Meaning & use
backchecking
Last updated
“backchecking” is a form of “backcheck”.
Meanings
verbintransitivesport
Skating back toward your own goal to chase the opposing players and stop their attack, especially in ice hockey.
Grammar: No object is needed, and it is often used with hard or well: He is backchecking hard.
Patterns
- backcheck hard
- backcheck to something
The winger kept backchecking until the puck was safely away.
Coaches praised the forwards for backchecking even when they were exhausted.
He was backchecking hard to catch the opposing center.
noununcountablesport
The defensive effort by forwards of racing back to help protect their goal after losing possession.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: Good backchecking wins games.
Patterns
- backchecking by someone
The team's backchecking was poor in the first period.
Their coach demands constant backchecking from every forward.
Strong backchecking prevented several easy goals.
Word forms
| base form | backcheck |
|---|---|
| third person singular | backchecks |
| past tense | backchecked |
| past participle | backchecked |
Common combinations
- backchecking hard
- The wingers were backchecking hard all night.
- good backchecking
- Good backchecking saved a certain goal.
- poor backchecking
- Poor backchecking led to three quick goals.
- backchecking forward
- A backchecking forward caught the runaway puck.
- backchecking effort
- The coach praised the backchecking effort.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tracking back
- Tracking back is the soccer equivalent, describing a forward returning to defend, while backchecking is hockey language.
- hustling back
- Hustling back is an informal description of the same effort and not a technical term.
- defending
- Defending is much broader and does not specify that forwards are chasing back after losing the puck.
Opposites
Word family
- backcheck noun
- an act of racing back to defend
- backchecker noun
- a player who defends this way
- forecheck verb
- to pressure opponents in their own end
- check verb
- to block an opponent in hockey
Commonly confused: backchecking or forechecking?
backchecking vs forechecking
Forechecking is pressuring the other team in their own zone, while backchecking is defending in your own zone.
Practice
After losing the puck, the winger skated hard toward his own net, ___ to catch the attackers.
Choose one answer.
Backchecking means racing back to defend after losing the puck. Forechecking is pressuring opponents in their end, which is the opposite direction.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “backchecking”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.