Power Play: Inverted Umbrella

The idea

The Inverted Umbrella flips the arc. One skater plays high near the net, two set up wide on either side, and two hold the low ice near the blue line. Against a box that dives into every shot lane from the top, the inverted look attacks from underneath and from the outside in.

Reading the diagram

The net is at the top of the board. F1 is high in the middle in front of the goalie, F2 and F3 sit wide on the walls, and D1 and D2 hold the low ice with the puck starting at D1 (black dot).

The dashed lines show the puck path: up the wall from the low man, across the low ice between the two point men, and back up the far wall — then the seam from the wall to the high net-front player. The formation moves the puck side to side low, then attacks the middle.

Why it works

Sliding the puck low and wide forces the box to shift as a unit, and the seam to the high man opens up on the second or third slide. Shot blockers cannot dive at pucks they are still chasing.