Hockey strategy

Write your article Hockey is a strategic game, as most sports are. Everyone has their own philosophy and theory to winning, each coach has a unique system and even if they believe in one system they may change their strategy in regards to the players and their skill set.
I would like to teach you my philosophy to winning hockey. My Theory is based on three components: Pressure and Capitalization, Quick Transition, and Passing.

Let’s start off with pressure and capitalization, now pressure is key to pretty much any sport because like Peyton Manning once said “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” So by applying pressure you try and make your opponent make sure he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. That’s where capitalization comes in, once you pressure your opponent into making a mistake you want to take that opportunity and capitalize on that chance. To be more specific, dumping the puck in once you cross the center line (to avoid icing) then apply the pressure so the defencemen miss handle the puck which could create a scoring chance for your team. Another scenario where pressure is key is when you pressure the goalie with shots, no goalie is unbeatable, once you get in a rhythm of firing shots on net, the pressure is on the goalie and one shot can lead to one goal. Cycling the puck is another prime example of pressuring the other team, by moving the puck in the corner and along the boards, you get players moving and soon enough they get pressured into just stopping you, which creates one man being out of position, and that leads to a hole in the defense, which equals one more scoring opportunity.

The next key component to my hockey strategy is quick transition. Quick transition is ideal for a strong offensive and defensive game. The harder you back check means that there’s less time for your opponent to set up and possibly score. Also quick transition leads to better offensive opportunities because you catch the other team flat footed and boom you get past them. If you can set up a quick transition, your opponent has las time to prepare for your attack. Quick transition takes alot of practice as well as intelligence, you have to be smart and ready for the transition in order for it to be successful because your moving so fast you try to get the other team to move in the wrong direction, that you might be going to fast for yourself to set up and think.

Finally, as every good hockey player knows that the puck can travel faster than any skater can skate. Therefore, passing is key, it allows you to open up the ice and create wholes in the defense. It also allows for you to be able to control the pace of the game and get you out of tight situations on defense. Most people know passing has many functions and they think the primary function is that passing is used to set up goals. I agree in offensive world that is the primary function for passing, however that is not the case, say you want to dump the puck out, but you don’t have enough time to shoot, so you pass it to one of your teammates who will help you out. Passing is dangerous in the way that it can easily make one player (or more) get out of place. If you as a defender make a bad read as someone is passing, you get caught out of place and its hard to get back because like i said early a puck can move faster than anyone can move.

Now these are MY three key components to a successful hockey game, I expect most people will have different opinions, but that’s okay considering strategy is strategy and no one is absolutely perfect, but if I ever had to pick a philosophy right before a championship game, I would put my money on this one.