Posts Tagged ‘ryan Getzlaf’

Ryan to Ottawa speculation worth ignoring

Posted: 05/29/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Former Ducks GM Bryan Murray believes he’s on the cusp of building another Stanley Cup contender. He helped lay the foundation for the 90 ‘s and beyond Red Wings,  guided the Panthers and our Ducks from new franchise to the Stanley Cup Final. Today at age 70 Bryan Murray is looking to raise the Ottawa Senators from pretender to contender.

Sizing up 2013 Murray told the Canadian Press, “The only disappointing thing about this year is that we never found out how good we really were.”

The Senators lost Jason Spezza for 43 games, Erik Karlsson 31, Craig Anderson 24, Jared Cowan 41. Comparably that be our Ducks playing without Ryan Getzlaf, Cam Fowler, Jonas Hiller and Francois Beauchemin.

Murray is looking to add scoring and Ottawa Sun columnist and GM wannabe Bruce Garrioch suggested Bobby Ryan.

The respective GM’s do have a trading history. It is also one that should scare the beejeebers out of Ducks fans. While GM in Detroit Bryan Murray sent Anders Eriksson to Bob Murray’s Chicago Blackhawks for Chris Chelios. Not one of Bob Murray’s better days at the office, no?

It is very unusual when teams on the cusp of becoming Cup contenders are also good trading partners. The reason is that both teams are looking to add to their roster without giving up roster players.

Bryan Murray admitted as much noting, ”If there’s a deal to be made at some point during the summer I have to take a hard look at it. If it means doing a couple of things, trading a young player or two I’ve got to be open-minded to do that to try to make this team better.”

Ducks aren’t looking for young players who can help a year or two down the road.

The summer crop of Trading Bobby Ryan rumors stems from the fact that our Ducks have cap issues.

Per CapGeek.com our Ducks have $4.8M in available cap space for 2013-14. That number doesn’t include signing any of the projected UFA’s or RFA’s. The pending roster UFA’s include, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu, David Steckel, Matthew Lombardi, Radek Dvorak, Toni Lydman and Ben Lovejoy. Our RFA’s are Kyle Palmieri and Matt Beleskey.

It should be just enough to bring back Steckel, Lovejoy, Palmieri and Beleskey.

Isn’t that amazing. Just months after re-hiring Brian Burke our Ducks are cap challenged all of a sudden.

In a summer when we’re likely losing 40 goals with the pending departures of Selanne, Koivu and Radek Dvorak, trading Bobby Ryan for cap compliance makes no sense at all. Even for a guy who traded Chris Chelios for Anders Eriksson.

If you’ve become an emotional dumpster diver since our Ducks playoff defeat

Posted: 05/26/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Update: What if sports ran Detroit v. Anaheim 1001 times through their simulator. The result? Anaheim won the simulations 57.5% of the time.

Reading your posts here and from visiting other sites it is readily apparent that many of us remain stuck frozen in the moment of despair and disbelief from witnessing our Ducks go down to defeat in the first round of these playoffs. It especially sucks because we planned to participate in a deeper playoff run that was cut short. We’re challenged to fill the time with something equally exciting as following our Ducks on a deep playoff run. As all hockey fans know there are few things more exciting than sharing the dream with your team during the NHL playoffs.

It’s like getting fired or laid off. One day you’re doing something and planning on doing more. All of a sudden it stops and you’re no longer allowed to continue. It’s over.

Welcome to the playoff blues.

Worse, due to the business of the NHL we aren’t likely to exact revenge on the Red Wings unless and until we meet them in a Cup final. Maybe that’s partly why this one stings a little deeper and hangs over us a little longer. Detroit took the last series in our Ducks only recurring playoff rivalry.

Everybody has reasons for the loss. Heck it might have even been the Second Seed Curse. Bet you didn’t know that second seeds have the worst first round record of the top four seeds since the current playoff format was adopted in 1994. Second seeds are only 20-16. First seeds have won 26 of 36 first round series. Third and fourth seeds have gone 23-13.

While watching the post game presser of Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien he took a moment to mention how thankful he was to still be playing in the second round of the playoffs. Julien talked how his shaky Bruins very nearly lost in the first round.

