There are three components to a successful powerplay. They are:

1) The breakout

2) The set up

3) The finish

1) The breakout:

A successful breakout depends upon the following:

- Perfect routes
- Perfect timing
- Tape to tape passes
- Decisiveness

TRIPLE SWING OPTION BREAKOUT

D2 CAN PASS TO F3,
SKATE HIMSELF, OR
BUMP BACK TO D1

IF PUCK IS BUMPED
BACK , D1 GOES TO F1

WIDE SWING BREAKOUT

F3 TAKES IT AND
FLIES. TAKES IT
ALL THE WAY IF
HE CAN. IF NOT,
BUMPS BACK.

2) Recovery and setup
If you did a good job breaking out, perhaps you can skate the puck into the zone for a quick setup. If not, you will have to dump it in and recover it. A team that cannot recover the puck will spend the entire two minutes going back into their zone, breaking out again, etc. Recovering the puck and setting it up is a project unto itself that usually requires all five men. We do not begin to think about finishing until we have a good setup. The recovery and set up requires:

- A dump-in that cannot be handled easily by defense or goaltenders.
- Aggressive pursuit.
- A desire to punish opponents competing for the puck.
- Moving the puck back against the grain into empty space on the weak side under
  heavy pursuit.

3) The finish
There are many different finishing plays we will use, but our play must be governed by some simple rules:

- The puck must be in constant motion, either by passing it or carrying it.
- We must shoot often.
- We must crash and screen their net.
- We must not be outnumbered.
- We must not forget basic defensive awareness.

Three Basic Setups

1: Half Wall Option
2: Umbrella
3: Wide Spread

Half Wall Option

F3 IS A RH SHOT. MOVES IN AND OUT. D1 IS A PURE SHOOTER. D2 IS THE QUARTERBACK F1, F2 AND F3 HAVE UNLIMITED NUMBER OF COMBINATIONS.

THIS SET IS DEPENDANT UPON CONSTANT THREAT AND MOTION, LOOKING TO DRAW A MAN OUT AND FIND AN OPENING.

Umbrella

D1 FEEDS F1 OR D2 OR SHOOTS HIMSELF.

F2 & F3 CRASH, SCREEN, AND LOOK FOR REBOUNDS. F1 & D2 ARE OFF-HAND FOR ONE-TIMERS.

Wide Spread

F1 SETS UP IN THE MIDDLE
AND LOOKS FOR PASSES
FROM ANY ONE OF THE OTHERS.

ALL OTHERS SPREAD
OUT TO DRAW DEFENDERS
AWAY FROM F1. ANY
DEFENDER WHO GETS TOO
CLOSE TO F1 LEAVES A
MAN OPEN

Penalty Killing

When killing a penalty, we approach it in the same three stages as our power play, only from a defensive perspective. They are:

1) Disrupting their breakout.
2) Denying them the set up.
3) Defending against their finishing attempts.

FAST ATTACK

A few times each period, we will call a fast attack. Usually, the attack is called at a defensive zone faceoff, 60 to 90 seconds into the kill, after we have changed for fresh penalty killers and they leave the same unit on.
As soon as we ice the puck, we send all four men up ice, trying to catch a tired unit in a lazy breakout. We want to gain possession and score, outnumbering them in their own zone.

This is an aggressive play, and you must commit to being aggressive.

2) Denying the setup: We want our opponent to eat up as much time as possible trying to get set up. Some of the ways we try to accomplish this are:

- Denying a walk-in entry by protecting the blue line, forcing a dump-in.
- Aggressive pursuit.
- Cornering the puck by outnumbering our opponent by halving and quartering the ice.

3) Defending against their finishing attempts: Once our opponent gains good possession and our aggressive options are exhausted, we go into a passive system that depends upon the following:

- Skates and feet in shooting lanes.
- Sticks in passing lanes.
- Good rotations.
- Back door awareness.
- Punishing anyone in front of our net.

The Three Basic Defenses

1) Vs. the Half Wall Option

2) Vs. the Umbrella

3) Vs. the Wide Spread

Vs. the Half Wall Option

1) D1 ATTACKS HALF WALL.

2) D2 ATTACKS LOW FORWARD.

3) F2 ATTACKS BACK DOOR.

4) F1 COVERS SLOT.

Vs. the Umbrella

WE PLAY A DIAMOND
FORMATION AGAINST AN
UMBRELLA. THE IDEA IS
TO DENY SHOOTING LANES
TO THEIR THREE SHOOTERS.

WEAKSIDE MAN MUST
COLLAPSE TO COVER BACK
DOOR.

Vs. the Wide Spread

FORWARDS COLLAPSE,
AND HINGE UP. ONE UP
CHALLENGING POINT,
ONE IN LOW SLOT
GUARDING AGAINST
THE QUICK D TO LOW F
TO SLOT PLAY.