Tom,
There was a new arena open in our area this year. I went to check out this new facility and found a picture from 1913 of my grandfather's team hanging on the wall. He was 21 at the time this picture was taken.
Looking at the equipment or what you would call equipment.
Skates were a thin piece of leather with steel blades. Not very much support compared too today's skates.
I wonder what kind of edge was put on the skates back then ? Profiled ?
What about the sticks ?
Heavy wood sticks with NO curve. Imagine a stick with no curve.
Now every player young and old has a composite stick. I'm sure we could find a few exceptions.
Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that during in this series between Boston and Vancouver , how many missed hits or hitting their own player with a body check. Don't get me wrong , I do enjoy the speed and physical play . But it seems like players are just throwing themselves recklessly and their opponent.
They try so hard at making contact or the big hit that they take themselves out of the play creating odd man rushes the other way.
Do they over do the body contact sometimes losing focus on the play ?
We all seem to like this hockey ?
With the size of the players and the speed of the game , I don't know how their bodies take all this contact. But it is an exciting game.
How will the game look 10 years down the road ?
How do you see the coaching styles in 10 years.?
RookieCoach
RookieCoach
I have diagramed the pk rotation 3-5 vs a Spread Power Play. Vancouver did it opposite with the weak side high player covering the middle, the strong side high player keeping point coverage and giving a free pass to the back door play. Boston scored on their third back door shot. Schnieder made on terrific save and I think on went wide.
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T-PK 3-5 vs a Spread PP
Key Points:
The key is to eliminate one timer shots from the point, from the player in the middle and the back door play.
Description:
1. When the puck is passed down the D in front moves to that side.
2. Weak side high player drop low to take away back door one timer.
3. Strong side high player drop down and front the middle attacker.
4. Strong side high player get in shooting lane when puck is at the point.
5. Weak side high player cover middle and take away cross ice pass with stick.
6. Low player elininate tip ins in front but don't get tied up.
7. D to D pass everyone shift.
I watched Boston play in Calgary with my son around Christmas and we both saw a team that back pressures the puck carrier more than any team I have seen before. Nashville is the other team that does this really hard. I commented before the series that the Sedins would have a tough time vs Boston because of the back pressure.
Why? The Sedins like to pull up or curl and run delays and hit late players jumping into the play. Back pressure makes this very difficult because when you delap you create space between you and the D but you get caught by the back pressuing forward and have no time to make plays.
Vancouver really struggled with this and when they lost Mason Raymond, who was one of the only ones going north-south with speed it really hurt their chances.
So as usual the team that back checks the hardest and wins the most loose puck situations wins the series.
Good on them.
Great to see the 1-3-1 making a comeback. I remember when Pat Quinn coached the Canadian Juniors and he was using the 1-3-1 with great success. Funny how some old things become new! Brandon used to use a 1-3-1, especially on the 5 vs. 3, against us while I was in Moose Jaw in the mid-nineties. It was tough to defend against; plus they had skilled players in the right roles. I have used it since and the opposition has really struggled to adapt.
Great to see the Bruins play so well and get rewarded with the Cup. They sure work hard and it is nice to see hard work rewarded. You are bang-on with the comment on how backpressure impacts the other team's offense and it is a big reason why the Sedin's were held off the score sheet for the most part. Raymond is indeed more of a N-S guy with blazing speed and with him out of the lineup, this really helped the Bruins.
Dan MacDonald emailed me this today:
"The Bruins work harder with less than any team I have ever seen. Julian was 1 loss away from being tanked and now he is the Stanley Cup Champ. Good for him. What a fun team to watch from a sense of working together, doing what ever it takes etc.
I read a great quote the other day that said,``when your giftedness out weighs your character, implosion is always on the horizon.`` Not the case with the Bruins, more like the Senators."
Myself, I thought it would be a short series with Vancouver coming out on top. They had impressive depth. Goaltending (Luongo) was a question mark for me and it proved to be one of the reasons they lost. I watched Boston practice in Calgary this year and was really impressed with the athleticism, compete level and yet good-natured personality of Tim Thomas. He played up a few saves to the fans watching practice, gave them a wave and did a few commentaries; then spent time talking to them afterwards. Very different than most of the other players on a game day. He won me over as a fan that day! Very nice to see him win the Conn Smythe as well. I have always had a soft spot for the Bruins and Thomas clinched it for me. Chara hoisting the cup and giving it to Recchi (who announced his retirement) - the first Cup for Boston since Johnny Bucyk raised it in 1972, was pretty neat!
