Perhaps this week's COACHES CLINIC from Coach Joe Mallen of UMass-Amherst
can help out on the subject of delivering a hit away from the boards.
You can access it at http://usatoday.com
Feel free to e-mail me with any suggestions you might have for future
COACHES CLINICS.
 
Steve Klein
Deputy Editor/Sports
USA TODAY Information Network
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 ----------
From: owner-hockey-l
To: Multiple recipients of list HOCKEY-L
Subject: Re: A Question of Mechanics
Date: Friday, October 27, 1995 10:00AM
 
.....
     "What I haven't heard much of is how to *deliver* a hit when the target
is just off the boards.   What is currently being taught?   Is that
situation highlighted as a special case (I suspect not)?   If not,  doesn't
it need to be?   Does the approach need to be angled (that last step),  does
the checker need to square up to the target (rather than shoulder to target)
in this situation,  or what?   Notice too that the players know quite well
that the 3 - 6 foot range from the boards is a dangerous area.   Once in a
while you will see a potential target go to the ice to avoid the hit when he
is right along the boards.   I don't think that I've ever seen that when the
target is just off the boards,  however.   Players know that can break
necks."
.....
 
     -- Dick Tuthill
 
        I am the assistant captain of my high school hockey team, and I
haven't
been taught much of anything about hitting people a couple of feet off of
the
boards.  I am not huge (5'10" 180), but I throw my weight around with the
bigger guys in my league (Class L, Granite State Hockey League).  If a
situation arises, however, where a player with the puck is a couple of feet
off
of the boards, I do not treat it as a special case.  I hit that person as I
would any other person, I make sure they are aware of my presence (i.e. I
don't
hit them from behind), and I hit them cleanly so I don't get a penalty for
it.
Most of the refs in my league will call boarding in a second on anybody who
plants somebody's head into the boards.  I don't know if this answers any of
your questions, but that's my input.
 
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