Two-touch game
Earlier we looked at Two-Touch forehand shots from the weakside and strongside (view the previous Two Touch Shot breakdown
to learn more).
This breakdown, will take a look at a third type of
Two-Touch shot -- shooting on the forehand -- after receiving a pass on
the backhand. Specifically, we will take a look at this type of shot on
Zone Entry.
While the logistics of performing this type of shot are essentially
the same as off the forehand, there are a few differences. As you will
see in each of the video examples the shooter, who is typically the
mid-lane driver, receives a backhand pass and does not dribble, or
stickhandle the puck, but rather “kills” the puck in their wheelhouse,
loads and shoots on the second touch.
The players are able to do this by
prepping for the shot, BEFORE they receive the pass.
Once they receive the puck, they push top and out (load) and then use
their bottom hand as fulcrum and to quickly release the shot with a
push/pull motion.
SOFT PASS v. HARD PASS
On soft, often short and occasionally sauce, passes, depending of the
position of the defenders, the player tends to catch the puck on the
strong side of their center mass. You will see in each of those examples
the player catches, or receives, and quickly release the shot.
The
Backlund, Marleau, Rattie, Stone and Philstrom clips are excellent
illustrations of this technique. On hard, or “hot” passes, exhibited
with the Matthews, Kopitar, Saad, and Scissons clips you notice that the
players catch the puck off their weak foot.
Meaning, similar to the
forehand two touch shot, the have their stick parallel with their right
foot if a left shot, and left foot if a right shot. You can see in the
clips how the players has their top hand off their hips and their
dominant elbow poking out behind their back (chicken wing). This
positioning affords a STRONG stick which allows them to “kill” the puck in an area and on the next touch will release it.