Disappointed with all the rioting after the game. Idiots. It's a black eye for Vancouver and then indirectly, the Canucks, the NHL and Canada. Could this be "the behaviour at sporting events in the new millennium"? I hope not, but it has happened in other cities. The lack of respect in today's kids is in drastic contrast to even 15 years ago, in my opinion. I compare these different eras based on when I coached two different minor hockey teams, at the same age level, in the same association.
Kids today have changed. First it was the Baby Boomer generation, Gen X, Gen Y, and now I think the buzzword is Millennials. They think differently and need to be coached differently. Sadly, our education system is still based on 1800's thinking. We need to update the methodology and take advantage of the technology (like you are doing Tom! I still want to see your Blackberry Playbook!)
Anyways, back to Hockey in the New Millennium.
Does anybody else use technology in their coaching? Does anybody else feel that kids have changed?
Dean, when I was coaching for the Red Bulls in Austria two years ago each coach was given a laptop with Steva installed on it. This program can break down the game into any kind of parts you want. Make folders and put goals, hits, focus on one player etc. All the coaches were in one room and most of them spent hours each day editing their last game. Video presentations were created and shown at the team meetings or coaches meetings.
The game is turning into constant pressure. Finland defeated Sweden at the IIHF Worlds this year by going north and south on offense and back checking hard. (more contain in their own end than pressure).
Boston created defensive outnumber situations on the rush with back pressure, they clogged up the slot, finished checks, had sticks in the lanes all the time and took away the east west style of Vancouver. They played north and south on offense and when the defenders outnumbered them they created offensive 2 on 1's by taking the ice behind (crossing) and making the Canucks make decisions on man to man or to switch. They used the 1-3-1 Diamond on the 5-4 PP and the 2-1-1 Spread on the 5-3.
Page has had great success in Europe winning in Germany and Austria by playing a super aggressive 1-3-1 system 5 on 5. Always 4 on the attack, always 3 on the strong side forecheck, always the 4th man going to the back door on the cycle. On the pk he is super aggressive on the pressure with everyone rotating. He practices the PP 1-3-1 and they constantly go to the net. In some practices he wants a shot every 3 seconds.
There have been great offensive defenseman starting with Bobby Orr over the last 40 years but now each team needs at least one in each pairing and if they want to play Total Hockey both have to be able to join the play. That is where the game is going and if it continues we don't need bigger ice surfaces, just more skill.
I am going to attach a few pictures of a golfer you will always let play through. He was on the first fairway of the Jasper golf course a few weeks ago. You are still invited to join me coaching but you have to talk to him about leaving the ball alone.
Some thoughts in how the game is played now.
The game has changed a lot since it started in the late 1800's. When my dad played as a boy there were 7 skaters, the goalie stood up all the time and no forward passes were allowed. When I was in Pee Wee they changed the rule so the offensive player could get the puck if it was passed behind the blue line and crossed the red line before the player; before that it was a two line pass.
Shifts used to be 90" to two minutes which caused players to go full speed when they were close to the puck; so the overall game was slower. The equipment changed from soft to hard pads (why does a hockey player need a hard cap on top of his shoulder when he makes contact with his back straight?) The shin pads take away the pain of blocking shots (I cracked my leg twice), the helmets and masks protect players heads so they are no longer' NO Touch Zones'. Hockey is now an indoor game that knows NO Seasons and can be and IS played all year. This causes early specialization and few North American players are all round athletes.
Coaches now are expected to teach players how to play because most players only go on the ice with their coach. In earlier times you had to be able to play to be on a team. (When I was young you had to make the Pee Wee team and play with the 12 year olds. I made it at 11 in hockey and 9 in baseball). The only thing I remember my Pee Wee coach teaching me is how to blow my nose using my thumb and honking when I asked him for a hankie during a game.) I am sure he taught me more but I don't remember. I do remember the whole team getting into his car with our gear on and 4 or 5 of us sitting in the trunk and holding up to hood with our sticks as he drove us to our games.
