Transition Drills for Explosive Offense, Jon Goyens

As coaches, our primary goal is to develop players both on and off the ice—winning games along the way is just a bonus.

For Jon Goyens, the new head coach of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar, success came with both player development and victories, proving that you can have your cake and eat it too.

Prior to his new job in the Q, Jon coached for 26 years, at every level of minor hockey. Most notably, he stood behind the bench and developed talent for one of Canada’s top Midget AAA teams, Lac St Louis Lions. Here, he honed the skills of players like Jonathan Drouin, Anthony Duclair and Michael Matheson, and in the process, became the league’s most winningest coach with 75 career playoff wins. Topping off his impressive resume, Jon has coached a total of 25 NHL draftees and has even become the skills coach of USA Hockey superstar, Hilary Knight.

Despite not having a career in professional hockey as a player, Jon has become a student of the game and has grown his knowledge base to be at the top of our sport. We connected with Jon and are excited to bring you some of his go-to drills for neutral zone regroups and zone entry. A quick transition game can be deadly and when implemented effectively, will exploit mistakes from your opposition and swing a game in your favor - so take this in stride.

With that, here are 5 of Jon Goyens’ top drills for explosive offense:

 

1. D Up Basic
 

Tags: Defencemen, Screens / Tips / Deflections, Transitions
 

• D backwards pivots retrieves puck, pass to F1 inside dots
• F1  shoot in stride, hide release point, after shot indirect pass low to high to D for 1T or slide blue & shoot
• F1 head to net for screen & tip, depth is important

Variation B

• D repeats D up pass with F2, F1 tags up in middle, enter 2 v 0. F can look for D on entry
  
   

2. D Up Basic Version 2 - Part A
 

Tags: Defencemen, Screens / Tips / Deflections, Transitions
 

• D backwards pivots retrieves puck, pass to F1 inside dots
• F1 shoot in stride, hide release point, after shot, tags up middle to support stretch pass

Part B
 

Tags: Defencemen, Screens / Tips / Deflections, Transitions
 

• D tags up again, stretch pass to F2, who passes & drives net in area for F1
• 3rd puck, low to high. F's head to net and create a high screen and attempt to tip puck. Depth is important

3. Lions 2 v 0 RG with D Entry
 

Tags: Defensive Zone, Transitions
 

On the whistle:

• D1 skates backwards receives pass from F1, gives it to F2 who touches it back to D1
• Fs skate towards D1 inside dot for support until they pivot forward, Fs pivot and give two options
• D1 must look off his pass
• F2 receives pass and drives deep, F1 slash across to middle drive, D1 gives 4th man on entry option

Coach decides the variations of attack 2v0 or hit D1 wide etc…

 

4. D Up vs Pressure V2
 

Tags: Team Tactic, Transitions
 

Part 1:

• D exchanges 3 passes with coach... on third pass, F1 releases to forecheck D
• At same time of release, F2 gets open to receive pass in movement, goes down & shoots
   

Part 2:

• D tag up, coach spots second puck, F1 gives option, D quick up
• F1 catch in movement play 1v1 w/ F2 angling F1, D1 follow for option & 3rd puck 
  
   

5. D Up vs Quick Press
 

Tags: Support, Transitions
 

• D tags up to red line on whistle to retrieve puck placed by F1, F3 leaves to pressure on coaches call. F1 & F2 get available outside or inside dots. D must pass under pressure indirect or direct
• After pass F3 releases, F1 & F2 attacking driving deep, D1 moves quickly through the “Transition Zone aka Speed Zone”
• FWD delay and passes to D1 on entry. 1 F must stop at net

Variation

• 2nd puck after D shot. D gets puck from coach at Blue, fakes shot and goes high to low for a rim, closest F retrieves puck and uses a net cycle, pass to F2

All of the above drills can be found in our Drill Marketplace and have been put together in a special practice in our Plans Marketplace!

Written by the CoachThem Team

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