass or one of the other forwards does, you should then move up the ice. Generally the center is in the center and the wings on the outside, but adjust as necessary -- if the center is on the outside, that wing should move into the center instead. Try to skate into open areas so that there are passing lanes between you and the puck carrier. If you have the puck and a chance, pass to another forward or put a low shot on net to force a rebound. If you don't have the puck, you should try to crash the net to provide a screen, tip, or grab a rebound. If the center is too clogged, move down into a corner and start cycling the puck.

 

[Hockeylover]

It was great fun tonight in ball hockey, even if we lost 5-0. I played wing, and had a golden opportunity to score. I was in the creast, the ball came slowly to me and stopped. I was completely by myself. I shot and hit the goalie's pad. If I had looked first, I would have the top half of the net completely empty. If I had shot high, I would have certainly scored! The lesson: When in the creast, always determine the position of the goalie and where on the net you should shoot if you got the ball. Next time I'll know!

At one point, I was doing two wingers' job and defenseman's job. The ball went in the corner of the offensive zone. I rushed to the defenseman to put pressure on him. He passed the ball the other way to the other defenseman who was also deep in the zone. You would expect my teamate to care of that guy. No... I rushed to him too, and tried to get the ball away from him. That took alot of energy from me. I went back to the bench as soon as I could. The other time, they broke out of their zone. You would expect our defensmen to take care of the two wingers who were going toward our zone. No... I saw what was going on. I could have run back to our zone, but I told myself it's not my job. They had a 2 on 1 and scored. I'm wondering if it got to our defenseman's head that he screw up... At another time, I was covering the pointman in our zone and walked around following the ball from sight while making sure the pointman was not getting away from me. Someone on the benched yelled to me, "You're walking!" What the heck! I was doing my job.

 

[TheLokNesMonster]

On offense if you don't have the puck, find the open ice and keep moving. Don't camp or just stay on your half of the ice unless you're just hoping to have one roll off your back and into the net. You need to be facing the net and moving your feet or you're of no value in this part of the ice.

When transitioning to defense you need to get to your side of the ice as quickly as possible. If the puck is in your end keep your body pointing towards offense as much as possible and don't chase. Just glide between point and down low and play a zone. By thinking more offensively in your own end you can almost render that point guy ineffective because he'll be worrying about you dashing around him and going in for a breakaway.

He shoots, he scores...

 

[Hockeylover]

I had great fun tonight playing wing in ball hockey. I had a goal! And not a lucky one! I received the pass, was completely uncovered just inside the blue line in the offense zone. I stabilized the ball, took a good grip on the stick and aimed on the goalie's glove side in the up-hand corner. I was amazed that it went in as when I shot I did not see any empty space at all on that corner. And yet, it went in. It's funny what I did after. I went back to the bench without saying a word or even looked at the guys on the floor. Scoring is so unusal for me that I did not how to react. I went back and thanked the people for helping me to score. I could not have scored if someone had not passed the ball to me. So the guy who got the assist deserves credit as well. I had another opportunity when I did something I love to do: Using the opponent in front of me as a screen. I shot, but the ball hit the outside of the post... I also had not one, but two breakaways. I've already told you about my problems with breakaways. I still shot on the goalie, but this time the shots were harder. I will have to practice those with my goalie as I will certainly have other opportunities. If I can score once out three times, that would be great!

RIght after the game, I hit the highway and arrived just on time to another rink for another game. This time I played defense. We lost 6-0. That team is the best of the division. They have four very fast guys who got some 2 on zero in our defense zone.

All in all, it was a great hockey night! I still improve every game!

SECRET: Buy those basketball running shoes! Yesterday I bought a pair of them. They have such a good grip on the floor. You won't slip with those and you will run faster!