Every team played the same way with wings staying on the wings and only going as far as the far post toward the other side. D stayed back and goalies stayed on their feet and played the angles. Only the C when all over.Triangles, give and go, follow the shot, follow the pass, finish your check, face the puck were all encouraged and expected. The first man over the blue line without the puck went hard to the far post and the winger stayed with him with the weak side D in the middle and a big whole open in the mid high slot that Gretzky and Coffey used all the time.(as a wing you were responsible for the man going to the net and covering your point.
Fast Forward to 2011
Players take shifts of 25" for 4th liners to 45" for the top players. Teams use 4 lines instead of 3. These two factors plus the all year training make hockey an anaerobic sport of short bursts. Players are in the 2 foot coasting position for 40% of the time (Dr. Mike Bracko) and do wind sprints from this position.
Conventional Wisdon About Goaltending
The conventional wisdom used to be that a goaltender needs to stay on his feet and play the angles by telescoping back and forth. The 5 holes were the places that were vulnerable. Now the conventional wisdom is that the goalie butterfly. The 5 spots are no longer valid and replaced by the 9 spots. (Thomas has "In God We Trust" on his helmet while most goalies should have "In the Butterfly We Trust" on theirs)
Hasek coudn't get into the line up in Chicago because "he flopped around like a beached whale" but when he moved on to Buffalo and Detroit he was the worlds best goalie. Thomas doesn't "trust in the butterfly" and is now the best goalie in the world. I still would like to know why butterfly goalies insist on going down when the puck is almost at the goal line and letting top shelf shots in when they could stand square to the puck and nothing could get in. I have heard a lot about being in position for the next shot but don't we call a goalie a 'Guesser' when he is more worried about the pass on a 2-1 than the shot.
Team Play:
It used to be that the only place in NA that mentioned the 1-3-1 Diamond power play was on this site. It used to be called the Finnish power play. Now all teams are using it with lots of rotation and driving the defenses crazy covering the player in the middle.
The penalty killing has two parts that have changed in the last few years.
1. If you dump the puck in the defensive team has 3 players in the corner and one near the dot. One D on the puck, one D taking away the pass behind and one F the pass to the point. They usually outnumber the PP 3-2 but in these playoffs often all 3 attakers are going in. When one D joins them they will be following the principal of outnumbering the pk. I wonder who will be the first to do this.
2. When the puck is at the point in the diamond or umbrella you will see the 2 F's line up behind each other which takes away the pass to the player in the middle. The second F usually moves to the side the point player passes to which allows the strong side D to stay low longer.
Why the Sedins are having trouble vs Boston.
Nashville really back pressures the puck carrier and takes away the delay and curl and passing to late attackers like the brothers love to do and they had a lot of trouble vs the Preds. Boston does it better than Nashville and continually creates defensive 2 on 1's gambling that the puck carrier doesn't have enough time and space to find the open man (I wonder what Gretzky would have done) Boston also has very good defensive habits and sticks with there man after he passes which eliminates the Sedin give and go.
The Attack:
You need 4 players in the scoring zone if you want to score and Vancouver has had the weak side D join the attack all season, as has Boston. The offensive expectations for D men are changing and they have to be able to play the game with and without the puck.
Eliminating the red line has opened up the nzone to create more depth in the game and not as much width. On any controlled breakout 2 players will be stretching and the 3 low players fill the lanes and come up the ice together.
Killing Two Short:
I thought Vancouvers rotation was wrong last night on the 3-5. Whenever there are 2 point men as in the "Spread" Boston used then one player has net coverage on the puck side and the other 2 have one point each and must take away the back door play when the puck is passed to a low man and they are on the weak side and the strong side high man drop down and front the player in the middle.
So strong side high player. Puck at the point get in shooting lane. Puck low on your side drop to middle player while the weak side high player drop parallel to the puck and take away the back door play. NEVER GIVE AWAY THE BACK DOOR PLAY.
Canucks instead had the weak side high player cover the middle man while the stong side high player just stayed in the lane to the point and they game away three passes to the back door and Boston scored on the third one.
If I am driving my car and someone is crossing against the red light it "Isn't OK" for me to run them down and say "too bad for them but they deserve it." In sport it isn't ok to check someone when they are in a vulnerable position like Mason Raymond was in last night. (my knee was ruined for life covering 1st from 2nd on a drag bunt when I was 17) No rule changes are needed just respect and sportsmanship.
'Enjoy the Game'