moma2s NewAge Hockey System

86 my last two adjustments,I lost my connection again.



You can take advantage of their goaltender who is comfortable breaking your dump-ins,simply use the glass more hang pucks up in the air or get them jumping off of the glass so their goaltender has troubles and zero in on him immediatly with speed,sooner or later he will bobble one and you will capitolise.

Their d-men are not doubleing up on the left side as you enter their zone , they are maintaining solid consistant gaps,well you can count on those Gaps to maintain themselves and use it to your advantage,because you know they will stick to their Gapping,you can move the d-men together at the same time,and they will ALWAYS leave a hole in the middle between them that they will BOTH need to close in on together,so ,take it into the zone on the left side ,cut it over to the middle hard and skate it right to the net forcing them to collaspse,then drop the puck back into the middle of the zone isolating yourself and both d-men in front of the net,your support can pick it up in the middle and snap it in,use their System dependance on those two d-men collapsing their Gap to your advantage,use their consistancy against them.


sorry I was late tuning in,things happen you did it your way not mine.,I told you to stick to the program and post up here

There is 8:50 left to go in the 3rd,make it happen.|

Well done Tarasenko,The Tank strikes again!

Isnt it perfect how they collapse so perfectly and so consistantly huh?

Now rinse and repeat,collapse them in again.If they want it,give it to them.

You need to make more contact in your own zone,just make sure the puck carrier encounters some contact immediatly, they are working your Gaps very accurately,dont give them the room in your zone,bump them and back back into position,dont drive after them and over-commit,but when they make fly-bys once in a while bump them,and they are so comfortable that they are vulnerable to a BIG HIT,if it is open ice and CLEAN.They are not paying attention and are focusing to much on their sticks and the puck,trying to play a peripheral game,they are bringing in upspeed guys all the time,trying to catch you flat-footed.Catch one of those guys coming in upspeed just as they recieve a pass because they are busy looking down all the time,when they come in upspeed they are ultra-focused and vulnerable.Just tell the fellas to keep an eye open for those short upspeed playactions where they cycle a man into the playaction late and target that man for a huge hit if it is there,CLEAN HITs only.

DO NOT make any major adjustments that panic everyone,just small adjustments.Even when adding the contact in your zone,no structural changes to the system,just small adjustments.

Keep targeting the tenders elbows he is frustrated and vulnerable as he should be at this point.

Just a peek back at the Oilers NHS pre-season prospectus to illustrate its accuracy.

Nice article Derek, thank you.

For the record Derek, Ralph Krueger did NOT use the NewAge Hockey System or we would have been working on our third Stanley Cup already.

He may have used “A” newage hockey system, but not the NewAge Hockey System.

Ralph Krueger actually did a great job, he inherited the same crippled System that Duelling Dallas now owns.

Dallas Eakins isnt bringing any new System or Muitl-Systems to town, lets spare ourselves the BS already.

Krueger had the Oilers dialed in several times and the record shows he was influenced by upper managment to re-adjust. He had the Franken-System clicking a few times,but couldnt keep the ball rolling because of politics.

I liked Renney, and Ralph and I am sure I will grow to like Dallas after watching him being strangled by the exact same deficiencies and roadblocks his predessesors faced and fell to. I just need to see him sinking before I can develop a appropriate level of Empathy for him that parallels the Empathy I had for the Coaches before him.

The Dragon Duelling Dallas needs to slay is the Franken-System the Oilers brass dont know how to execute or manage. The players and atmosphere arent his real challenge here. Maybe he sees this soon enough to try to save himself by openly asking Upper managment for an Intuits help, after all he was taught by a famous NHL innovator, Mr. Neillson , you would think he might see the value in cutting edge thinkng and potential results, right ?

We have been sold the story line that he is here to make multiple changes in the atmosphere and culture here, great to hear, but I am more concerned with NHL wins and changes to the System.

All I have heard about is the players and competing and conditioning, all par for the course, and lets not forget the “cover story” that is supposed to make the Oilers managment team teflon to any Franken-System critique or assesments, the MULTI-SYSTEM approach, ha ha ha. Try assesing accountability to that static, hahaha.

