Jenn G via Tolvanen goal cc
A hockey player can experience a lot of ups and downs during a game. Getting the puck taken away from and getting scored on are examples of some lows but having the coach call your name and hopping over the boards to join your team on the power play is an example of a high.
As good as the word power play sounds. It’s not easy to execute on it. How can your team be successful on the power play? What are some philosophies and traits that you and your teammates need to focus on to capitalize on the man advantage? Let’s take a look!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
– What Is A Power Play In Hockey?
– Be Aggressive
– Challenge Defenders
– Always Outman
– Keep It Simple
– Summary
In ice hockey, a power play is when one team has an advantage in numbers. It can be one of the following scenarios:
The most important rule change for a power play is the team that is missing a player is now allowed to ice the puck without the whistle being blown and the ensuing face-off being held in their own end. Play just continues as normal. This is an advantage for the team on the kill because they’re allowed to ice the puck which can alleviate a scoring threat and it runs the clock down on the man advantage.
Being aggressive is very broad. So, let’s break this down and be more specific:
Challenge Defenders
A key strategy for the team on the penalty kill is to keep the opposing team to the outside. They don’t want them to get good looks from the inside. If a shot does come through and finds itself on net, any rebound opportunities or loose pucks will want to be cleared and iced down and this is more easily accomplished if the opposing team is kept to the outside.
While it’s safe and easy to stick to the outside on a power play this is exactly what the opposing team wants because they cannot generate high-danger scoring chances from out there. To counteract this, the alternative is to push inwards, challenge defenders and be aggressive in this way.
You want to skate or pass into high-danger areas to open up and break their defensive structure so your team can move inwards and generate better scoring chances. Passing can be a high-risk situation when the opposing team’s defensive structure is fully intact with all of them being on the inside. The puck has to make its way through tons of sticks and bodies making the chance of completing a cross-ice pass quite slim. Which is why skating into dangerous zones is the more reliable option. You want to penetrate the inside, when you do this the defender will be drawn to you and they will follow you to try and knock you down or take the puck away. If this occurs and you dish the puck off to a teammate you’ve done exactly what you’re supposed to do. The defender has essentially been taken out of the play temporarily. Their defensive structure is broken and is no longer intact, so completing a cross-ice pass becomes more probable. There is more room now to move in and take a shot from a better scoring angle.
Always Outman
Hockey is a game of loose puck battles and a player can be victorious for any number of reasons. They might be bigger, quicker, and have really good hands and puck control so they can fish out loose pucks and be able to keep and control it.
However, on the power play, there is no reason for the team with the man advantage to lose the puck battle because they should outman the opposing team every single time. If it’s a one-on-one battle another player needs to get in there. If it’s a two-on-two battle the next closest player should hop in, and so on. The only note is to make sure you’re on the right side of the puck. The worst-case scenario is the opposing team comes out of the scrum with the puck on their stick and as they look down the ice they don’t see any opposing bodies in front of them. This would be an example of being on the wrong side of the puck. What it should look like is the opposing player looking up and seeing the wrong coloured jerseys in front of them, this would make a controlled-zone exit quite difficult.
Sometimes a power play’s worst enemy can be the highlight reel on TSN. Where we watch power play sequences of tic-tac-toe plays. Where 4 or 5 passes simultaneously occur and it ends with an easy tap-in empty-net goal where the goalie is basically on the other side of the ice. While pretty, this isn’t what teams should be striving for on the power play, because the probability of this occurring is rare and unless you’re playing in one of the top hockey leagues most players don’t have the skillset and the vision to achieve an outcome like this. Instead, what should be preached is simplicity. Completing a few passes and firing that biscuit on goal should be the desired outcome. The power play isn’t about pretty passing plays with tons of cross-ice and backdoor passes. It’s about finding openings, capitalizing on those opportunities and getting pucks on net. As Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of shots you don’t take.” This rule applies to the man advantage. It’s not about holding onto the puck and waiting for that perfect pass and seeing the fans gasp in amazement. It’s about getting open, passing the puck to the open man and when you have a chance to get the puck on net. Don’t hesitate and shoot the puck!
The power play is advantageous for the penalty-less team because they have the man advantage. The keys to success is being aggressive, which consists of deploying more bodies for loose puck battles and penetrating a team’s defensive structure to try and open up the ice for better offensive opportunities. It also consists of keeping the game simple. Don’t try to complete that picture-perfect backdoor pass if it isn’t there, focus instead on moving that puck, getting the defence out of position and when an opening occurs, firing that puck on net!
