Хоккейное мастерство. Большинство: расстановка

POWER PLAY: IN-ZONE SETUP

Once your breakout has successfully gained possession in the offensive zone, there are several options for getting scoring chances and scoring goals.

Based on a team’s personnel and each player’s strengths, each offensive zone setup will vary slightly. However, several guidelines apply regardless of the power-play setup or the type of penalty kill you’re facing:

Don’t pass up shots from the house (figure 14.17).

The puck carrier must work to find shooting lanes, either by skating the puck or working a give-and-go with a teammate.

When the puck is in the house, there should be at least one player at the front of the net screening the goalie, facing the puck, and looking for tips or deflections.

Once the puck is shot on net, two or three players should be crashing the net or slot area for rebounds.

FIGURE 14.17 The house.

Power-Play Setup Option 1

In figure 14.18, both players on the point are on their one-time sides, which means the right-handed player is playing on the left point and the left- handed player is playing on the right point. This is beneficial for several reasons. For one, it allows them to skate the puck toward the middle of the ice more easily because they can push it on their forehand. FIGURE 14.18 Right shot walking puck toward middle of ice for shot.

In addition, they can one-time a pass from the other point or a player on the other side board more easily (figure 14.19).

FIGURE 14.19 Left shot receiving one-time pass from his partner and the opposite side board for a shot.

The other three players stationed lower in the zone are also intentionally on the correct sides based on whether they are right or left shots. The two right shots have multiple options between the two of them to generate scoring chances:

They can work a give-and-go (figure 14.20a).

They can walk the seam for a shot on net. When the player along the boards begins walking this seam, the other player should begin skating toward the net for a rebound.

They can pass from the side board to the goal line and attack the net for a stuff attempt. When the player below the goal line tries to stuff the puck in the net, the other player immediately skates toward the net for a rebound.

They can use the net-front left shot as a pop-out option (figure 14.20b). Both right-handed players should begin skating toward the net for a rebound.

FIGURE 14.20 Options for the two right shots to score: (a) give-and-go; (b) net-front left shot.

Obviously this type of formation can work on both sides of the ice, depending on your personnel.

Power-Play Setup Option 2

The setup shown in figure 14.21 is sometimes called an umbrella setup because the formation looks similar to an umbrella when the players are in the correct positions. Up top near the blue line is one player in the center of the ice. On either side of him, but closer to the boards and near the tops of the circles, are two other players. In front of the net is either one or two players, depending on your choice of setup. The last player might instead position himself off to the side in the side-slot area or closer to the goal line.

FIGURE 14.21 Umbrella setup.

The power play typically cannot enter the umbrella setup as soon as they enter the zone. Once the power-play unit has clear puck possession in the offensive zone, they should work the puck up to the defenseman you have selected to walk the puck to the middle of the ice. As the defenseman starts walking the puck, the other player on the point repositions himself near the top of the circle while facing and staying open to the puck, just in case the point gets pressured and a quick pass has to be made to the side boards.

One of the low forwards along the wall also has to come up toward the top of the circle as the defenseman starts moving across the middle. The defenseman may also use this player as a passing option, depending on where the pressure is coming from. One of the goals of the umbrella formation is to get the puck to the top of the umbrella for a point shot with an open shooting lane and a player screening the goalie at the front of the net.

To create this shooting lane, the power-play unit has to create a two- on-one against the penalty killer up top and catch him out of position. Depending on the penalty kill, this may be accomplished by having the point man pass the puck down to the player on the wall and then having the player on the wall pass the puck right back to the point, where the player has already opened up for a one-time shot (figure 14.22).

FIGURE 14.22 The point man passes to the player on the wall and then skates backward to open up for a shot. The forward on the wall one-touches back to the point, catching the penalty killer out of position.

The players down low have the responsibility to screen the goalie and also look for tips when the shot is taken. To accomplish either of these tasks, they must battle against the penalty-killing defensemen in front of the net to gain body positioning closer to the puck without getting boxed out. Typically, penalty-killing defensemen are taught to either box out or front and block once the shot is taken from the point. Boxing out is accomplished by physically pushing any players from the net-front area. Fronting and blocking requires a penalty-killing defenseman to get on the puck side of the player screening the goalie and attempt to block the shot once it is taken. Either way, the power-play forwards at the front of the net are constantly fighting for body positioning and space on the ice in front of the goalie. Their goal is to position themselves outside of the crease area, with the backs of their heels just above the paint of the crease. Johan Franzen has mastered this skill for the Detroit Red Wings.