3-1 Win over Prestige

Great win on Sunday!

Below is the lone goal against -  good player coming through the neutral zone with speed and putting a hard shot in the perfect spot low blocker.



Jake scores our first goal on a pass from Mike K. Their RD lets us get behind for a 2 on 1, then their LD falls down. Woof.



Goal #2  - Mike K and Yvan with a give and go through the neutral zone. Yvan does a nice job of taking his defenseman out of the play before passing. Unfortunately the pass is too far in front, but Mike King don't care.



Our 3rd goal was my favorite: If you're gonna beat a good defenseman with a one handed deke, you might as well do it right in front of the camera. Filthy.



Couple of other funny moments - Christian jumping out of the way of Darrow's slapshot



Will, who had an awesome game and created a ton of chances for us, deciding that enough is enough. We can all rest up before our next game on 12/18

12-2 Loss to Blue Devils

Ouch.

Ryan and Darrow each had nice backhand goals





Something To Work On - Forecheck & Backcheck Positioning - Thinking in terms of F1, F2, F3

The thing I want us to focus on for next game is how our Left Wing, Center, and Right Wing positional roles change when we are in transition. When we are on the forecheck and backcheck we need to change our thinking to F1, F2, F3, and have our roles depend on who is closest to the puck. For example on the backcheck, we want our first forward back to go support the low slot area in front of our goal, regardless of if he is the LW/C/RW.

Please take a few minutes to read the two pages on Forechecking and Backchecking which were taken from the Ryan Walter & Mike Johnson book.

5-2 Win Over Ducksworth

Convincing win with a hat trick from Ryan and some excellent goaltending from Max!

The only goal of the 1st period was against us:



The other team countered well, and quickly turned an offensive chance for us into a transition goal for them. Although goals like this are hard to prevent, there are a few positional tweaks that would help. For example I should of recovered to the slot sooner, before finding out if Mike K was able to get possession or not, because this would have been a better position to backcheck from, and would of given Ryan more space if we retained possession (spread us out.) Also when one defenseman is coming down low to pinch, the other defensemen should be retreating slightly towards center ice as a precaution for a potential odd man rush against. Lastly, this goal was scored 5 v 5, and I only ever see 4 yellow jerseys. Was there a bad line change? (0-1)

We dominated the 2nd period, and Mike C started off the scoring for us by taking it coast to coast! (1-1)



Next Will drew a slashing penalty, and Ryan went top shelf on the resulting power play! (2-1)



Then Ducksworth tied it at 2 with a goal in tight off of an attack from behind the net (2-2)



From then on it was all Yellow Jackets, with Ryan putting us up 3-2 with a great poke check to backhand breakaway goal, Brian putting us up 4-2 with a shot in stride while skating across the top of the face off circle, and Ryan finishing things off at 5-2 with a hat trick on a backhand goal that took advantage of their sloppy breakout.







Great first win of the season!!!

5-4 Loss to Prestige

First game with the UHWK camera, and Tom rips a goal!

 


What we did well

• Scoring Opportunities - Four goals isn't bad, and we easily could of scored more
• Breakouts - Much better than last game. Passing in general was pretty good
• Defensive play by our Defensemen

What we need to improve

• Shift length - Had a few folks mention it on the bench, and saw some shifts of over two minutes of game time. Need to hold each other accountable because nobody can hustle after being on the ice for that long
• Faceoffs - We seemed to lose a lot of faceoffs, especially when their centers were pushing it forward. Curious to see if this trend continues
• D Zone Coverage - Covering the points. This is the biggest takeaway in my opinion. We had five goals against, two of which came in transition (harder to solve) but the other three were scored while our defense was set, and all three were shot from the point. The videos below show these three goals against, and in each video the opposing defensemen has too much space. Note the positioning of our wings when the defenseman on his side receives the puck, and also the path that is taken to close out. Clearly there are other factors involved, such as my inability to clear the puck in the first video, and the sheer luck of some of these shots getting in, but I think we would benefit greatly from cleaning up our coverage of the points.

Next time we beat that team!

Pasta's Game Winner - Wide Lane Entry & 1 on 2 Delay

Pastrnak enters the offensive zone with speed but without support from teammates, is given the wide lane on a 1 on 2, protects the puck on the delay by turning towards the boards, and creates a scoring opportunity that ends up with a goal off a lucky bounce. Backes and Carlo are behind the play but they both skate hard into the offensive zone to become a threat after the delay (Backes goes backdoor, Carlo to the slot)

Pastrnak 1 On 2 Delay Leads To GWG

Ultimately Pastrnak Recognized The 1 On 2 and made the smart delay play, which benefited from the hustle of Backes and Carlo.