Basic Hockey Neutral Zone & Offensive Strategy and Positioning | NHL 101

[@Lucan2025]

These videos have def helped me understand hockey better. Wife and i just got stationed to an area with a hockey team and we fell in love with going to live games. your videos are the only reason i know what's going on haha

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad help! It's a really fun game to watch, especially when you have an idea of what's happening haha

[@kylebriggs2913]

I'm somewhat new to hockey as I've watched it quite a few times but would find myself lost much of the time. This series has been incredible, man! Very informative in an easy to digest manner. Thank you!

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to hear that you've found the videos helpful! It's a fast sport (especially at the NHL level) so it can be easy to get lost. I appreciate the support!

[@SirJaymesDAudelée]

Using backwards passes works if X2&3 attack the blue line with speed ahead of the breakout- stopping at said blue line. This draws defenders back which clears the log jam in the NZ. This is why those mile long drop passes don’t get intercepted.

[@CheapSeatsSports]

That's a good detail to add. Thanks for the comment!

[@williamh8694]

Player interviews may be full of clichés, but they always remind me of “Pro Hockey Media Relations 101” from Letterkenny 😂

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Letterkenny is such an amazing show, and even more so if you watch hockey lol

[@mitchkupietz]

Best show ever 😂

[@TheDroc1990]

Just got into hockey glad I found your channel and glad this part is now out! Great work

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to help!

[@bmw35bk]

@@CheapSeatsSports what software did you use for the animation? thank you

[@joshbloom1709]

By far the best hockey primer I’ve seen. You are VERY good at this. You’d make an outstanding play by play man.

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad you enjoyed it! That would be pretty cool, the biggest challenge would be keeping all the names right just by looking at numbers from far away. Hockey play by play is very impressive.

[@mattwyro7339]

Just a quick refresher for the game tonight ❤

[@mattwyro7339]

These videos help me know what to look for I can watch more than just the puck now

[@CheapSeatsSports]

That was the idea for making them! Hopefully they can help people learning to play too, but I was aiming for new fans watching games.

[@Twalk40]

Trying to get into beer league this summer and these positioning videos are really helpful

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to hear it! Playing is a lot of fun tho I can say from personal experience, knowing the right thing to do and actually being able to do it in the moment while playing are very different things.

[@kevinsicard6850]

Nice! I’m a little late to the show, but have you made a video explaining 3-2, 2-1-2.. etc formations? Would love to share with my club these videos are super helpful. Thanks

[@CheapSeatsSports]

I haven't gotten there yet since I've been mostly starting with the very basics but I will add it to the list. Since I also cover the Seattle Kraken it might be a bit before I'm able to get that done tho. Glad you found this helpful in the meantime tho!

[@NixonStam-h6h]

you are very good at explaining hockey. It has helped me understand hockey better. Thank you

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to hear it!

[@endurojimmy3109]

Thanks for this. Any chance you do something on cycling the puck in the O zone?

[@CheapSeatsSports]

I'll add it to the list and see what I can come up with when I find some time. Thanks for the idea!

[@donovandorsha7264]

clicked immediately. such a good series of video’s.

[@GoYouDeepSeaMonsters]

Thanks for this one. (Imma email it to some wonderful new team, or something).

[@deathvision]

Crosby shirt. Very nice video, thanks a lot.

[@Camdenhockey]

Another really clear and effective video explaining hockey to young players. So glad I found this channel!

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Thanks again! If you have any questions or suggestions for other videos let me know!

