Random ones after recent exposure to an NHL playoff game. Assume I have never watched an entire hockey game, and you won’t be far off.
*What are “the new rules on passing,” how do they differ from what the old rules were, how is that expected to work out, and why is it a big issue (apparently?)?
*Why don’t they have that little electronic flare thing on the screen to track the puck anymore? They did a few years ago and it was helpful because, you know, to lead to another question, how in the Hell can anyone deal with a sport where the “ball” is so tiny and moving so fast and hard to see [admits to poor visual coordination, apparently/]
*I like that hockey coaches uniformly seem to wear a suit. Classy. Better than football coaches in their logoed sweats and parkas. Better than the NBA trend toward sportcoats over sweaters. All IMHO. But that’s not my question.
What does a hockey coach do? During the course of a game, I can’t imagine his having much to say other than “hey, try to hit that puck into that net over there” or “hey, I think they’re going to hit the puck at you, try to stop it from going into the net, huh?” Is there something more? Is practice (do they practice?) different? Is there a tactical component in the timing or make-up of the shift changes? Are there assistant coaches, and do they do something/anything during the games/practices? I’m not belittling the sport, I just never understood how some of the more continuous-action, back-and-forth sports (soccer, even basketball) called for or admitted of much coach intervention (working off of a model of football where there are frequent pauses in the action/posture of the game, such that coaches can adjust and communicate in real time tactical adjustments).
The new rule is that you can now pass the puck from within your own zone (behind the blue line) all the way to a player on the other half of the ice (but not beyond the other teams blue line). In the past this was a “two line pass” and not allowed. The rule change creates far more break-out opportunities and makes game-clogging strategies like the neutral zone trap more difficult to execute.
Because it was an affront to all that is good and holy. More seriously the “true” hockey fans didn’t like it and it didn’t pick up enough casual fans to make it worth it. Also, with HD being pretty wide spread it is not as much of an issue as it used to be. Hockey is probably the sport that most benefits from HD broadcast.
Hockey coaches set the “lines” - which players play together at any given time. They establish general strategies of play (neutral zone trap, power play and penalty kill formations) and change these strategies as the game dictates. They make any goaltender changes they deem necessary. They generally have assistants that actually call in the line changes but they can coordinate with them to increase or decrease the frequency of changes or get some lines on the ice more often.
Not sure what is meant by this. It might be referring to the two-line pass rule being repealed. It used to be that a team couldn’t pass a puck from its defensive zone to a player on the far side of the red line. The intent of the change was to allow for more offence by giving teams more of a chance at a long breakaway mass. IMO it’s been marginally effective at this.
It really isn’t that hard to follow. The puck generally travels in a straight line, so even if you lose sight of it for a second it’s pretty easy to pick it up again by looking at where it should have gone.
They got rid of the Fox Puck because hockey fans hated it and the puck did not act like a real puck – it bounced oddly.
The coach sets the strategy. For example, how should a team react when their opposition controls the puck in their defensive zone. Some teams are aggressive in this situation and send two players deep into the offensive zone to pressure the puck carrier and try to force a turnover. Other teams are more passive, and keep 4 players in the neutral zone to cut off all of the passes, hoping that having a lot of players back on defence will prevent their opposition from gaining entry to the zone, allowing them to counterattack when the rush is foiled.
He also sets the lines – which players play together. Generally, coaches have forwards play in 3-man units and defencemen play in 2-man units that don’t change often.
The other big portion is, as you allude to, getting the right matchups. Because teams can change lines at (almost) any time, a big part of the game can be trying to get your best defensive players on the ice at the same time as the opposition’s best offensive players, while simultaneously trying to keep your own offensive players away from the opposition’s best defensive players. Deciding which of your players would be best able to defend the opposition’s best players can be a crucial aspect of the game.
Instead of trying to follow the puck just focus on what the players are doing. The general flow of the players will be in the direction of the puck anyway. If it’s a shot from the blue line pay attention to the front of the net where the puck may be deflected or blocked, etc. After watching many games you learn to anticipate where the puck will be.
Most teams have at least a few assistant coaches. Some teams have a coach for the defensemen and another for forwards, and all teams have a goaltending coach. Assistant coaches aren’t always on the bench, many teams put them in the press box. If you look on the bench during games, you’re likely seeing the head coach, one assistant coach, the equipment manager, and at least the head trainer.
Coaches do set the lines and change them as they see fit during the game. They do practice, most coaches are on skates during practice with gloves and a stick in hand. Most times practices will focus on skating, positioning and work on power plays and shorthanded situations. Some teams do work on some “set” plays, but not quite as much as football and basketball. Coaches also have one time-out during a game that they can call.
