What are the 5 hockey breakout calls?

Up is the default read: the moment D1 touches the puck, D2 calls "up" if he has read that the opponent takes away the back of the net or the weak side, leaving the strong side open. The call removes all hesitation, D1 knows exactly what to do the instant he touches the puck: a direct, short pass to the winger already high on the wall, while the center slides into support and the weak-side defenseman comes up behind the play, never getting ahead of it.

Wheel gets used when D1 has a lead, roughly one step, on the forechecker: D2 calls "wheel" and D1 quickly circles the net cutting tight, using the net itself as a screen against the pursuer. The move only works if the lead is real; circling too wide cancels the screen effect, and trying it without a real lead exposes the puck instead of protecting it.

Reverse kicks in the opposite case: the forechecker is glued to D1's back with no gap at all. Rather than risk the wheel, D1 starts a move toward the net as if to circle it, then banks the puck the other way to D2, waiting on the far side. The forechecker, committed in the wrong direction, ends up wrong-footed. One variant has the center and winger swap trajectories to preserve their speed, and a third option reverses instead toward the center stationed in the corner.

Over answers an opponent who has flooded one entire side of the ice with forecheckers. D2 shifts to the opposite corner and calls "over": D1 then has to move the puck fast, without carrying it toward the pressure, or the forechecker keeps his stride going and catches D2 right at the reception. The speed of that first pass matters more than its distance.

Rim comes out when the opponent forechecks hard and a direct pass risks too much interception: D1 fires the puck hard around the boards instead of handing it off cleanly. The winger receiving it has to stop it first, protect it, then look for an option, because an opposing defenseman pinching hard fights for it the instant it arrives. It is the only one of the five calls where the puck is never really under control before the handoff.

All five calls share one lesson: naming the call before the puck even arrives removes hesitation, the real enemy of a breakout under pressure. A player who masters all five reads pressure faster than he ever reacts to it, shift after shift. On the ice, listen for these words before the play even takes shape, they announce what comes next with a head start. Tagging each breakout with the call actually used takes a second in RinkLog, leaving one thing to compare afterward: which of the five produces the most possession for a given team over a full season.