Head fake

Head fake is a quick tilt of the head in one direction, followed by a quick move in the opposite direction to fool a defending opponent.

The defensive player is always trying to anticipate the direction of the offensive players. If an offensive player moves the head in one direction, the defensive player will read that movement as signaling the player’s direction of movement. But if the offensive player moves the head laterally and the defensive player “goes with the move” then the offensive player can skate and move their body in the opposite direction to go around the defender. Even a bit of hesitation on the part of the defensive player may give you the opening to get by.

Head fakes can also be helpful in passing. The passer looks at the receiver, then “looks the receiver off” by looking in a different direction which hopefully will confuse or at least take away the advantage the defensive player may momentarily have in anticipating a pass and then quickly make the pass to the receiver.