Of the eight teams that lost in the first round of this year, five, including our Ducks did not make the playoffs last season. Our Ducks had not made it past the first round in 5 years. For key contributors, Andrew Cogliano, Kyle Palmieri and Emerson Etem it was their first playoff experience. Nick Bonino (4), Matt Beleskey (1) have played in less than a handful of playoff games. For others,  Sheldon Souray and Bryan Allen it as their first playoff appearance in seven and nine years respectively. Even Saku Koivu’s Habs and Ducks teams have missed the playoffs in three of his last seven years.

Fact is, other than Teemu Selanne, Francois Beauchemin, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf our Ducks just don’t have big game experience at elite professional levels.

Silver medal winner Bobby Ryan has earned more success in the Olympics than he has in the NHL with our Ducks.

We don’t think of our Ducks as young and inexperienced but when you look at the record even most of our experienced guys lack playoff bonafides.

Even our core doesn’t measure up to the playoff experience of Pavel Datsyuk. Henrik Zetterburg, Nik Kronwall, Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen and Valteri Filppulla.

When Bob Murray said, “They schooled us” our lack of big game playoff experience didn’t occur to me.  This experience illustrates just how far from respectability our Ducks have fallen during the tenure of Robert Gordon Murray.

We simply lacked the experience to beat a been there done that team that knows how to win. No matter how you process it though, that is very good news going forward because this is one young Ducks hockey team.

Last season the Pittsburgh Penguins were defeated in the first round. One year later they’re in the Eastern Conference Final.

Look forward. This loss is just part of a longer journey.

BackChecking with Emerson Etem & Adam Brady

Posted: 05/16/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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We haven’t done this for a while. Longtime followers may remember the format. If not you’ll catch on quickly enough. Interviews or stories are republished with a comment. Comments are in italics.

Via Ducks Official Website:

Earlier this week, having just packed his locker and gone through exit interviews with coaches and management, Etem reflected on his rookie season and what’s to come for him.

What are your impressions of the season when you look back on it?
The season didn’t finish how we wanted it to. We obviously wanted to lift that Cup at the end of the two months here. But sometimes you just fall short and you’ve got to regroup in the summer, see what you did wrong individually and as a team, and be better next year. I’m going to look at my game, watch a lot of video. I was pretty happy with the way my season progressed. It started out a little bit slow, but I worked on it, from getting sent down and coming back up. I just continued to work on my shot and a lot of the areas of my game I knew I needed to work on. I finished pretty strong, especially in the playoffs, and I thought I played pretty solid. I’ll just take that into next year.

For a guy who initially struggled in the ‘A’ EE’s growth was truly exceptional. By the end of the playoffs EE had clearly establish himself among the top 9 forwards. In game six he played 3 more minutes than Teemu Selanne.

What did you feel was the most notable thing you improved on as the season progressed?

My confidence. It was not only the coaches’ trust in me with my ice time, but I think as it increased, my confidence got that much better.

There are genuine hockey reasons for that. Brady could have followed up much better than he does. But then again, he’s a P.R. not a hockey guy.

Confidence almost sounds like a cliché at times, but it really is huge part of the game, isn’t it?

Yeah, it is. If you’re getting seven or eight minutes a game, you don’t have too many opportunities, especially as far as offense is concerned. You maybe get one or two shots in there. But you feel the flow of the game a lot more when you’re playing and put in different situations. The more I was playing, the more confidence I got. It was great to have the coaches put their trust in my game.

I feel like that kid in the tv commercial, “We want more. We want more.”   Coach saw in EE that he might able to trust him on the PK.  He proved coach right. At this point EE was a solid 4th line ES and 2nd unit PK. He really didn’t consistently get more ice time until he started finishing his scoring opportunities in the playoffs. In the first question EE mentioned working on his shot but it wasn’t until the playoffs that he got rewarded for all that previous effort. What gave EE this confidence is how he met and/or exceeded the tests the Coach put on him. He did this by reading and reacting to the plays. He also used his best asset, his deceptive speed and acceleration. EE has the best acceleration I’ve seen since Bobby Orr. I hope he watches some video of Orr and picks up on how and when to use that acceleration.
Note: Bobby Orr had such power that he achieved top speed between his initial push and his next stride. EE isn’t quite there but he isn’t all that far from it.