However, unlike in football or basketball, there’s no tactical advantage is using a timeout. The only times that a coach will use a timeout are either if his team is playing badly and he feels the need for a quick “get your asses in gear” speech, or to give his team a rest. You’ll most often see a timeout called in the final 30-40 seconds of a game where a team is trailing by a single goal. The team that’s trailing will put their best players on the ice with about 1:30 remaining and keep them on the ice for the rest of the game. Breaking up that long shift with a 30 second timeout can help keep their legs fresh.
Watch five more hockey games and you’ll know where the puck is. It’s more or less the same diameter as a baseball, and they don’t put flare on the screen to help you follow the baseball. (Jas09’s point about HD is a very good one as well.)
As to a coach, points have already been made about lines and plays… and of course he’s also got to watch his players, to see who’s on, who’s off, who needs encouragement, who needs a kick in the ass, and who needs specific advice for how to deal with specific opponents, plays, or situations.
Shifts vary wildly depending on the game–in a high-octane, high-energy situation, shifts can be 30 seconds. The average shift is between 45 seconds and 1:15 seconds. Longer shifts, more than 1:30 or two minutes are rarer. Defence pairings usually have longer shifts than forwards.
So again, not to criticize – any given shift can really only have a couple of serious attempts to get down and shoot on goal, right? Because from what I’ve seen, when they shift, they basically have to give up whatever they’re doing and dump the puck off, right? Doesn’t that make for a large proportion of . . . futility? Is it considered annoying by fans that so much time, comparatively, is spent on transitioning shifts in and out?
Only for teams that have trouble breaking out of their zone and into the offensive zone. In that case, a team spends most of its time defending and changing lines. But it’s like a team that can’t make first downs in football: they spend a lot of time defending and punting.
A shift change takes all of 5 seconds, which is quite small compared to the length of a shift.
45 to 60 seconds in hockey is a long time. Plus, a lot of what can separate teams, skillwise, is the line changes. Don’t make the mistake of thinking line changes are always whole line changes. Many are one player at a time, while the play continues away from the players changing.
As much as I like hockey, it is easier to learn by watching in person rather than on tv. Go to some games and sit in the upper deck. Having some height above the ice, you can see how the play develops. Try watching a certain player all the time.
BTW- those new passing rules are 3-4 years old now. But you will still here them called new. I still catch myself wondering why a two-line pass is not called.
That is a good suggestion, one I will implement next time I have a chance. I always feel, for instance, that buying good seats for basketball is a great investment. It turns out that watching good passing, and the way the (good) teams/guys use court positioning and ball movement, is my favorite part, and that just doesn’t come through on the television with its tendency toward isolation shots. I can imagine the same could be true with hockey.
I’ve noticed that sometimes, when a player shoots from near the blue line, that a teammate will be roughly between the shooter and the goal and might deflect the puck into the net. They can do this with the upper part of their stick, or even with a body part, I believe, as long as it isn’t intentional? I suppose they also screen the goalie to some degree.
But on the other hand, it doesn’t seem like it would be optimal to have congestion in front of the net, since that makes for fewer openings. What is the preferred strategy here? Should you always try to get between a teammate shooter and the net, or never, or does it depend?
Pretty much always. A NHL-caliber goalie can stop almost any slapshot from the blue line if he can see it all the way and it doesn’t change direction. There are a few players that can beat a goalie cleanly from that far out but they are rare. It’s almost always preferable to have a screen set up or get a deflection.
An exception might be on a power play when the puck has moved from one side to the other (and thus the goalie is moving) a “clean” slapshot could be preferred with the forwards “crashing” the net. In this case you are really counting more on getting a fat rebound with the goalie out of position than beating him cleanly with the slapper.
As Jas09 says, any NHL goaltender has to be able to stop a clean slapshot from the blueline if there’s no screen and he has time to get into position to make the save(a one-timer – a shot made immediately upon receiving a pass – is a completely different story). So even though having a forward in front of the net increases the chances of the puck never reaching the net, it’s worthwhile to have a forward there for a number of reasons:
The forward isn’t trying to block the shot, so the shooter can shoot around him.
The goaltender will have more trouble saving a puck he has difficulty seeing
The goaltender will have a lot of difficulty saving a puck that changes direction due to a tip
The goaltender may let out a rebound, and a forward who’s already in front of the net will have a much better chance of getting to it
OK, this is really basic, but what’s the deal with checking–when is it legal, and when is it not legal? Sometimes I’ll see a guy get clocked just after he gets rid of the puck. Is this the equivalent of hitting the quarterback just after he releases the pass? (In other words, you can him late, but not too late?) Is there any limit to how much of a head of steam you can build up before you plow into a guy?
There’s a real grey area when it comes to late hits. It’s definitely legal to hit a player just after he passes or shoots the puck – otherwise, players could dodge checks by passing the puck away. There’s no hard rule as to how long after a player loses possession of the puck he’s still fair game.
There are rules on how many strides you can take before hitting a player(otherwise the hitter is supposed to get a charging penalty), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that enforced. I only ever see charging called when a player jumps to make a hit, and even a penalty in that case is all too rare.