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Breakout: D to the Wall

F passes to the D and gets open on the wall. D skates it behind the net, hits the F, then steps up and defends 1-on-1.

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Diagram

Half-ice diagram of Breakout: D to the Wall. Forwards line up at the top of the blue line; defence line up at the bottom faceoff dot. The forward passes to the D, then skates down through the slot and loops up to the top half-wall. The D carries behind the net to the top corner and passes to the forward on the wall. The forward carries up the wall and curls at a cone near the red line while the D steps up toward the blue line. Then the forward attacks wide and shoots, and the D skates backwards (dotted arrow) between the forward and the net.

Coaching points

How it runs

  1. Forwards line up on the blue line with pucks. The D going steps out to the faceoff dot; the other D wait behind.
  2. The F passes to the D on the dot.
  3. The D skates the puck behind the net. At the same time the F loops low and opens up on the half-wall.
  4. The D passes to the F on the wall.
  5. The F carries up the wall and curls at the cone near the red line. The D steps up toward the blue line.
  6. 1-on-1: the F attacks the net and shoots. The D skates backwards and stays between the F and the net. Both go to the back of their lines.
  7. Variation: see D-to-Wall Breakout to 2-on-1. A centre swings with the winger and they attack 2-on-1 against the D.

Downloads

Open the Excalidraw file in Excalidraw to change the diagram.

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