TheVisualizer
Banned
LiveWire said:I think we need to pin guys on the boards more, all over the ice, but particularly in their zone. You can get away with a few seconds of holding if you come in and hit Y if the puck is in the area of that player. If we can get the puck back in their zone and we're pinning one of their guys, you can let go and get open before they can recover. That and we need to coordinate our attacks better, pass more. I'm guilty of holding on to the puck too much myself, though I'm trying to pull defenders to me and hit an open wing on a pass I think sometimes it's better to drop it back to a defenseman in the zone.
In general though, most of the goals that we give up are total BS. Which wouldn't be as much of an issue if we could just score more.
Your right about the pinning people to the boards, you would be surprised at how terrible most people are at handling a good dump and chase and work along the boards, they dont judge the trajectory of a dumped puck well, they dont know how to anticipate that small bounce off the backboards and when they get pinned they usually sit there for too long ripe for the picking. All it takes is one poke check from close enough and the puck is ours.
One of the main reasons I see that we arent scoring goals is that people dont know what to do without the puck in the offensive zone, usually one of the wingers will carry it in and/or dump if it looks like trouble. Once we gain possession everyone stands around and watches the guy with the puck and hopes he can score. No one makes cuts towards the net looking for passes and rarely does anyone position themselves on the back wall looking for passes. Forwards have to be moving at all times in the offensive trying to give the puckhandler a pass option.
I try to facilitate offense from my d-man spot from time to time but there's only so much I can do as my primary responsibility is making sure no one gets behind me, but since we started playing club this year I am taking way too many shots as a d-man, I shouldn't be almost leading the team in shots. When I get the puck out top try to read the pressure coming towards me and find a passing lane as I like to fake the shot and draw people out then pass back under to you guys. If you want to set a screen / redirect it usually works best if you are moving slightly from one side of the ice to the other rather than parking down there and staying stationary as most times you will just end up blocking our point shots by standing around.