Stay at Home Defencemen
Job No:
VANMIL01
Location:
Vancouver
The Vancouver Millionaires are a professional ice hockey team that competes in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League between.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, we play all of our games in The Denman Arena, the first artificial ice surface in Canada and the largest indoor ice rink in the world at the time it opened on December 26th, 1911.
Our Accomplishments
The Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley Cup once, in 1915, against the Ottawa Senators of the NHA. We have also been crowned PCHA champions six times (1915, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924).
We are currently seeking the services of a Stay At Home defenceman, also known as Defensive Defencemen or Shutdown Defencemen, to play a very defensive-first game for our Stanley Cup Winning Franchise.
We are looking for someone who is focused on defending rather than attacking, your offensive statistics will tend to be on the lower side of average and that's ok.
We are looking for a player to play with a more physical style and neutralize the opposing team's offensive players by landing strong hits and blocking shots.
As our new Stay At Home Defencemen, you will be utilized in penalty kill situations and will often be partnered with our top offensive-minded Defencemen.
- Always back your partner — on the offensive blue line, in the neutral zone and especially in the defensive zone.
- Always one defenseman in front of the net when the opposition has the puck in your zone or there is a danger that they may gain possession. For a young defenseman, (mites through early PeeWees) the rule should always be one defenseman in front of the net when the puck is in your zone.
- Do not leave the offensive zone too soon. Leaving too soon is a much more common mistake than leaving too late for a large percentage of defensemen from mites through high school. It backs the defence up too fast and too far and makes “pacing” the attacking forward much harder.
- Always play defence first. If attacking with the puck, only go deep into the offensive zone until the prime scoring opportunity is over — and you are part of it.
- Never play a 1-on-1 head-on. Give the attacker a little room on one side to force him to go where you want him to go.
- Stagger one defenseman up a little farther than the other in 2-on-2 and 3-on-2 situations. The up man will generally be nearest to the puck carrier.
- Shoot intelligently from the point. The best shot is always low, generally not too hard (so it stays in the scoring area for rebounds) and accurate. Defensmen seldom are shooting to score, but rather to put the puck into the scoring area so that forwards can score.
- Do not “tie-up” with people in front of the net, rather gain position and control.
- Do not ever “tie-up” with an opposing player anywhere when your team is a man short. As the players on the team with a penalty tie up and are out of the play, the odds get better on the power play, i.e. 4-on-3 is better than 5-on-4, 3-on-2 is better than 4-on-3, etc.
- Do not stand looking for someone to pass to, especially in the defensive zone. Look-move-look-pass. This reduces the chances of being surprised from the back or side, makes the pass more accurate and forces the opponent to begin retreating.