An Innovative Approach To Hockey Development
“Without good hockey sense or awareness, your other skills don’t matter, and that’s why so many players that can skate and have elements of skill do not succeed. It’s not because they don’t have the skill, it’s because they don’t have the intelligence.”
Craig Button, TSN (Former NHL Executive)
Video Analysis
In order to think the game better it is critical to study the game.
Most youth, high school and junior programs implement very little video training into their schedules. That’s where we come in.
We will work with you to study the game, so that you can develop your hockey sense at the same rate that you develop your hockey skills.
Highlights from our instagram page.
2v2 Attack by the St. Louis Blues
Need ideas for how to play a 2v2? Here is a great example from O’Reilly and Perron. They isolate one of the defensemen in order to create a shot and a goal.
They approach the zone with a clean 2v2, although there is a late backchecker coming into the play. The backchecker will eventually limit the ability to use the weak side of the ice, so the two Blues astutely decide to attack on just the left half of the ice.
The first key to this play is that they attack with varied depth and pace. Perron drives forward and forces the right side defender to hesitate. The defender must make a decision on whether to step up on the puck carrier or continue retreating with Perron. He ends up getting caught in the middle, which allows the pass to get by him.
Once Perron receives this pick, he immediately rips the shot. He was likely considering this option even before receiving the pass. Given the location on the ice, this shot is not extremely dangerous. Why this goes in (and why it is a smart shot) is because the goalie gets into his post position prematurely. Perron correctly anticipated the post integration setup rather than a standard butterfly and was able to beat him to the far side.