Sep 10, 2026 · 6 min · 5 segments
Everyone loves scoring goals, but winning teams need players who are willing to defend. Today we talk about the importance of backchecking and forechecking and what coaches notice when players commit…
Greg SowersHost
It's definitely, it's not everyone's favorite thing to do, but it is incredibly important to the defensive structure for teams.
It forces them to move the puck quicker, make a decision quicker, and the same is true about forechecking.
Forechecking is viewed almost as an offensive tactic, but at the end of the day, you don't have a puck when you're forechecking, so it's still a defensive.
Forechecking does tend to be a little bit more fun and exciting for players because you get to It's more of an attacking defensive tactic where we're going after the puck and we're probably able to be a little bit more physical than we are strictly talking about back checking.
Everybody wants to score and everybody wants to make that big offensive play, but when your team loses the puck or doesn't have the puck, it's incredibly important what you decide to do at that point.
You know, are we going to turn the puck over and then turn around and coast? You know, I just gave up the puck.
Or are you going to fight to get to that puck back? If we get to the red line and we're going to dump the puck in the zone, are we going to give that opposing team all the time in the world to set up their breakout, take their time to get to the puck, take the time to find the right play? Or are we going to dump that puck into the offensive zone and attack and take away their time and space and fight to turn that puck out or turn that puck over? Because when we dump the puck, even though there is a time and place for it at the end of the day, it is also a turnover.
It's definitely, it's not everyone's favorite thing to do, but it is incredibly important to the defensive structure for teams.
It forces them to move the puck quicker, make a decision quicker, and the same is true about forechecking.
Forechecking is viewed almost as an offensive tactic, but at the end of the day, you don't have a puck when you're forechecking, so it's still a defensive.
Forechecking does tend to be a little bit more fun and exciting for players because you get to It's more of an attacking defensive tactic where we're going after the puck and we're probably able to be a little bit more physical than we are strictly talking about back checking.
Everybody wants to score and everybody wants to make that big offensive play, but when your team loses the puck or doesn't have the puck, it's incredibly important what you decide to do at that point.
You know, are we going to turn the puck over and then turn around and coast? You know, I just gave up the puck.
Or are you going to fight to get to that puck back? If we get to the red line and we're going to dump the puck in the zone, are we going to give that opposing team all the time in the world to set up their breakout, take their time to get to the puck, take the time to find the right play? Or are we going to dump that puck into the offensive zone and attack and take away their time and space and fight to turn that puck out or turn that puck over? Because when we dump the puck, even though there is a time and place for it at the end of the day, it is also a turnover.
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