[@SirJaymesDAudelée]

8:40 it’s misleading to show zones for the offence. The team in D play in zones. The attacking team wants to break down zone coverage which would be impossible if they also played in zones. Creativity is stressed more than positional structure on O. For example: a great way to create chaos and exploit D zone seams is the cycle. And it your a LW and the puck is R side, your going to be playing absolutely nowhere in that LW zone you’ve outlined. Your going participate in that cycle which means you might find yourself deep in the R side corner. For this reason it’s better to teach O by referring to all forwards as F 1,2, and 3. Create chaos, triangulate, changing angle of attack, changing depth angle of attack, exploit D zone seams, using deception. These are some of the most impactful O principles. If the D are all playing in their respective zones, playing in the same zones yourself while in O makes you very easy to defend. You want to play between the zones the D team is covering-this makes it difficult for the D team to decide which zone the puck carrier is in and therefore who should play him. See….chaos-just for an example. Another example, change the angle of attack with a pass so the goalie has to move side to side. Yet if you make a pass that is diagonal across ice you force the goalie to move side to side but also forwards and backwards. These are ways to get the goalie out of position. Good luck.

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Great detail! Thanks for commenting. The goal with these videos is to give people a starting point for understanding what's going on when watching hockey. That said there are a lot of different strategies that depend on play style and what players are on the ice. Generally speaking I agree that most offenses are trying to break down the opposing defense and not sticking to specific zones, but I thought this approach was best as a very basic starting point for people to understand.

[@gabrielidusogie9189]

New to hockey and this helps

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to hear it!

[@seang13]

Thanks! Great videos!

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying them!

[@nylertickel2]

This has helped me get better at chell lmao

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Awesome! Not what I meant it for but I'm glad to hear it the cross over works! I know there are some differences strategy wise in chell but I don't play much so I can't speak to that. The Basics are probably the same tho considering it is still hockey.

[@Jacob-bb2il]

Awesome video, thanks

[@ellamennop]

great video. was hoping to see something on cycling - perhaps for a 201 video 👍

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Yeah, I wanted to keep more basic for the purpose of this but I can do that in the future!

[@deedeemegadoodoo2157]

Very helpful!

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Glad to hear it!

[@CountDigression]

Enlightening (Did you forget to feed your mic 0:33-8:26? 🤭)

[@spartan4196]

Please note non of these rules for defenseman apply if your name is Roman Jose, Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar

[@CheapSeatsSports]

I mean... they aren't the only ones that ignore the guidelines, just the only ones that actually do it and it helps their team.

[@spartan4196]

@@CheapSeatsSports that's true, and I think guys like Tyler myers could definitely learn from this video with all the turnovers he has

[@kratosbelmont]

Ok what happins if a deffender in some crazy scenario shot it into his. Own goal would it still count as a score fir the offince ? Im oretry sure this is hightly unlikely to happin

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Yup it's still a goal. The credit for the goal goes to whoever touched it last on the opposing team.

[@kratosbelmont]

@@CheapSeatsSports i take it that has happened before

[@aaronharstad4009]

What is the name of this software you use for these simple hockey demonstrations?

[@CheapSeatsSports]

I did all the graphics in Adobe After Effects there are probably easier ways but it's what I knew.

[@geomall]

Great info..thanks

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Happy to help!

[@RachaelBuchanan83]

Could you show the 1st one to our team please? 🤣🤣🤣

[@zachfoster5877]

How did you not cover the Flying V? 😂

[@CheapSeatsSports]

That's too advanced for a beginner level. ;)

[@amine_d]

Interesting 🤔

[@donbrink5540]

I'm still angry over the 06-07 season redwings presidents trophy fresh out of lockout losing to Edmonton playing the trap. Not so much that it was a Edmonton team that shouldn't have been in the playoffs. It's that they shouldn't have been in the playoffs and the wings just couldn't find their way through it. The long dump ins got tiring

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Who didn't love watching the trap? Other than everyone...

[@donbrink5540]

@@CheapSeatsSports it was heart breaking that a team wouldn't even try to play the game.

[@40mmmikemike]

Ah crap they're on a breakaway again lol that was my whole first pickup game

[@CheapSeatsSports]

Yeah it happens a lot in beer league lol. Fortunately since people aren't as good it's less dangerous but still not ideal.

[@Greenwallgt]

is this video botted

[@CheapSeatsSports]

?

[@Greenwallgt]

@@CheapSeatsSports 110k views 60 comments seems wierd