Toronto Maple Leafs "Protect Home Plate"
This breakout happens when we have lost control of the puck in our defensive zone, or when our
typical breakouts fail. The basic idea of this defensive structure is to keep the puck and opposing
players away from Doherty. Too often we find ourselves scrambling to get a puck out, and we seem
to lose composure and hockey sense when this happens. By piling players inside the house, we cut
off all possible threats of cross-crease passes which could easily be tapped in for goals. In diagram
A, it's clear that the crease and slot are covered by Ignatius players, and the only potential threats
would be coming from outside shots. In diagram B, which we tend to resort to while playing panic
hockey, when our players are spread out it opens up multiple passing options which could lead to
scoring opportunities. The result of this "Protect Home Plate" breakout isn't necessarily to carry the
puck through the neutral zone and set up offensive zone pressure, but rather it is to clear the puck
out of our zone so that the players on the ice can change. Because this is a last resort play, it could
result in icing the puck, but a better result would be dumping the puck into the neutral zone, or
having one player skate it to the red line and dump it in before changing.
-Dom
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