BEGINNER DEFENSIVE SYSTEM

• Zone Defense:  A style of defense characterized by defensive players covering a certain area of the floor.

• A basic "house" zone defense is essentially the inverted coverage of the prime scoring area, in the shape of a stick-figured house (box + triangle).

• Two defenders cover the crease positions, two cover the shooter positions and one covers the point position.  The defensive zone can effectively be broken into 4 quadrants, which each of the low (crease) and high (shooter) defenders responsible for what happens in their quadrants.

• Generally, you want bigger defenders low; players who are willing to block shots, box-out in front of the net and ideally someone with good stick skills able to pick off passes going through to the crease.  Up high, you want your quicker, smarter defenders, able to make split second decisions like closing the gap on shooters, getting on the gloves of passers and pursuing loose balls.

• The most important player in the defense is the point defender, who is usually the smartest player on the floor on any given shift; with their first responsibility being to make sure that all of their teammates are in their respective positions. 

• Note:  This system is generally the default defense used to defend a 6-on-5 (“pull the goalie”) situation.  It is also worth noting that the best way to beat a zone defense is to overload one area of the zone with 2 players, which is why all defenders need to be ready to fight overtop of any seals in their zone and give help to any teammates that they see getting overloaded.