You had a couple of big moments in these playoffs, but what pops into your head as the highlight? 

I just think playing in front of the fans, just playing at Honda Center and experiencing that for the first time. Every time I stepped on the ice, the fans got me going. It wasn’t even the goals or anything else. It was just the guys in the locker room, as a team going out on that ice and preparing to battle every game. That was the biggest thing.

Typical rookie. Nothing stood out because he was so busy soaking it all in.

The most important thing in your development is your play in all three zones. Did you see that continue to improve this season?

Yeah, for sure. Back in juniors, like a lot of guys on this team, you’re looked at as the No. 1 guy. But I think your role changes when you’re here at this level. I think I’ve carried over the defensive role I had in Medicine Hat. Obviously the offense didn’t come as quickly, but slowly but surely I was able to accomplish some of the stuff I did at that level, and I hope to keep that going.

It was EE’s accountability that earned him the opportunity to eventually begin showing the offensive ability. The goals began to come when he showed patience with the puck around the net. The skill that gave him that is his  breathtaking acceleration. One flows from the other.

What was discussed in your season-ending meetings with coaches and management? 

Just don’t change anything. What you did in the last series was great, but now it’s time to keep working hard in the summer, don’t stop and make sure you’re prepared for training camp in the summer.

No need for concern here. This is one fine young man devoted to developing his skill. The only question now is his upside.

What’s the biggest thing you learned by being at this level for an extended period of time?

The biggest thing is just to stay humble, keep working hard, learn from the veterans in the room – Sheldon Souray, Getzlaf, Perry, Teemu and all those guys. Both on an off the ice, learn what they’re doing, because it’s obviously working. I just need to make sure I follow their path.

The reason we’re here BackChecking with Emerson Etem. He said, “The biggest thing is just to stay humble…” The rest, “keep working hard, learn from the vets”  flows one from the other. Fact is, he just showed the world he’s a fine young man intent on making the most of his ability. We of course get to enjoy the show.

With Teemu Selanne’s future uncertain once again, and considering your popularity with fans already, is there any thought in your mind of someday filling the void his retirement would leave for this franchise? 
I would want everyone to return no matter what they’re thinking for their future. But you always want to be the go-to guy. You work hard to be popular, just through work ethic or by what you bring every night. If you work hard, the chance of the fans loving you is pretty high. I think everyone loves Teemu here and Getzlaf and guys like that because of what they do for us. If I keep working hard, then maybe I’ll be in those names someday. But I’m nowhere close to being there yet. I’ve just got to keep working hard.

So Brady immediately tests that humility by asking the rookie to compare himself with our legendary face of the franchise. If anything shows Brady is more P.R than hockey it’s comfort with massive egos. And by working hard it’s likely EE moves ahead of Teemu on the depth chart. And yes supplants him on PP. This is partly why I hope Teemu retires now. Seeing kids pass him is just not something I want to witness. It does appear that we can trust EE’s work ethic. He gets that from his good family upbringing. He’s not carrying any baggage such that he’s one guy I think will avoid the sophomore jinx. This is one level-headed dude.

What are your plans for the next few months? 
I’m going to be training again with TR Goodman at Pro Camp Sports up in Venice once again. I’ve been training there since I was 13, so that’s not going to change. I might even get a place up in Venice, so I can be more focused up there. My buddy Beau Bennett plays for the Penguins, so we’ll be skating a lot together this summer and working hard. I’m looking forward to it.

Devante Smith-Pelly would be wise to join him.

Special teams play dictating series outcome

Posted: 05/05/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Special teams continue to be the story as our Ducks scored one shorthanded and two power play goals while dismantling the Red Wings during a 4-0 road win Saturday night.

The Wings went 0 for 7 on the PP including a 5 on 3 for fifty seconds.

