"Then the defensemen can try to freeze the first
forechecker, kick it wide.
He has a tremendous workrate and it will only help the offensive games of our other defencemen - good breakout passes, taking a couple of quick strides when they get the pass to get away from a
forechecker or to make a nice breakout pass up the middle or a quick one up the wall.
Besides, another sniper or a tenacious
forechecker certainly wouldn't hurt.
"I'm hopefully looking to help Providence offensively, or if they see me as just a real hard
forechecker or penalty killer, I'm just going to do whatever it takes to help the team and bring it back to the top of Hockey East."
Rookie coach Guy Boucher's defensive scheme starts with a single
forechecker up front.
One of those adjustments was to get the defenseman to carry the puck past the Devils' single
forechecker and into the neutral zone, giving the forwards a chance to get their feet moving.
The netminder took too long to make a pass and
forechecker Bracken Kearns picked it off and shot into the net from a sharp angle.
Axelsson, does an admirable job moving the puck on the power play when called upon (even if he can't always finish scoring plays), and is a tireless
forechecker. He also owns the best takeaway-to-giveaway ratio (36 to 21) among all Bruins.
The Bruins want to hem Chicago in its own end, but if the
forecheckers get caught deep on quick rushed by the Blackhawks, it could prove disastrous.
"I would describe myself as an offensive defenceman that can use my skating ability to beat
forecheckers and create offence by joining the rush.
He can beat one, two, three, four
forecheckers with one pass.
It all starts in the Pittsburgh end, which is where Boston's
forecheckers will try to pin the Penguins in deep.
