Reply To: A little help with my power play

[Tom Molloy]

Iceman tonight we will practice the power play with the Kingston rotation and attack 5-0. I want each player to get the puck and know they have 5 options which are to take a shot or to pass to any one of the other 4 players. I want a shot every 3 seconds and each player to get the puck to run through the 5 options. They do walk outs, walk in's low and from the point they shoot or else rotate into a diamond.

In this way they experience TIME PRESSURE and the experience of realizing they have many options. The supporting players have to get open and be ready to one time shoot or pass. This gives your players the template on how to rotate together to create scoring opportunities. We are in the middle of a busy tournament week and the actual games will tell if this sort of practice is effective or not.

Your job is to give them a template to work in and let them discover the options within that template. You will be playing against a box or a diamond and that box or diamond will either stress pressure or contain. Good teams will rotate from a box to a diamond if the point man gets to the middle. Your players have to read whether the defenders chase a pass or skate straight lines from the net out. If they chase passes then your middle point player can pass and then get it back with an open lane to shoot. If they skate from the net out and only give you a 2-1 two passes away from the puck then it is much harder and quick puck movement and rotation is critical if you are going to score.

Help your players to understand how to read what the defenders give you and then make the appropriate decisions with the puck.

Bjorn Kinding studied the pplay and his conclusions were that on the pplay 60% of goals originate from shots from the point, 30% from low plays where the pass only had to beat one defender and 10% from passes that beat 2 defenders.

So if your pointmen can get the shot through or make shot passes it is really effective in creating rebounds, tips, screens. Give and goes on low plays create chances and long passes to the back door that go across the ice work sometimes.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'