Even the beneficiary of the officials largess was unappreciative. Following the game Coach Babcock talked about how the calls disrupt the game. He mentioned that his top players had all played over eight minutes in the first period.

If ever there is a signal to the NHL that the quality of the officiating must improve it is when the team apparently benefiting is the one complaining.

Our Ducks have earned a decided lead in special teams play. In their two losses the Wings are 1 for 11 with the man advantage. Our Ducks PP efficiency is 33.3%.

At the outset of the playoffs the Red Wings were said to be better in net and were the hot team going in. Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard is 1-2 with a SP of just .885 and a GAA of 3.33. Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller has a GAA of 1.99, SP of .922 and a shutout.

Of concern to Coach Babcock is that our Ducks have scored 4 times even strength. Four of the Wings six goals in this have come with the man advantage. Ducks are beating the Wings in all phases of the game.

Down 2 games to 1 in a 7 game series, Detroit find themselves in a must win situation. Their only win coming as a result of one-sided officiating.

Babcock said the game (and perhaps this series) turned on Ryan Getzlaf‘s shorthanded goal. Wings fans began to abandoned their team midway through the third when Emerson Etem put our Ducks by 3. The Joe virtually emptied out five minutes later when Matt Beleskey put us up 4-zip.

Abandoned by their fans. Unable to benefit from one-sided officiating. Our Ducks are clearly inside the mind of their goalie. These Wings are clearly on the ropes. They now represent a challenge our ducks have risen to infrequently through this season.

Do they have the killer instinct? Finding it now will elevate our Ducks to another level.

Plot lines and a Prediction

Posted: 04/30/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Old v. New

Detroit has been aging for 20 years and though the transition from Yzerman-Fedorov to Datsyuk (34)-Zetterburg (32) appeared seamless there isn’t a pair of emerging young stars coming up behind the Eurotwins.

Ducks are powered up front by the tandem of Ryan Getzlaf (27) and Corey Perry (27). These Twins were united a decade ago back in Cincinnati of the AHL.

It’s a battle of old Wings looking for more day in the sun against the Ducks emerging stars.

Flash and Dash v. Bash and Smash

These Red Wings are Chicago-lite. They can skate, wheel and execute the pretty plays. While the Ducks have players have skill they wear you down physically before taking you out.  It’s boxer v. puncher.

In this plot the Wings equalizer is long time Ryan Getzlaf nemesis Jordan Tootoo.  The Ducks captain will be challenged to keep his emotions in check.

The Goalies

Jimmy Howard has had a stretch run reminiscent of the 2003 J.S. Giguere. In his last ten games Howard has posted 3 shutouts and GAA of 1.44.

While no announcement has been made I expect Jonas Hiller to get the start. As impressive as Howard’s stats are, Hiller is 2-0 with .963 SP and a GAA of 1 in his last two games. Hiller is a money goalie as his playoff record 7-6 GAA 2.23 SP .942 attests.

Coaching: Tactician v. Motivator

Playoff success eluded Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau in Washington. In Anaheim, he has a more balanced team though.

For many Ducks fans Mike Babcock will always represent the one that got away.  His teams have won the Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold. You can’t argue with success.

Prediction

With two relatively evenly matched teams, they get it done differently but each does get ‘er done, the difference is how well each is organized and the intangibles. Both of these factors weigh in favor of our Ducks.

Teemu Selanne has called this the tightest group he’s seen since the Cup winning team. It is also a healthy hockey team now that Luca Sbisa went full-bore at practice. The vets, including Getzlaf and Perry, know from experience that these opportunities don’t come along every year.

These Ducks are special. Four of them of them, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Sheldon Souray and Toni Lydman recognize that this may be their last best chance to win a Cup. Each is preparing to leave it all on the ice.

Another flock of Ducks, Ben Lovejoy, Matt Beleskey, Nick Bonino, Dave Steckel, Emerson Etem  are successful in large part because their coach has believed in them.

Still another flock, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Francois Beauchemin, Andrew Cogliano are at or near the peak of their careers.

Two factors that can tilt a series are one-sided officiating and hot goal tending. Wings best chance of winning this series is the Ducks lose their cool and Jimmy Howard plays lights out hockey.

