Happy Friday!  I hope you're gearing up for a great hockey weekend, getting started with this week's Playbook.

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Today I'm diving back into dribbling & elimination techniques and looking at probably my personal favorite ball carrying skill - The V-Drag.

Last week while breaking down the 2024 NCAA National Championship game I touched on the diagonal carry being such an effective attacking move and the V-Drag is really a continuation of this theme.  In my opinion, the effectiveness of moving the ball on diagonal angles should not be underestimated or under-coached.

I think it should be a fundamental concept in all attacking syllabuses and today I can show you some of the reason behind that.

Below, you'll see a great reel from Australian legend (and beloved Leap collaborator) Brent Livermore through his new stick company Croc Hockey

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These are some of the best demonstrations of the V-Drag (in both directions), you'll see anywhere.  Although the defending on show is only passive, you can imagine that trying to deal with the speed & angles of these moves being an absolute ankle-breaking nightmare!

Let's think about why the V-Drag is such a good idea in the first place, and then secondly - what the featured athletes in this reel are really nailing.

The Case for the V-Drag

The biggest advantage of the V Drag is that you are both, moving the ball laterally into a space either side of a defender, and at the same time keeping the ball out of the defender's stick reach - with the use of the back angle (or V) ball path.

This really becomes important as your playing level progresses and you start to compete against better defenders.  Even well executed left and right pull or drags, if they are flat, can get picked.  However the V Drag reduces this risk.  In a way you get your cake and eat it.  You get the potential benefits of eliminating the player, without the risk of losing the ball.

The ancillary benefit is that usually both before and after you will be carrying the ball on a diagonal line which has a bunch of additional advantages as discussed last week.  You will often open up more dangerous vertical passing channels which can be accessed instead or in addition to executing the skill.

But as with most things in life, good ideas are nothing without great execution.

All About Execution

This is where we come back to our Croc athletes.  They are showcasing some really important components of the skill done at the highest level.

1. Aggressive initial carry on the angle.  Having your initial approach on an angle makes the move so much more powerful.  And dribbling hard in that direction will set up the next stage.
2. The ball never leaves the stick, even during the change of direction.  This ensures there is no easy option for the defender to take the ball when it could be left unprotected.
3. The speed of the change of direction.  Great foot and hand speed are on show here in tandem.  This is where practice comes in - you just need to do a lot of reps to get to this level.  Because you are literally taking a step backward to go forward, you have to be able to execute this at speed or the defender can stay with you.
4. The sharpness of the back angle.  This is what makes this a slam dunk elimination.  The severity of the angle is so great, it will surprise and therefore beat most defenders.

So there you have it - elite execution of one of my favorite elimination skills.  Is it the best one in the game, as my slightly provocative title suggests (I do want you to open this email after all)?

Well…all coaches will have their own opinion but mine is yes, for all the reasons I've talked about today.