Defenseman's Slot Coverage Drill

The Best Slot Coverage Drill I Know!

Why is this "the best slot coverage drill I know"? It's because it deals with what I believe are the two most important aspects of a defenseman's work in that critical area. As a side benefit, forwards get the chance to work on their toughness and other offensive skills in that area.

-- Dennis Chighisola

Although I'm going to introduce this drill in two phases, you'll later see how it combines those phases into a drill that forces defensemen to adapt to our game's constantly changing conditions.

The Drill Set-up Create lines as shown, with forwards split between the outside two lines, and the defensemen lining-up in the middle. Here the forwards on the right have pucks, but the drill can -- actually it should -- be run from both sides. Also, as the forwards complete their roles coming from one line, they should then move to the other line. Phase One The drill begins with a forward moving into the offensive zone and circling behind the net with a puck. This player has only one duty in this drill: to make a pass. Thereafter he must exit the play after making a pass (we don't want to confuse things by making this a 2 on 1 for the defender). As the drill begins, the forward from the other line drives to the net, while the first defenseman backchecks that man to the net. As the player with the pucks emerges from behind the net, his first option would be to pass to his teammate who has moved to the slot. Only the defender's success at covering his man will prevent a pass to him. (Click the sketch to the right to see a video of Phase One.)

Phase Two This drill moves to Phase Two if a pass can't be made to the forward in the slot. In Phase Two, the player with the puck then passes to the second defenseman in line. As the puck moves to the point, the role of our slot-area defenseman changes drastically. No longer should he be as concerned with the pass, since the new problem is that his goaltender is now in danger of losing sight of the puck and facing a possible deflected shot. (If you click-on the sketch to the right, it will show the full drill, as it flows from Phase One to Phase Two.) Putting the Two Phases Together Really, the drill runs as shown in the second video... As you saw, the puckcarrier quickly moved through his pattern and the defenseman is forced to deal with the problems as they occur: covering for a pass with the puck down low, and then quickly driving his man outward and controlling his stick if the puck moves to the point.

As I said in the beginning, what makes this such an awesome drill is the fact that the defensemen ultimately learn to deal differently with the different threats. I happen to use this drill fairly often in my practices, and it has served me well for over a decade (maybe twice that long). It's that good, at least to me, and I urge every coach (of players probably older than 10-years) to give it a try.

-- Dennis Chighisola

If you either agree or disagree -- about this being one of the best drills ever, please let me know what you think in the Comment area below. And thanks so much!