If our Ducks have accomplished one thing this season it is that they have risen to every challenge. They pushed the Blackhawks to the longest winning streak to start a season ever. When they had nothing left to play for they pulled themselves and finished strong.

The Wings represent a serious challenge not to be taken lightly. This is the best thing that could have happened to a team that consistently welcomes and responds to challenges.

Ducks in six.

Postgame Quick Hit

Posted: 04/08/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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Ducks 4-3 SO win over the Kings was a very entertaining game which is PR code for not exactly perfectly played by either team.

For our Ducks it is a huge win. Our guys dispatched the surging and current Stanley Cup champ AND did so without our best player and captain Ryan Getzlaf .

Who doesn’t believe this morning?

No time to enjoy the win because our Ducks host the Edmonton Oilers and Justin Schultz tonight. You remember Shultzie, he’s the guy Wayne Gretzky told to sign with Edmonton because the Oilers were building a Cup contending team.

 

Post game injury report

Posted: 04/03/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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First, the captain is okay. “He got hurt a little bit, came back out,” Coach Boudreau said. “When he scored the goal I said ‘That’s it for you, let’s rest it here.’ That’s why he went back in to get it iced. He’s sore. He’s going to be OK but he’s sore.”

If you saw the stick Matt Beleskey took to the eye, oh man, I worried he lost his eye. Turns out,  “It’s another black eye for the season, I guess,” Beleskey joked after the game. “It’s all good, just some stitches. I got lucky it didn’t hit my actual eyeball. How it wasn’t a penalty, I guess they missed that one too. It’s part of the game.”

I wasn’t too worried about Getz’ injury because he didn’t twist the knee but rather went back on it a bit. That usually causes more sprain and strain with swelling symptoms. It’s painful as all get out but recovery is measured in days.

It’s when you twist the joint while putting the pressure of your own weight on it is when you suffer the pops that are diagnosed as torn ligaments. So yeah, credit an excellent athletic feat by Ryan Getzlaf and his incredible strength to maintain while all of his momentum was forcing the weight of his body to go against the natural movement of his knee-joint.

I suppose we should all call Getz out for stepping on the stick in the first place, (((DOH))) One second klutz the next he’s Michelle Kwan.

We dodged a couple of bullets tonight.

Did Babcock and Wings expose Ducks?

Posted: 03/25/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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…or was just a matter of our guys running into a hot goaltender?

First consider how the Wings clogged the center lane on our breakouts and through the neutral zone.  Howard played the puck and was like a third D-man out there at times.

The challenge here is that it took us four periods to adapt. We never did beat them through the middle but took the alleys and perimeter which the Wings willingly gave us. We never did establish the fore-check off dump-ins by keeping the puck away from Howard either.

Finally the referees, continued to provide evidence of gross incompetence or a flat-out official policy of penalizing our Ducks. Offside calls continually went against our Ducks, as the did penalties. By the halfway point in the game our Ducks had killed off twice (4) as many penalties as had the Wings (4).

The call on Getzlaf for allegedly tripping Valteri Filppula with 33 seconds left in the game contradicted a long-held NHL policy of allowing teams to play out one goal games. For more than a century the league has had a stated policy of allowing games to be decided on a hockey play, rather than on a call by an official. Apparently the league, either by incompetence or bias won’t apply a century old policy in a games involving games our Ducks.

The officials in this game were referees Kevin Pollock and Gord Dwyer. The linesman were Shane Heyer and Bryan Pancich.

Call me a whiner, or poor sport or excuse maker if you will but now corporate media (after some encouragement from this blog) is paying attention. Coach Boudreau is also speaking out, at the risk of serious fine or other punishment from incompetent and /or biased league officials.

The fact that Getzlaf, Perry and Selanne were given misconducts and Selanne a game misconduct for protesting official contravening of a century old, freeze the whistle” in last five minutes shows just how weak and thin-skinned these referees have become.

Our Ducks will be well served to take their complaints about the officials to the league. You can help by using the hash tag #refusuck and by commenting to league offices.

Frankly, had our Ducks adapted earlier than in the last few minutes of the second period the incredibly poor quality of the officiating would have been irrelevant.

