Nothing is easier to defend than a player who sticks to the wall during a zone entry. Gaining middle ice upon zone entries causes confusion for the defenders and will open up multiple options for your players offensively. In this article, we share 9 clips that review 3 effective concepts when gaining middle ice on zone entries.
- Kick-Out and Drive
- Cross Drops
- Middle Ice Delays
You will notice a common theme in all of these plays:
- The defense struggles to get sorted out
- The puck carrier has time, space and multiple options
- After making a pass, the players work to the net to drive the defense back and become a passing option
Tips for Youth Teams (U12+) For Working on Achieving Middle Ice
- Get Off The Wall - Encourage your players to get off the wall when they have the puck in all situations
- This allows you to try to manipulate your defender from both sides
- The defender can’t create the angle he or she wants between you and the boards
- It opens up more opportunities, shooting lanes and passing lanes
- Practice Zone Entries in Smaller Situations - Work on entries in 2v1 and 2v2 situations and encourage your players to gain middle ice on these situations
- Set up drills where the enter the zone in the middle with support
- Set up drills where they enter the zone wide, but immediately cut to the middle with support
- Show Them Clips - Players are visual learners, show them a few clips from this blog or our clip library so they can see the benefits of gaining the middle of the ice upon their entries
Kick Out and Drive
Kick Out and Drive by Kopitar
This is a simple but effective zone entry here by Anže Kopitar. He enters the zone through the middle of the ice and kicks it out to his winger Kempe. Notice how Kopitar immediately drives towards the net and interferes ever so slightly with the defender. This allows the Kempe some extra time and he makes a great play to slide it back to Kopitar. You will notice he also had a play to the winger coming down the weak side. This is just so hard for defensemen to sort out, and this is a prime example. If the defender stays with Kopitar, Kempe has a clear shot or the ability to slide it to the weak side winger. View Full Details
Vegas with Kick Out Entry with Middle Lane Drive
Here is another great example of entering the zone inside the dots and kicking it out to the winger. Once again the player who kicks it out (Stephenson) immediately skates right at the defender. This opens up a ton of room for his teammate (Howden) to cut inside the dots with a great scoring chance. View Full Details
Hughes Middle Entry With Kickout
There is an unbelievable amount of skill in this clip, but it also shows how valuable it is to gain the middle of the ice. This clip is slightly different from the previous two as Hughes starts off along the wall and cuts to the middle when gaining the zone. His teammate reads the play well and changes lanes with him opening up a ton of time and space. Hughes makes an incredible play and the chaos for the defense to sort it out ensues. This is a great clip to show your players of one of the games brightest young stars. View Full Details
Cross Drops
Beniers & McCann with a Cross Drop Zone Entry
Cross drops or switches are a great way to slow down the rush and give your players more space as the defense keeps backing up. Especially when you are entering the zone without a numerical advantage. Notice how Beniers gets into the middle lane on the zone entry and he cuts to the outside. This is the move that slows down the rush and allows for McCann to cut to the middle. Beniers leaves it right on his forehand for the quality chance. This is a great play to run when it's 2v2 and you don't have an extra layer of support coming. View Full Details
2 v 2 Entry Drop and Drive by Boston
This clip has the same concept. The Zacha and Pastrňák don't have a numerical advantage and are able to create time and space doing a cross drop through the middle of the ice. In this play, Zacha skates right at the defense to drive them back even further. This is very similar to the first set of entries where they kicked it out and drove the defense backwards. A great play here by Boston. View Full Details
Calgary Cross-Drop Zone Entry
This is a fun one to watch. A lot of skill here, but another great example of a cross drop in the middle of the ice to create confusion on the zone entry. Notice how the cross drop sets up the offensive player to receive the puck with speed, while the defenseman is flat-footed. The d-man recovers well, but barely. Andersson has a nice delay as well to create additional time and space for the next layer of attack. View Full Details
Middle Entry Delays
Kadri Middle Entry Delay
In this play Kadri enters the zone through the middle of the ice. You can see his intention to gain middle ice as he carries the puck through the neutral zone. Once he gains the blue line, he changes his speed and delays. This creates a ton of space between him and the defenseman and he is able to hit his winger streaking with speed. A great entry to show your players. View Full Details
Larkin Delays on Middle Entry
In this play Larkin enters the zone in between the dots with speed and cuts back towards the middle of the ice on a delay. You can see that the defenders are caught too far back at this point to make a play and his delay/change of speed has created a ton of time and space for him. They have a nice net drive by Bertuzzi and a nice finish by Vrána. View Full Details
Kane Uses Change of Speed on Middle Entry
Such a great play by Kane. Look at how it was a priority for him to get to the middle of the ice for his entry. His change of speed once again backs the defenseman off to create time and space and he's able to hit his teammate with a nice pass coming in at full speed. You can see Kane had more than one good option with the puck here, but he made the best read available to him - to the middle of the ice. View Full Details
Simple Drills to Work on These Concepts
We had the fortune to film with John Dean at the Brock High Performance Conference last summer. He had some great drills that promote gaining middle ice.
Kick-Out Warm Up
Cut & Drop Warm-Up
Dinks Warm Up
Other Zone Entry Resources
Zone Entry Drills
We have a lot of great zone entry drills and games that can help work on these concepts. Please keep in mind to break the concepts down to be as simple as possible for your age level and these middle entry concepts (besides encouraging them to get off the wall) should not be taught below U12. 45 Zone Entry Drills.
Zone Entry Clips
These zone entry clips are just a small sample of some of the possibilities of concepts you can show your players depending on their age. Get creative, have fun and use zone entries as a way to improve the communication between your players. If you are looking for more zone entry clips you can view 50 Zone Entries on our Coaching Clips Page.
Zone Entry Concepts with Brandon Naurato
If you are looking for a deep dive into zone entries, take some time to watch this this webinar with Michigan Head Coach Brandon Naurato . He dives deep into zone entry concepts with some incredible detail and great clip breakdowns. View Here in our Coaching Education Section
Categorized Clips
IHS has secured a license, allowing us to enhance our platform with hundreds of coaching clips. These coaching clips will allow our members to find teachable moments that are performed at the games’ highest level and share them with their players. We have also taken the time to tag each clip with related material on IHS so that you can find drills and SAG’s to work on the skills and concepts within the clips. NHL Footage on IHS is Courtesy of The National Hockey League.