I played both forward and D at the college, pro and national level. And now I love teaching the skills, concepts and secrets that help players make an impact at either position at any level and will be sharing those at the 2 Position-Specific Forward and Defense Camps we’re running this summer – check out the camp info here.

Every season, I field questions from players who’ve been asked to switch positions by their coach. They’re concerned about what it means and what to do. And I always share my story of when I was converted from a D to a forward after my 1st ever practice with the Dartmouth College women’s hockey team!

We had a captain’s practice that day which amounted to a few warm-up drills followed by a scrimmage. The coaches watched from the press box at the top of the rink as they weren’t allowed on the ice yet due to Ivy League rules. After the skate, the coaches asked to see me in their office, which was more than a little daunting for a freshman. I went in, sat down and was told that they wanted me to play forward instead of D. My first thought was, “I’ve never played a shift of forward in my whole life.” I frankly don’t remember any other words that came out of their mouths after that. I just remember leaving and thinking, “I guess I have to figure out how to play forward.”  

For every practice, shift and game of minor hockey, I was a D. A rushing D mind you, who played like the Tasmanian devil, touching every corner of the ice on every shift. My effectiveness wasn’t based on my adherence to structure clearly, it was based on my ability to read the play, make a decision and recover quickly. So it is completely understandable that my college coaches would watch me fly around the ice with unbridled intensity and energy during that first scrimmage and think ‘winger’ instead of ‘D’. I had the mindset, game set and aggressiveness needed to be a great power forward. And that’s exactly what I became – eventually. But first I had to start out on the 4th line.

I found out very quickly that I was going to find my success as a forward in the same way I figured out how to play the game on the outdoor rink 6 years earlier – I was going to have to go get the puck myself. I LOVED hunting players down and stealing pucks on the forecheck. It became my special gift and is still one of my favorite things to coach almost 30 years later.  Angling, steering, getting stick on puck & body on body, and stealing that puck like a thief in the night – it may not make all the highlight reels, but it sure makes a huge impact on the game.

So how did I become so good on the forecheck? I used what I knew from playing D. The things that I hated having done to me when I played defense – having no time, having no space, feeling the forechecker breathing down my neck no matter where I turned – I perfected as a forward.  I turned forechecking into a bit of an art and it was the catalyst that took me from the 4th line to the 2nd line before Christmas of my freshman year. I started off creating turnovers all over the ice. That earned me penalty kill time. Then I started making great passes to my teammates off recovering those turnovers which earned me my fair share of assists. That started to move me up the ladder on the lineup and got me more ice time. That ability to relentlessly pressure the other team’s D, and an eagerness (quite frankly excitement) to go into the dirty areas and come out with the puck, also led to me scoring a lot of goals. They weren’t always pretty – actually let’s be honest, they were mostly gritty. Of the 50 or so goals I scored in my 4 seasons in college hockey, I’d bet 40 were of the ugly variety and 10 might be considered “nice”. I sure wasn’t making any highlight reels with the majority of them, but the last time I checked all goals count equally on the scoreboard, whether you scored them off a backhand toe drag or off a greasy rebound. I always tell my players, there isn’t a video of your goal on the scoresheet, it just says “goal”.

I made a whole career off scoring goals from in-tight, with opponents draped all over me, on the edge of getting a goalie interference penalty (I had my fair share no doubt). And I loved every second of it. I wasn’t a ‘slow it down type of player’, I was a ‘speed it up kind of player’ who loved creating chaos out on the ice. And I had just enough skill and smarts to make good things happen as a result of that chaos. That mentality, physicality and relentlessness is still rare in our game as it was back then. And it’s still as effective if you harness it properly.  

I finished my 1st season at Dartmouth with 27 points, not bad for a converted D who started the season on the 4th line. And that performance earned me my first ever invite to a Team Canada tryout. I still find my ascension up the ranks a little hard to believe to this day. I’ll never forget when my college coach told me I was going to the camp in Montreal – I thought they were joking and then got instantly nervous. I’d earned it no doubt, but it was still a little “out there” given that I’d only started playing organized hockey 7 years earlier.


Please feel free to share this story with any friends or teammates who might have questions about how to switch positions effectively in our game.  


And if you’d like to learn the skills, concepts and secrets that help players make an impact at either position at any level, join us at one of our Position-Specific Forward and Defense Camps we’re running this summer – https://totalfemalehockey.com/position-specific-camps/



Work Hard. Dream BIG.


~ Coach Kim



Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS
Director & Founder, Total Female Hockey