Хоккей. Меньшинство: вбрасывание

Face-Offs and Penalty Kills

Every penalty kill has one thing in common: It starts with a face-off. Many pundits of our game see the neutral zone face-off as a throwaway item, especially while killing penalties. We very much disagree. Every face-off is an opportunity to gain puck possession, and every detail of winning these face-offs must be attended to. For example, lazy positioning can seep into our game. Sometimes in the neutral zone both defensemen pull off the line and hang back toward their own end at face-offs.

In this simple example of attention to details, any time the left or right side of the face-off is left abandoned, it increases the opponent’s ability to gain puck possession. Always place players on the penalty kill, including defensemen, tight to the face-off (figure 10.1), giving them an ability to contest for the loose puck and therefore increasing your ability to gain possession. Possession of the puck on the penalty kill may mean only seconds, but every second decreases your opponent’s ability to score with the player advantage.

For obvious reasons, the defensive zone face-off becomes a very important component of a successful penalty kill. Proper possession of the puck in the defensive zone often allows your team to relieve pressure and advance the puck 180 feet (55 m) away from your goal.

A key component of aligning or positioning your players (especially who takes the face-off) has much to do with the center’s strong side. During my nine seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, I played a number of those seasons with Guy Carbonneau. Carbo was a right shot, I was a left shot, and both of us were good at winning face-offs on our strong side. What an advantage! On face-offs to the left of our goalie, I could easily draw the puck on my backhand; face-offs to the right of our goalie put Guy on his backhand strong side.

The defensive zone penalty-killing face-off alignment has many options. Let’s discuss a few.

Most NHL teams try to have the center draw the puck back toward the corner, hoping that the boards-side defenseman can jump quickly off the line to gain possession of the puck or bump the puck to his partner behind the net (figure 10.2). It helps to have this boards-side defenseman on his forehand when he approaches the puck. If this is the case, the best option is to lay the puck to the inside winger, who moves quickly toward either the opposite half boards or the opposite side of the net.

On seeing the puck won cleanly, the inside winger races to the corner or the half boards to retrieve a bank pass or slow rim by the boards-side defenseman.

We have found over the years that minor details are very important, such as making sure a right-handed defenseman is on the ice to maximize a won face-off opportunity. (In this case, because the face-off is left of the net, it is advantageous to have a defenseman with a right-hand shot on the boards to best handle the puck if the draw is won cleanly.)

Never give your opponent soft possession of the puck off the draw. Always make sure that all opposing players are contested for possession of the puck (figure 10.3). Always make sure that if the puck is drawn to the boards that your team does not easily give up possession of the puck. Make sure the boards-side D contests any tied draws hard. You may say that these are small details, but details becomes an important word when dealing with the penalty kill.

We also prefer this alignment because the inside winger has a better chance to “jump” off the lost face-off and force pressure than the center does. In Montreal off a lost face-off, that inside winger would press the puck hard, and then the center would respond to the secondary positioning (figure 10.5). This works especially well now because face-off interference is called much more tightly. The opposition cannot obstruct this inside winger as much as in previous eras of our game.

With the game tightening up, the obstruction rule has changed how teams set up their players for face-offs. In this alignment in the past, when the center cleanly won the face-off, the boards-side defenseman would hold up the opposing player a bit, the inside winger would hold up the opposing winger a bit, and the inside defenseman would retreat and slap the puck down the ice (figure 10.6). Obviously, this is still an excellent alignment, but both the winger and the boards-side D must be careful on the holdups.

Another effective way to clear the defensive zone when the face-off is won cleanly is the winger press. In this alignment, the boards-side D rims the puck hard around the boards, and the winger now staying outside presses or runs the opposing D to make sure the puck departs the zone (figure 10.7).

Whatever face-off alignment is utilized, coaches can see how important it is to have every player on the ice in-sync and understanding their roles. Remember, the face-off is the only time that hockey players get to play football. Face-offs are a great opportunity for you or your center to call the play and then celebrate when the players on the ice perfectly execute it.

Penalty-Kill Face-Offs

Since the face-off is such an important part of the penalty-kill, it was covered in depth in chapter 10 on penalty kills. As mentioned in that chapter, it is very important to gain possession on special teams. Penalty-killing units want to frustrate the power play by making them go back down the ice 200 feet (61 m) to get the puck and start a breakout. More face-off options are presented in chapter 10 (pages 145-148), but here are two common strategies to use after winning draws in the defensive zone.

CORNER BUMP

In this situation, when C wins the draw LW drops down to the wide corner (figure 11.33). D1 bumps the puck over to LW, who clears the puck. D2 should screen the opponent’s inside winger to provide time for LW to get the puck and shoot it down the ice.

RIM CLEAR

It is best if the Ds switch sides—this will give the boards-side defenseman the ability to shoot the puck around the boards hard (figure 11.34). C tries to win the draw back to the corner or tie up his opponent and allow the puck to sit in behind. D1 (who is now a left shot) moves in quickly and rims the puck hard on the boards or the glass.