Dump and Chase

Dump and Chase is a system in hockey where teams will shoot the puck into the offensive zone and then forecheck rather than carrying the puck into the zone and setting up an offensive play immediately.

Dump and chase critics often thought of it as a North American strategy where teams used the smaller ice surface coupled with more physical play and less skill amongst their players as a way to crash and bang the opposing team’s defense in order to create scoring chances.

Detractors of the dump and chase strategy will say it is boring, archaic and is not the way hockey should be played. In the late 1990s the National Hockey League — NHL changed the offsides rule to try and promote more puck carrying and less dump and chase hockey. They have since changed back to the tag-up offsides.

One of the most famous dump and chase teams in the history of the game was the Florida Panthers who were Stanley Cup Finalists in 1996, but eventually lost to the Colorado Avalanche.

True dump and chase hockey in today’s game is hard to find. Many teams are now more focused on puck control and possession and when they do dump the puck, not wasting energy by forechecking aggresively like teams had done in the past. Some checking lines at brief moments of games still perform this tactic to get the crowd or bench going by providing some physical play and pressure on the opposition.