This question actually comes by way of a coach from a hidden Facebook group to which I belong. He evidently is having some difficulties with his Under-20 team, and thought to ask group members for advice on some mandown plays. Of course, I expected that others would suggest plenty of dime-a-dozen plays, while I had a couple of slightly different ideas, including teaching powerplays by principles.
-- Dennis Chighisola
Hockey Powerplays By Principles
My first attempt at helping that coach wasn't about teaching a powerplay by principles at all, but instead...
Although that coach might have been looking for "plays", my suggestion was to revert to enhancing his players' skills. For, as I told him, "Once these improve, I think you'll find your powerplay works better (as will your team's 5 on 5's)."
- Games of keepaway in small and large areas are a lot like a powerplay, and these can be done as a 2 on 1, 3 on 1, 3 on 2, etc.
- Keepaway on a circle is great -- with "It" in the middle, and four players on the outside needing to make one-touch passes. (Members should know that there's a nice video of my old Mite team in this post playing "Circle Keepaway". They're not using one-touch passes at the stage, and the ice conditions when I shot that video prevented me from making it a 4 on 1. But, at least members will get the idea of the basic setup.)
- Then, shooting off the pass -- with emphasis on both the shooting and passing ends (passes must be in the shooter's wheelhouse), and I'd have shooters working while both stationary and moving in a small area before the pass comes.
A day or so later -- after a number of other coaches had offered their ideas, the coach reaffirmed his want for "plays".
Hmmmmm... I've learned my lesson about arguing with coaches in those forums. By nature, I guess, coaches are head-strong (whether they really know much or not), so debating in such groups only tends to cause hard feelings. With that, once I see a point where I might bruise an ego or two, I rid myself of any frustrations by only giving the good stuff to my CoachChic.com members. :)
Still, I did give that question one more try, by explaining my powerplays by principles method (trying to do it with as much tact as possible). So, here's my latest (and likely last) comment under that forum question...
"I'm going to throw something at you, (Coach), that's typical of my (off the wall and outside the box) kind of coaching.
A number of years ago I switched to a new powerplay "principle" rather than adding more "plays". I call it "out of sight, out of mind", and it applies to the thinking I want every player on the ice to constantly keep in mind...
A simple example:
If the right halfback in my Umbrella gains the puck, he knows that the player most "out of the opponents' minds" suddenly became the left forward at the back door. The two might communicate with their eyes and connect on a quick play, or the halfback might decide to move the puck elsewhere. No matter where the puck moves next, though, the new puckcarrier and a teammate know there's a new out of sight, out of mind play possibility.
Frankly, with a little practice, I discovered a couple of things... First, opponents seemed to always be a split-second late in reacting to us; and secondly, I found this way of doing things encouraged more reading and reacting, and far less robotic movement."
Actually, I touched upon this concept of teaching powerplays by principles in an older post called "Using Deception In Hockey", which should give my members a leg up on anyone in that other forum. Nor do others have access to my articles on "On-ice Hockey Vision", "The Value of Keepaway Games in Hockey", or "Big Ball Keepaway for a Mental Distraction".
For sure, I'll have to wait to hear the other coach's feelings on my advice. Still, it's awesome to have another place to vent -- and to make sure an idea such as my powerplays by principles benefits more open minded coaches.
