Protect the House: Defensive Zone Coverage for Hockey

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.

Coach Blaise MacDonald shows you how to "take away time and space" from your opponent in order to protect your goal. Coach MacDonald's zone defensive system provides aggressive defense on the puck, along with a solid secondary line of support, as well as a good net front and slot defensive presence, while the strong-side forward takes away any easy release opportunities. In addition, MacDonald covers swarm defensive zone coverage to outnumber your opponent in a confined area to create a loose puck. MacDonald also includes five drills to help build the zone defensive system. These drills cover everything from warm-ups to coordinate movements when the puck changes sides and transitioning to zone coverage, to weakside play and rollouts. Throughout this hockey DVD, MacDonald first diagrams the teaching points and positioning on the whiteboard, and runs through the details on the ice with his players. MacDonald touches on the team and individual principles needed to make this system work so that you are always protecting your house.

48 minutes. 2009.