Free coach tool

Hockey lineup card

Four forward lines with centres, three defence pairs, goalies and special teams. Fill it in before you leave the house and pin it up in the room.

Prints to one page

Lineup Card

Team Opponent Date Rink

Forwards

Left wingCentreRight wing

Defence

LeftRight

Goal

Starter

Backup

Power play

PP1

PP2

Penalty kill

PK1

PK2

Scratches & notes

Free coach tools at teamdock.ca

Building lines that hold up

Start at centre. It is the one position responsible in all three zones, and the only one you cannot hide. Put your four centres down first, then build around them.
Spread your threats. Stacking your two best forwards together gives you one line to worry about and three to survive. Split them and the other team has to defend twice.
Pair a passer with a shooter. Two shooters take turns being frustrated. Two passers look lovely and score nothing.
Keep what already works. If two players have a feel for each other, that is worth more than a tidier chart. Fill the third spot, don’t break the pair.
Some players need separating. You know the ones. Write it down before you get to the rink rather than re-deciding it at the bench.

Special teams

The power play is not your best five. It is a distributor, a shooter who can actually finish, somebody who will stand in front and take the abuse, and a point player who can keep a puck in. Put people where their skill fits, not where their name ranks.
Ask before you assign net front. Plenty of good players are no use there and will tell you so if you ask. One who wants it is worth three who don’t.
The kill rewards reading, not speed. Anticipation, stick position and a willingness to wear one. Your best penalty killer is often not on your top line.
Rest matters. If the same four kill every penalty, they are no use in the third. Have a second unit you actually trust.

The card is for tonight. The season is somewhere else.

A lineup card does its job for sixty minutes and then lives in a bag. What it cannot tell you in February is who you have actually spoken to, what you asked a player to work on in November, or which shift you wanted them to watch again.

That is what TeamDock keeps: the schedule, the game film with your clips on it, and a running record of what you have told each player, all in one place for the whole season.

What TeamDock does for a hockey team

Run the season, not just the game.

14-day free trial · No credit card required. Schedules, film, feedback and files in one place.