ADVANCED SHORT HANDED

• Starting with the ball at the point position, the diamond remains in its initial formation.  When the ball is passed to either shooter (or dragged towards the strong-side shooter position), the defender on that side of the diamond must approach in the shooting lane, with their stick up, playing contain defense but also closing the gap if able to anticipate a shot from the offender (Rotation #1). 

• At the same time, the player at the top of the diamond drops into the off-ball high position of the box; the general rule being to rotate away from the ball.  While that happens, the off-ball defender who was on the opposite side of the diamond must drop back and help cover the crease player (Rotation #3); also defending against off-ball skip passes and cutters. 

• The player at the back of the diamond has the most responsibility to discourage any skip passes to the creases, and must therefore be outstanding at picking-off passes.  This player should begin by cheating away from the crease player that is a cross-body pass for the point player, denying the off-ball crease at all times and playing cat & mouse with either crease player if the ball is ever passed low (Rotation #2).
  

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  • In that case, the defender on the off-ball side of the diamond must rotate all the way down towards the opposite crease (“GLE”), in order to discourage any quick stick passes from one crease player to the other (Rotation #4). 

  • If the power-play does execute a skip pass from side-to-side, the defending team should stay in a box, yelling “hold” so that all players know not to rotate; avoiding confusion and over-committing (eventually getting back into a diamond when the ball goes back to the point player). 

• Note:  This defense can also be run as a 5-on-5 defensive system utilizing a 5th defender:  in the middle ("Diamond + 1") or locking off the other team's best player ("Diamond + Lock").