The Lock takes their breakout options away by covering people instead of ice. F1 pressures the puck, F2 locks onto the strong-side winger, and F3 holds the middle. Their retriever has nowhere clean to put the puck.
Reading the diagram Net we are attacking at the top, their blue line at the bottom. The **X** in the corner has the puck. Notice the second black node — **RW** — on the wall with **F2** directly under it: that is their winger being locked.
- **F1** angles the retriever (red arrow). - **F2** is body-on-body with their right wing on the wall. He does not play the ice, he plays the man. - **F3** holds the middle of the zone between the circles, killing the center outlet and reading the reversal. - **D1 and D2** hold the blue line.
How it plays out With the wall man locked and the middle taken, the retriever's only outs are a hard reversal or a blind chip that F3 or our D will pick off. Wingers must trust the lock — the moment F2 slides off his man to look at the puck, the outlet is back on.
What to look for
- F2 plays the man on the wall, not the ice
- F3 owns the middle and the reversal read
- F1 angles so the retriever cannot come out front
Coaching cues
- Lock the winger, stay on his hip
- Middle is F3's — nobody else
- Angle, do not chase
Common mistakes
- F2 releasing the lock to look at the puck
- F3 drifting to a wall and opening the center lane
- D backing off and turning a picked-off chip into a regroup for them
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