3-Zone Face-Offs

with Blaise MacDonald,
Colby College Head Coach;
2018 American Hockey Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year;
2018 NCAA DIII Frozen Four;
2018 New England Small College Athletic Conference champions;
former head coach at Umass-Lowell and Niagara University;
over 300 career wins

Coach MacDonald has over 30 years of coaching experience at the DI and DIII levels. He was the first head coach in program history at Niagara. Within four years of founding the program at Niagara, MacDonald was named ECAC West Co-Coach of the Year and led the Purple Eagles to the NCAA quarterfinal round. He was named College Hockey America's Coach of the Year, and was voted runner-up for the Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year. He has won National Titles as an assistant coach (Boston University) and a player (twice at Rochester Institute of Technology). An All-American Defenseman at RIT, Coach McDonald has recruited and coached over 30 NHL players.

Face-offs are an area of the game that requires dedicated time in every practice.

Blaise MacDonald feels that a team that can win 55 % of the 50-70 face offs that occur in a typical game definitely has the upper hand in the outcome of the game.

Coach MacDonald's five-part presentation features:

• Technical Skills for the Face off - In this segment, he details 12 specific skills to take into consideration for improving your team's face offs. MacDonald also shares specific in-game coaching tips to put your team in better control of a face-off situation.
• Defensive Zone Strategies - MacDonald shares five specific face-off plays that are designed to get the puck out of the defensive zone as quickly as possible.
• Neutral Zone Strategies - See six proven face-off plays diagrammed and demonstrated.
• Offensive Zone Strategies - MacDonald presents seven successful face offs that cover a variety of game situations.
• Drills and Skills - MacDonald takes his team through a rapid fire series of the face-offs presented to give you a firsthand look at how he trains face-offs with his team on a daily basis.

In all, you get a total of 18 specific face-off plays, each diagrammed and demonstrated, as well as game and practice strategies that are sure to help your team gain an upper hand in winning the face-off battle over your opponents!

55 minutes. 2010.