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THE Bobby Orr Move
Ya, like there was only one -- or "THE" Bobby Orr move. There were probably more like a hundred of them. However, for the sake of helping my NEHI players to add one more move to their offensive bag of tricks, I several years ago dubbed a certain Orr move "The Bobby Orr Move".Now, I'm going to soon go into an analysis of that special play. But first, I think it's time to resurrect Number 4's memory. Yes, I'm wondering right now if a generation of young players (maybe more) only knows the name. So, for their sake, and also for those who recall how much fun it was to watch him, here's a little something special borrowed from YouTube.com...
Next, as you perhaps wipe away your own tears, please go back to the 20-second mark of that video and watch the play that follows. That, my dear friends, is what I refer to as...
THE Bobby Orr Move
By Dennis Chighisola
Over the next few minutes you may just want to review that portion of the video again. At the same time, let me explain what I'm seeing there.
Countless times as I watched Orr during his years in Boston, he'd freeze the man covering him by faking a slapshot. Just the sight of Orr raising his stick usually caused the defender to brace-up -- as if to block the shot, which then allowed Orr to perform further magic.
In that brief clip of Orr's special move at the point, he walked around his cover and then fed a teammate cross-ice with a nice pass. At yet other times, I saw Orr take a slapshot as soon as he'd broken free from his check.
Of course, I'm here to tell you that this move -- or this string of moves -- can actually be learned by a younger player. In fact, if you click on the photo below you'll see a video of one of my outstanding young Team NEHI Junior HS kids doing a pretty good imitation of the all-time great...
[caption id="attachment_3945" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="CM - Orr Move"][/caption]
Now, I've sometimes mentioned elsewhere in these pages how I break down such a fancy move so that I can teach it to younger players. In fact, that's how the boy above and many of his teammates learned this play -- from my dividing the more complex skills into several easier, fairly do-able steps. Okay, so let's explore those steps:
Step 1 is the Fake
I'm talking about a real fake here! I mean, if you can appreciate it (and I talk to my players often about this), a defensive player -- be he a goaler or a skater -- is NOT going to go falling on his face just because an attackers wills it, or prays it. Naw, a deke has to be believable! And, if it is, the defensive player will likely to do what the attacker wants him to do. So again, the whole thing starts with a big, believable slapshot motion.
Step 2 is the Pull
In a way, this is the spinarama move made famous by another offensive great, Denis Savard. In this case, however, I have my players do as Orr did, by only pulling the puck around on the backhand. (My personal belief is that spinning around from the backhand is easier and quicker to execute, it might carry the attacker wider around his man, and it also brings the attacker to a great shooting angle once he's gotten around the checker. By the way, this is one reason I like to play my defensemen on their "off-wing" side.)
Step 3 is to Go Wide
And, as in Step 1, I really mean that a player has to do this step to his or her max -- or to exaggerate it. As I'll so often say to my kids, any fake is going to only last so long, and then the checker is going to try to recover and get you. (Think about that, if you would... An attacker takes the bait, but that has that "Oh, my God!" moment, at which time he or she desperately lunges back into the play.) So, the wider our attacker swings, the safer he or she is going to be.
Step 4 is to PenetrateActually, I'll ultimately give my attackers all the usual options here. However, as we started practicing Orr's move, I at first limited my young guys to just quickly getting around the imaginary checker and unleashing a slap on-goal. In due time, I asked my players to read the goaltender -- and to shoot if they saw open net, or to move-in if the goaler had come-out on the angle. Down the road, I'm going to add a teammate to the play (probably over on the weakside backdoor), just so the guy doing the Orr move has the third option to pass.
Now, the following snapshots are linked to more action videos (so just click on each). And, in the case of the first one, I hope you get a kick out of our youngest player doing the same move as a righty shooter (because I surely did). In fact, I think he demonstrates the move awesomely!
Here's a video taken from a front view, just to give you a different perspective (click on the image).
And, the final video is in slow-mo so that you might see the big guy again from the front view (click on the photo below).
Now, from all the above I'm kinda hoping you might come-away with a number of impressions...
The greatness of guys like Bobby Orr is that they pioneered some amazing moves. Years later, however, it's possible for fairly skilled young players to perform those very same moves.
Complex moves aren't quite so complex if we study them and then break them down into easier, do-able steps.
In many instances, some of those steps require real emphasis -- as in the case of Orr's move, where it's extremely important to make a believable fake, and just as important to swing far-out and away from a recovering defender.
Now, I had what I hope you'll see as an interesting conversation with my assistant coach the other night, this while our kids were practicing this move. For, I mentioned to him that each of the players was going to get something slightly different from what they were doing. Oh, I'm going to bet that two or three of my kids will try that move in a game over the next few weeks. At the same time, a number of my players aren't quite ready to do that -- just yet. So, what's in it for the latter group? I think that working on such a move is an awesome skill drill for every one of them. Just picture it: They're working on faking, pulling the puck in a spinarama, learning to swing wide around a defender, and trying to get their shots off as soon as possible. So again, I think inserting something like this into a fairly skilled team's practice is a very worthwhile endeavor -- for all of the players.
Finally, once I've given you enough time to put this drill to good use, I'll then show you another favorite move of mine, this one made famous by the great Guy Lafleur!
[/caption]
Now, I've sometimes mentioned elsewhere in these pages how I break down such a fancy move so that I can teach it to younger players. In fact, that's how the boy above and many of his teammates learned this play -- from my dividing the more complex skills into several easier, fairly do-able steps. Okay, so let's explore those steps:
Step 1 is the Fake
I'm talking about a real fake here! I mean, if you can appreciate it (and I talk to my players often about this), a defensive player -- be he a goaler or a skater -- is NOT going to go falling on his face just because an attackers wills it, or prays it. Naw, a deke has to be believable! And, if it is, the defensive player will likely to do what the attacker wants him to do. So again, the whole thing starts with a big, believable slapshot motion.
Step 2 is the Pull
In a way, this is the spinarama move made famous by another offensive great, Denis Savard. In this case, however, I have my players do as Orr did, by only pulling the puck around on the backhand. (My personal belief is that spinning around from the backhand is easier and quicker to execute, it might carry the attacker wider around his man, and it also brings the attacker to a great shooting angle once he's gotten around the checker. By the way, this is one reason I like to play my defensemen on their "off-wing" side.)
Step 3 is to Go Wide
And, as in Step 1, I really mean that a player has to do this step to his or her max -- or to exaggerate it. As I'll so often say to my kids, any fake is going to only last so long, and then the checker is going to try to recover and get you. (Think about that, if you would... An attacker takes the bait, but that has that "Oh, my God!" moment, at which time he or she desperately lunges back into the play.) So, the wider our attacker swings, the safer he or she is going to be.
Step 4 is to Penetrate
Actually, I'll ultimately give my attackers all the usual options here. However, as we started practicing Orr's move, I at first limited my young guys to just quickly getting around the imaginary checker and unleashing a slap on-goal. In due time, I asked my players to read the goaltender -- and to shoot if they saw open net, or to move-in if the goaler had come-out on the angle. Down the road, I'm going to add a teammate to the play (probably over on the weakside backdoor), just so the guy doing the Orr move has the third option to pass.
Now, the following snapshots are linked to more action videos (so just click on each). And, in the case of the first one, I hope you get a kick out of our youngest player doing the same move as a righty shooter (because I surely did). In fact, I think he demonstrates the move awesomely!
Here's a video taken from a front view, just to give you a different perspective (click on the image).
And, the final video is in slow-mo so that you might see the big guy again from the front view (click on the photo below).
Now, from all the above I'm kinda hoping you might come-away with a number of impressions...