Notes: Anaheim Ducks have signed 16 year NHL-FA Radek Dvorak to a one year contract. Dvorak is a savvy vet who can help on the depth lines and PK. He will have to pass through waivers before joining our Ducks.

Ducks 4 Blackhawks 2

Posted: 03/21/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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It was a game billed as a Clash of Titans. It was game history taught us, courtesy of Elias Sports Service that matched the two winning-est teams in the  96 year history of the NHL. In a world full of P.T. Barnum style hyperbole, it was a game that lived up to its billing.

This is about as good as NHL hockey gets during the season. Just imagine what it might be like experience a playoff series between these two teams. It doesn’t matter which team we support. There are no losers in a game like this, merely survivors.

As they’ve done 14 times this season, our Ducks hung around long enough to when their leadership, physicality and a break combined to inspire them past Chicago in the final 5.5 minutes of the game.

This was a game in which the difference was the Ducks scouting and 3 goals that came off center lane drives to the net. The first came as Peter Holland was Johnny-on-the-spot when he buried a rebound that landed on his stick about 5 feet out.

For a quick and nervous moment it appeared that Brandon Bollig had put the ‘hawks up 3-1 but the goal was disallowed when the replay showed the young cheap shot artist had kicked the puck past Jonas Hiller.

Ducks got the tying goal off a fat rebound from a Ryan Getzlaf shot that Corey Crawford  directed to Bobby Ryan trailing, who had found space opened up by Kyle Palmieri’s drive to the net, who also provided a screen.

Teemu Selanne netted the winner when Ryan Getzlaf drove through the center lane, dished to Flash who doesn’t miss wide open nets often.

Sheldon Souray took the air out of Chicago and put in under the feet of a capacity home crowd with an EN with about 19 seconds left in regulation time.

From the opening face-off to the final buzzer Ryan Getzlaf played his most energetic game of the season. That in and of itself is an incredible feat given Getzy played with the flu bug that put both Bryan Allen and Nick Bonino on the IR.

The game has had effects already as our Ducks are instantly viewed as a worthy challenge season long No. 1 rated Blackhawks. Ryan Getzlaf elevated himself from honorable mention to legitimate contender alongside Jonathon Toews and Steve Stamkos in the Hart Trophy balloting.

The Captain’s leadership example was magnified when Brandon “Cheap Shot” Bollig performed dental surgery with a vicious high stick to the mouth of  Andrew Cogliano on the face-off following Teemu’s go ahead goal.

It takes more than a few broken teeth to force lion heart Cogs out of the game. In a move that astounded fans of both teams Cogliano stayed in and took his next shift.

And there you have the hi-lights. Leadership, physicality, scouting and a little luck combined to inspire our Ducks to victory. Someone who was obviously paying attention once said, “Luck happens when hard work and opportunity collide.” As former Leaf goalie Johnny bower once said, “You have to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky.”

Our Ducks have earned their luck.

Ducks believe at the mid-point – Part II

Posted: 03/12/2013 by bc in Uncategorized
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When GM Bob Murray replaced former coach Randy Carlyle with Bruce Boudreau among his publicly stated reasons was that a new voice was needed. Out of respect for the departed Carlyle, the org insisted that Ducks wouldn’t change their style of play. Bruce Boudreau said our Ducks would remain a defense first team. Never mind that all teams in all team sport play defense first.

In Part I we covered the impact of the coaching change and the roster changes that led to our Ducks being a far more complete team than rec ent rosters. Our Ducks are now at least a reasonable facsimile of the template of the Cup winning edition.

Coach Boudreau has changed everything about how our Ducks go about playing hockey. We’ll  look at this by starting in our end assuming the opposition has the puck, gaining possession and transitioning to offense. Also at this point I will add that hopefully you won’t be reading this as criticism of Coach Carlyle, rather I’m illustrating the difference between the two systems. We’ll pass through the neutral zone, go on attack in the opposition end, loose possession and bring the play back to our end. In this form we’ll address what our Ducks are doing in each zone with and without possession of the puck.

