Swings are plays that move the puck from one side of the pool to the other side. This is achieved by passing and/or swimming the puck laterally across the pool between a few of the team's players. In general, teams will use swings to spread out the play and to find open space to advance the puck. There are many ways to swing the puck and several different goals that can be achieved when swinging the puck. Here are a few basic strategies for swinging.
Deep swings:
Deep swings refer to swings that go a bit back towards the team's goal. These swings usually use three or four players. The first player will often take a few kicks back towards their own goal and pass at an angle backward and outward to the second teammate. This player can then pass straight across the pool or still at an angle backward to the next teammate. The purpose of a deep swing is to move backward away from the opponents into space and use that space to bring the puck into a new section of the playing area. These swings are a bit slower than other methods of swinging, but there is often more space to complete the swing.
Lateral swings:
Lateral swings are swings that go straight across the pool. These are often initiated by one or two passes straight off the wall to a teammate waiting in the space just outside the play. These swings are quite fast if done correctly, but can be blocked by opposing forwards more easily than deep swings. When the player on the outside of the play gets the puck, they can often cut up the pool much more aggressively than in deep swings because the swing happened quickly and the opponents don't have as much time to counter the swing.
While deep swings a lateral swings are two basic types of swings, there is not always a clear distinction between the two. Teams may choose to do one backward pass then one lateral pass, or have a player push off the wall and swim the puck out to the middle of the pool before passing the puck to a teammate, or even start the swing through the forward line. How swings are done is completely up to the team and some methods work better for some teams than others.
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Swings are effective anytime a team can use the swing to give themselves space. If most (or all) of the opposing team is stacked up on the wall, a swing can be very effective to move the puck around their players and gain pool space.
If the opposing team is spread out across the playing area and swinging the puck will not gain any more space than there already is, it may be better to continue to push straight up pool, but teams can certainly still swing if that suits their strategy.
When swinging the puck, players should be aware that opposing forwards will likely attempt to intercept those passes, and if if they do so successfully, they could have a clear path to the goal (especially in deep swings). When swinging the puck, make sure all the passes reach the teammate and have one player in a place where they can get back and defend quickly.
This swing starts with a diagonal back pass to a player who quickly passes again to another back who then swims the rest of the way across the pool.
In this example the white team starts a swing with a curl and lateral pass. The wing then swims across the pool and the forward is there ready for the pinch before they got to the other wall.
SWINGS