The Give & Go Play

COACHES-PLAYERS: The Give & Go Passing Play Is A Wonderfully Unsophisticated Offensive Weapon That Promotes On-Surface Communication And Can Engineer GRADE A Scoring Opportunities On A Consistent Basis


By Paul Lubanski


It is kind of ironic that the most powerful offensive puck/possession play available to all hockey coaches is also the most unsophisticated to implement: The give & go passing play.

And when I say that the give & go is a weapon that is AVAILABLE to all coaches, I absolutely mean it.

You see, regardless of the level of competition of age group you may be playing along-side or coaching, the give & go is undeniably and unquestionably a "teachable" play.

OK, you may now be asking, what exactly IS a give & go play?

It simply consists of player A moving the puck forward in a crisp and efficient manner to player B and then player A "jumping out" to seek an open seam to receive the biscuit back from player B.

Why does it virtually always work?


Because there is a universal and natural tendency (and because there are taught to do so) for defensive players to always turn their attention to where the puck may be heading. Hence, while the defense is zeroing in on the puck, player A is afforded a slight window of time to launch him or herself into an advantageous position to receive the puck back while ON THE MOVE.

Yes, the play will work most often if the players involved are strong skaters and smart, skilled puckhandlers, but the beauty of the play lies squarely within its inherent simplicity. In other words, you most certainly do not require the reincarnation of Bobby Orr or Paul Coffey to make it work.

By the way, the current edition  of the Detroit Red Wings are one of THE best teams that I have ever witnessed at moving   intelligently immediately post dishing the puck and thus creating and successfully completing loads of give & go passing plays.

I  particular, closely watch Red Wings such as Zetterberg, Hudler, Cleary and Franzen and you will consistently witness awesome examples of players executing a tape-to-tape pass and then zipping to an open space to receive the puck back and engineer and ignite the vaunted Wings offensive attack. The give & go is undeniably a staple of the Detroit Red Wings  so-called "puck possession" style that is orchestrated so wonderfully on a nightly basis.

Now ready for the best news of all?

The play can actually work anywhere on the surface the puck may be situated.

You probably have seen it work most effectively when a team is on the power play and has full "team control" of the puck along the wall near the hash marks. This is where player A will move the puck to player B that is stationed in the deep corner. Player A will then bolt  for the net and receive the  puck back from player B and a GRADE A scoring opportunity typically ensues.

However, the primary point I am attempting to put forth here is that the give & go can be a terrific play to undertake at any juncture, regardless of the zone or whether we are on the PP of PK.

So coaches, please make a conscious effort to formally introduce the give & go at your next practice--and then build the play into your next game-play scenarios. If you do so, you'll be certain to instantaneously witness some amazingly positive results that I guarantee will take the form of greatly enhanced puck-possession time and much higher numbers in the "goals for" column!

Best of luck.


Paul




BONUS TIP

The somewhat lost of art of COMMUNICATING via loud voices or whistles within and amongst the players on the surface must be exploited in order for the give & go to work most effectively. Coaches should and must be constantly encouraging all players to "talk" to each other on a shift-by-shift basis--regardless of whether a give & go is ensuing. Negative consequences must await those that do not comply and conversely, those that do should be rewarded with increased ice-time.


--------------------


Want to talk to coach?  Visit Paul's Puck Pathways!







Visit www.amazon.com and enter keywords "Paul Lubanski"and "book", or click on the picture of the cover on the right, to obtain a copy of Paul's inspirational and exciting hockey-accented children's book: Bonky, a Moose and the Magic Hockey Stick.











You should follow CAYH Blog on twitter here.