Angling and Defensive Development

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.

Proper angling and defensive skills are critical in today's faced-paced game. This holds for all levels of play, but especially with younger players where body checking has been removed. Using whiteboard discussion complemented with on-ice drills, Blaise MacDonald presents his key concepts to good angling and defensive play. Coach MacDonald, who has won a national championship as a player and coach, shares drills that develop the tools needed to develop effective defenders in all three zones.

This video has over 16 drills to properly train good angling skills and techniques while teaching the critical concepts of playing solid defense in the neutral zone and defensive zone. In addition, you get a series of drills to improve your defensemen's ability to make plays on the breakout in their own zone and to be effective members on offense, as well.

This presentation is full of "read and react" drills where players compete against one another using transitional skating. Your players will learn how to judge the speed of an opponent while using controlled skating and steering techniques. They will learn how to use points of reference and how to establish a good angle, pushing the puck carrier into bad ice, taking away time and space, ultimately separating the puck carrier from the puck.

Use these drills to help players become more comfortable in uncomfortable situations, which, in turn, will help them select the right responses quickly during games.

The teaching concepts in this presentation combined with the game-like competitive drills make this a must-have DVD for players and coaches at any level.

62 minutes. 2014.