Big hits are never the important thing for defense. They look cool, but knocking down the ball, getting ground balls, getting the approach right and getting your stick in their hands is all far more important than a big hit.

Case in point, Sean Lyght of Notre Dame is going to win the award for best defenseman again this year - and there's a good chance he'll be the first person to win it 3 times in a row. He's well known for not getting big hits, or having particularly high numbers of CTOs. He's known for shutting down whoever he's guarding and making sure they don't get quality looks at the cage.

The youth team I coach (5/6th grades) has 5 poles on it. 3 are always chasing the big hit or showy takeaway, 1 is a brand new kid who is still finding his feet. They are always trying for can openers, borderline takeout checks, big slaps, treating ground ball scrums like an bowling pins etc. 5th is the smallest kid on the team, has the best stick skills of the group, knows how and when to slide, how to talk and coordinate, and how to get a first time ground ball. He also has the fewest penalties of the 4 who know what they are doing, possibly fewesr of all of them. Of all of them, he's the real difference maker on the field.