At our end, gone is the pressure the puck carrier defense that so often led to a Keystone Cops style running around in our own end. Jeez, I hated that system when I first learned it at coaching seminars. The short answer is that requires too much of the goaltender. I refused to teach it and exploited opposition coaches, usually newbies who didn’t know any better, who did.

Under the new system we play a zone – man to man hybrid. A forward will stay with his check even down to the end boards, traditionally the area covered by D-men.

Defensively, our Ducks are focused on protecting the mid to low slot or high percentage shooting area through to the end boards. We do this from a standard 2-1-2 with the forwards and D forming a box and the center providing support from the middle of the box. We do break from the 2-1-2 formation when a forward, usually a winger, stays with his check down low.

This tends to leave the opposition points open. If you’re going to outnumber the opposition and provide support at the puck somebody somewhere will be open. Better that be the opposing D who may or may not get a shot through to the net or, just as often, pass or intentionally shoot wide looking for a favorable bounce off the end boards.

When we gain possession of the puck our guy has a few options. Most often the player knows which of these options is most advantageous instantaneously. If a lane is available you skate thepuck put of our zone. A short pass or share  to the player. this short pass or share is usually a cross ice, slightly forward or drop pass depending on where the support or outlet is positioned. Last is head manning the puck which may also be a stretch pass.

Reliance on the short pass is also a significant change from what we did previously. It has resulted in far fewer giveaways and turnovers. This isn’t the only reason we turn the puck over less often though.

As the play moves up ice across the blue line and into the neutral zone we employ one of two tactics. We either get through the neutral zone with speed ahead of the opposition or we must beat the trap. If the opposition has stuffed the neutral zone and set up a trap, the gap between our own forwards and D is shortened and we attack with numbers. At this point we attack the opposing blue line with numbers where we either dump and chase the puck or carry the biscuit into the opposition zone.

Maintaining possession as we attack the opposition blue line makes our Ducks less predictable than we were previously. You may have heard this described as center lane drives but the attack can come from any lane. Advance statistics have provided empirical evidence that maintaining possession results in more shots and scoring chances than the dump, chase and cycle.

As you’ve seen during games we still cycle. Under Boudreau’s system we tend to cycle the puck off a set play as a method of regrouping rather than as a primary means of attacking the opposition net.

Upon setting up in the opposition zone we have 3 set formations from which we attack. The favored set is the 1-3-1 which we establish most often on the PP but use ES when we get the opportunity. The 1-3-1 puts one guy manning the blue line, 3 guys across the zone from the face off dots across the ice and the fifth guy low. This 1-3-1 set will morph into a 2-1-2 with both D manning the blue line, a 3rd man high slot or along the blue line and two fore-checkers low in the offensive zone. The 1-3-1 also morphs into or a 1-2-2 with the 1 position low slot, corner or behind the net.

In the 1-2-2 we almost always have possession of the puck. In the 2-1-2 with the 3rd man high, we may or may not have possession.

The primary purpose of every scoring opportunity is to make the goalie move. It doesn’t matter so much how that is accomplished. It is why you almost always see at least one to three or more passes before the shot is taken. We are trying to force the goalie to open up his body to expose more shooting areas.

Strong positional play is also why you rarely see our Ducks giving up odd man attacks going back against us. Just like on defense we do send 3 and 4 guys low on occasion. This is almost always when we’re down a goal or two and playing high risk hockey in order to catch up.

The points I’m making here in this post is not so much the exceptions as in the immediately foregoing paragraph but rather the primary systems we employ. Regardless of whether your butt is in a seat at the rink or watching on tv, you can see all of these set formations as it happens and transitions.

Losing the puck and coming back is where each of our Ducks is really excelling this season. The one clue to how hard these guys are working out there is how often you see backside pressure on an opposing attacker. This is true grunt work in hockey.

If we have time to set up a trap we do, either in the opposition end or the traditional neutral zone trap. While backchecking we are also set up in a 1-2-2 or a 2-1-2 formation.

This has been a very long post but if you stayed with it I genuinely hope it has added to your appreciation and understanding of what you’re seeing out there on the ice.

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