Feature Story
Power plays (part II)
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Power plays should not be complicated.
Rather, they must involve simple concepts and rules that can be mastered with
constant practice time.
There are three basic activities involved
in the power play — once a team gains control of the puck in their own zone.
1. The first activity is the regrouping
of players and movement of the puck out of the defensive zone. Many teams never
mount a serious threat against the opposition’s goal because they get hung up
in their own end. There are many patterns that can be used to move the puck up
the ice. Each must take advantage of the fact that only two opposition forwards
are forechecking and cannot cover three players
breaking out if strategies are established and practiced in advance. Full
intensity must be maintained while moving out of the zone or it will be easier
to cover the pattern used.
2. The second activity is the movement of
the puck over the offensive blue line and setting up for the power play system.
Unless an outstanding scoring opportunity exists, the puck should be slowed
down and players should move into appropriate positions after the blue line has
been gained.
3. Once in the offensive zone, all power
plays are designed to either pull the opposition’s “box” apart and create 2-on-1
or open shot opportunities, or to flood the net with shots and aggressively
rebound. We will look at two basic power play systems, each having a different
approach. The third activity is the power play system itself once in the zone.
Each player involved in the power play must understand the three basic
activities and work on each, one at a time.
Success on the power play is dependent
upon several factors. Having a good “quarterback” or quarterbacks for each
power play unit is a must. It takes one or two key players that can move the
puck up the ice and into the offensive zone to set up.
Many teams are not effective on power
plays because they fail to gain full control and are constantly under pressure
in the defensive and neutral zones. These same quarterbacks are the ones around
which the offensive zone patterns hinge. Some great American players such as
Phil Housley and Reed Larson had their outstanding
careers extended because they were good quarterbacks.
Having a good pattern with some set options
for attacking the net is another must. Power play patterns are just the
skeletons, however. They establish a good way to set up and maintain
organization within the zone. Success is more dependent upon the players
following some basic do’s and don’ts, being innovative in their attacks on the
box, and being able to accurately and successfully move the puck around the
pattern.
Movement of the puck is what spreads out
the typical box penalty kill system and allows the attacking team to take
advantage of their extra man. I also feel that the power play participants have
to move to make the “patterns” work. Today’s big, mobile players fully armored
with pads make it harder to get to the net with more stationary patterns.
The most common patterns used today are
the side umbrella and top umbrella. I personally like the top umbrella pattern
best because I like to maximize the number of shots on net in any power play
(and in general too, by the way) and am not as worried about the picture-play
goal.
The two patterns create the same basic
situation, a 3-on-2 on one side of the box, but doing so from a different
direction. The side umbrella sets up on the side and tries to get the inside or
outside box defender on that side out of position so that a 2-on-1 can be
worked on the remaining defender or a good shot taken by the offside wing.
The top umbrella sets up across the blue
line and is looking for good tip-able, reboundable shots on net from as good an
angle and distance as possible. The side umbrella depends more on getting good
quality chances from the inside.
John Russo, Ph.D., is founder and
director of the