So let's tackle them...education isn't brought about by dissemination, it's about conversation, right?
1:04 - As I diagrammed in the video. There are very clear cut responsibilities here. The most responsibility, if you will, falls on the strong side player always. Most other players only represent 1v1 matchups or single zone situations. Sandin couldn't play this any better really. The pass, which I believe he just ticks a little bit, and it crosses two lanes in a situation like this (statistically, this is very unlikely to succeed) and remains onside. This is very clearly on the backchecker in the wide lane. Sandin can't do much more than what he did. He made the game very predictable for his teammates, and a forward coming back loses his man and everyone has to scramble to do the backchecker's job for him. Sandin mitigated risk to the best of his ability there, there's almost nothing that could be reasonably done beyond what he did there.
1:25 - I could see a case for him drifting about 12 to 18 inches too wide there, I can definitely buy that. But he has confidence in taking a risk because there is so much help back and he has a partner that has proven to read off him well and will provide necessary support. So, I coach at the collegiate level and sometimes some of my less experienced players will ask me about our forecheck, particularly the role of F1. Now, the way I explain it and a lot of coaches explain it is: F1 you're on the puck, you're first man in and you're on the puck. I've learned that that actually needs to be a little bit more granular. Because you say it in those words, F1 believes they have to get the puck. But that's not truly the intention. That's nice...that's a, what, 1 in 200 shot? 1 in 500? 1 in 1000? So I've taken to a new way of explaining it in two parts: 1. show what's going on behind F1. Only really smart players understand what's going on behind them. Use video, use the board to show what happens when you (F1) react the way that you do and what it represents. 2. Talk about making the game predictable. My players are probably sick of hearing me say this, but "make the game predictable for the next guy"
Bounce a soccer ball to me, I'll catch it 99 or 100 times out of 100, right? Bounce a football to me, Jesus, I don't know, 15 times out of 100? 22? I have no idea.
If I'm Sandin, I don't mind setting up a little outside (it's not a trend, he never sets up there in even-or-worse scenarios) because I have interior help, I can trust that a cut to the middle from a player of this caliber (this isn't Svechnikov, ya know?) will gain a negligible return between me and my partner. Now, if that's a center skating backwards there, maybe it's a little different, right? Maybe I can't trust that, and I better play it as a 1 on 1. Sandin sets up there because he believes it's 1 on 2 and he doesn't want that player to gain territory, burrow into the corner and then get help via the time gained on a tie up/board battle. If Sandin sets up on the normal line, he allows the gutter of the rink to the attacker. The attacker is not good enough to beat Sandin inside if he's 18 inches over. So he'll get to the boards, he'll get to the corner and he'll the incubate puck until it hatches. Meanwhile, here come fresh Spitfires, and maybe this thing becomes a cycle play now...maybe they have more than two in the attack zone now, right? It's gonna happen. They're gonna bring more than two if the puck is tied up on the kickplate. So why bother? We have both our defensemen ready and poised on the strong side, the only other relevant player on the surface is completely covered. Let's just shut this down now, don't let it fester.
2:45 - I mean, this is really just perfection in my book. He limits time and space, leads with his stick...stick disrupts and removes the puck from the attacker and then he gets a hip into him to knock him off stride. Watch closely...the puck just takes a random bounce back right into his path off of the attacker's knee and ends up in a reasonable spot to continue the attack. That's about as good a defense as you can play though, circumstantial events like bounces will occur...if he does this 100 times, he's a smaller Vladimir Konstantinov, he's gold. That's great defense. Stellar.
