Reply To: Boucher DZ

[Bostonian in SoCal]

hockeygod,

Thanks for the suggestion! Something is up with my log on, so I'll be a guest until I can get it resolved. I love Sam Adams and the Pumpkin Ale is quite festive. If you are in the Boston area, you may consider a tour of the Harpoon Brewery as well. They are not very well known outside of the north east, but they brew some excellent swill. If you make it to my adopted home area of Southern California, tour the Stone Brewery. I hold my team's training camp in Escondido just to make an annual visit there. Their idea of a tasting after the tour is 5 full pints.

Back to the matter at hand, I'm not sure I have the constitution, or maybe it's that my D don't have the long range passing skill, to try the 1-3-1 like TB does in the NZ. I think there are some nuances that occur after the D gain possession that free up all that passing room. I found myself just enjoying the speed and transition, and forgot to open my mind up to what Boucher had the F's doing down ice.

Tom, great drills. I have to say that I ran nearly the same progression and layering on the cycle may be the next step as we will be facing teams that have seen our new PP for the second time coming up next semester. As of now, teams have been so focused on stopping our standard overload and low give and go that the low press has uniformly been the PK of choice against us. That freed up my D, but they were settling for low percentage shots from near the blue and boards. The rotation into the diamond has thrown everyone for a loop and at worst we are settling for a shot from center ice, 10-15 feet inside the blue, as the week side F on the PK is always following my D when he pinches into center. Often the one timer to the week side F is very open and leaves the D with the only option of switching, which most teams haven't figured out yet..