You're Stars D Derian Hatcher, and you just saw the opposing left wing pick off an errant pass to your partner in your offensive zone. Now he and his right wing are headed up ice in a two-on-one and you're the monkey in the middle. Do you know what to do?

	Derian's defense: 'If they score, you made the wrong play.'

The guy with the puck only has two real options, you figure: shoot or pass. But if you commit to play the guy with the puck, he'll dish it off cross-ice to his buddy for the shot. If you try to block the pass and leave the man with the puck for the goalie, the puck-carrier will take it in and shoot it himself.

It gets worse. Even if you block the passing lane, any of the NHL's particularly nifty passers could saucer a pass over his stick to the streaking off-wing and catch the goalie off guard from the other direction for a highlight-reel tip-in goal.

"Some guys, like Brett Hull, are great at this," says Hatcher. "You give them a space no bigger than the puck and they find a way to get it through."

As a defenseman, this is your No. 1 goal: prevent that pass from coming through the middle ... but do it while holding your position well enough to keep the puck carrier from cutting to the middle of the ice for a good-angle shot.

"If a really talented player like Mike Modano is carrying the puck, you may want to step up and force him to move the puck so he doesn't get a clear shot," says Hatcher. "But, you have to do it early enough that the other wing won't get that easy tip-in."

Every two-on-one is different, and everything happens within half a second. "The bottom line is, if they score, you made the wrong play," says Hatcher. "If they don't, you did it right."