Defensmen classes and Tom Eagles

[Greg_Di 1,028]

 

Being a hockey defenseman in the VHL and VHLM is a thankless job. When you're really good at what you do, you get rewarded by having the job get harder. Coaches send the best defensemen out against the opponents' most skilled scorers. Those guys make a defenseman's job hard and always cause issues when you’re trying to defend your net.

Defensemen by definition are meant to be supporting players. Granted, some defenders like the San Diego defender Scotty Kaberle @fromtheinside, lead their teams in scoring. However, that is not typical of the position. Most defenders will fall to be the 7^th or 8^th highest scoring and its rare to see a defenseman lead the whole team in scoring,

One of the most skilled type of defenders is the two-way defenseman and in this article we will be focusing on all the different types of defenders but going more in depth on the two-way defenseman.
 

There are different styles of defense, such as trapping the puck, man-on-man, etc. which defenders will use throughout the game.

In the defensive zone, or in front of their own goal, defensemen limit opponents' scoring chances. They force potential scorers into the corners. They poke check the puck away from opponents. They try to hit the offensive players via body checks and even block shots with their body -- it's physical play and sometimes play that can lead to many injuries. Defensemen also clear the puck from the goal if a goalie gives up a rebound.

Defenseman really have many roles that they do consistently on a game to game basis, and the best of the best get this done with no issues at all.

All defensemen should be adept at that type of defensive play. Where they start to get categorized is in their neutral zone and offensive zone play.

 

A defenseman's main job is supposed to be preventing opponents' from scoring. This has always been the number one priority for all defenders but as the years went on, defenders had to start differentiating from one another and this is where the defensive class system rose. This paved the way for the 3 main type of defensman. Stay at Home D, Offensive D and the two-way D.

STAY AT HOME D

 

A solid stay-at-home defenseman takes few risks on the offensive zones and focuses on high levels  of checks, blocked shots with his body and just generally focuses on protecting his own goal.

In the neutral zone, the stay-at-home defenseman passes the puck to forwards as quickly as possible, lingering near the blue line for the most part. These defenders usually have pretty good passing abilities to make that play out of the neutral zone.

In the offensive zone, the stay-at-home defenseman really hugs the blue line. He may shoot on net, with an especially hard slapshot, but his job is often to keep the puck inside the offensive zone from the edge of it.

 

In the beginning, this is what defenders usually were, very adept at stopping the other team from scoring but eventually there had to be an evolution on this play as they were were centered on only one aspect of the game.

THE OFFENSIVE D

Some defensemen act as if they really want to be forwards. Most of the Defenders in the VHL and VHLM will fall under this category.

They get very involved in creating offensive opportunities, often pinching in or moving farther into the offensive zone than a stay-at-home defenseman.  This usually leads to them being caught out of position on the counter-attack of the opposing team.

In the neutral zone, an offensive defenseman may be less likely to look for an open forward. He may lead the rush on the opponents' goal himself.

Technically, in the defensive zone, an offensive defenseman has the same duties as the stay-at-home defenseman. However, the offensive defenseman is often caught out of position because of his offensive play in the offensive zone. Pinching in often leads to opponents' rushing up the ice -- for example during breakaways or counter-attacks.

TWO WAY D

A solid two-way defenseman mixes the best of both worlds. This is what Tom Eagles is trying to be in the league in order to stand out from the pack.

Two-way defense is a balancing act. A defenseman should never allow the puck to be in play behind him. Stay-at-home defensemen never do. Offensive defensemen sometimes get caught.

Two-way defensemen manage the balance. They pinch into the offensive zone to generate scoring chances. However, their hockey vision must be so strong that they are able to stop breakaways and odd-man rushes.

A two-way defenseman will definitely protect his goal. However, a solid two-way defenseman is adept at outlet passes, or moving the puck out of the defensive zone with a pass. He may even be a skilled enough player to lead the rush out of the defensive zone himself.

In the neutral zone, a two-way defenseman uses his hockey vision to decide whether he should pass the puck to a forward or rush the offensive zone himself.

The skills above is what makes this one of the harder positions on the ice that needs a lot of skills and many different catergories.

Skills of the Two-Way Defenseman

Two-way defense is a skill position. The two-way defenseman straddles the world between forward and defenseman. He must be an extraordinary skater, passer and defender.

Some skills that two-way defenseman need to be very good at include:

• Speed to get back into position
• Quick transition from forward to backward
• Skating backward and sideways
• Strength to maintain possession of the puck
• Strong slapshot from the blue line
   

The Reapers Tom Eagles is starting to be a prime example of a skilled two-way defender. The only thing he really needs to work on is building up a little extra strength.

 

Tom is such a fast skater that it catches his opponents off guard sometimes. He pinches into the offensive zone to generate scoring chances. Yet he can quickly catch opponents in their odd-man rushes.

Tom is also known for having a very powerful shot from the blue line. He has a hard slapshot but just needs to work on accuracy.

We can’t wait to see how Tom evolves in the VHLM and later on in the VHL.

 

 

 

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1057 words
 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Greg_Di

[fromtheinside 1,290]

nice article!  really enjoyed it

[Greg_Di 1,028]

claiming for week ending Dec 20