Offensive Zone Play: Low Cycle

What this is The Low Cycle is our default way to hold the puck in the offensive zone when nothing is open to the net. Instead of forcing a play into pressure, the puck carrier turns back down the wall and hands the zone off to the next forward. We keep the puck below the dots, make the defence skate, and wait for a seam to open.

Reading the diagram F1 has the puck on the wall at the top of the circle. The solid arrow shows F1 turning back down toward the corner rather than driving into the defender. F3 reads that turn and skates up the wall through the same lane to take over the puck — that is the cycle. F2 fills the high slot near the net-front, and the dashed arrows show the puck moving up the wall to F2 when the defence over-commits to the corner. D1 and D2 hold the blue line as our outlets.

Key ideas The cycle is a delay, not a retreat. Every turn should be made with speed and with the body between the puck and the checker, so the next forward arrives with the puck already protected.