I appreciate all the work statisticians put into their analysis, and there must be value in there somewher.

I however see little core value most times, just a lot of supportive OBSERVATIONS, of past things, not prognastations of future things.

Looking failure in the face is very brave but changes nothing, to much of it just makes you comfortable being in that spot.

As far as the NewAge Hockey or new age hockey goes, its really quite simple, Ralph Kueger using just partial data in an adversarial dynamic took the Oilers closer to the proper and natural execution and managment that the Franken – System requires than even Mac-T managed to accomplish. That means he was the most well-suited head coach we have seen here in decades, including Mac-T himself. Ralph didnt see the consistancy but we havent see the flashes of perfection systemwise he was able to find sporadicly either. Krueger was very very close to being the answer we needed here, closer than most believe. I hang Ralphs fate on Upper managments inability to properly asess and manage their system choices.Same as the coaches before him, all of them are off the hook. Failure to find and aquire Intuitive resources is to blame.

Mac-T got lucky, and couldnt repeat the feat for that simple reason, he got lucky and played his cards right plain and simple.I watched every game of the epic run to the Finals and also every loss before and afterwards, I know what I speak of.

Mac-T ultra-managed an inferior system, once.

That system was here when Mac-T played here and it was still here but bastardised when he coached and now that he is a G.M the Franken-System is still by his side and even more screwed up than ever.

The one consistant influence that has paralled the Oilers epic fall from grace has been the Franken-System they will maintain till hades freezes over.

I dont think Dallas Eakins is an Intuit and that is what the Oilers need, it is ALL they need, they could have any of the last 5 coaches behind the bench with an Intuit beside them and easily made the playoffs every year with the superior hockey support network we HAD here for so long.

I predict another bottom 5 finish, without a pure Intuit on board, or a real System change not a multi-system smokecreen, we are doomed.

Our roster was built from the ground up to be managed using Intuitive Dynamic Managment tactics to optimise skill and hockey acumen, we CANNOT make a substantial system change at this point, it would take several years on the Farm and NHL levels we do not have to spare to make this type of system change. So all Dallas can do is try to institute a defense first version of the historic Franken-System, what has been killing us for decades, as much as the Oilers braintrust hate to hear it, there is no room for defense in the Dynasty System which is where they found the Franken-System they insist on using today.

All we see today is well educated and experienced hockey men trying to best Waayne Gretzkys thinking from a clipboard beause Wayne is the key to executing this system they covet, and their consistant and epic failures have unequivcally proven that they cannot even come close. No closer than they got to equalling or besting his performance on the ice when they played with and against him, they just dont get that they will never be in that league even if there are ten of them at a Round table. Because Gretzky was an INTUIT, for gods sakes,ha ha ha. Statistical acumen is NOT ENOUGH, and really it never has been,the current Oilers tried to equal one single Intuits abilitys by creating a Round Table of powerful nfluences of the exact WRONG type.
Maybe they just dont really BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES anymore, or they dont understand yet how they accomplished their own career benchmarks,the risks they took ALONG with the hardwork they put in, could we be seeing the results of managments growing pains hitting us all at once from the Round Tables corner?

Wayne or any true Intuit standing in the room dwarves the Round Tables optimal capabilities of engaging and consistantly optimally managing the System the Oilers want to use. Or any system for that matter.

Since Messier left they have lacked the Intuitive Dynamic Managment acumen to properly engage the System itself. When Mark left he hadent TAUGHT anyone the Secrets, he left town with them, ha ha, he was to competative and pissed off at Waynes treatment to leave the Holy Grail here with a den of snakes, and I definately understand him, he was doing the right thing.

I dont think the Oilers managment package deserves any more help from here on in, they have bluffed for long enough, now they can ask and pay dearly for help, Wayne was sold, Mark walked, and so has the NewAge Hockey System. Considering that Wayne didnt write a book for managment and taught Mess on the fly how to properly recognise and utilise high levels of Intuition on the ice, and that Mark didnt pass the torch or write that book either, the Oilers ship will remain at the bottom of the ocean, unless they can find and retain a pure Intuit. The team knows the position it is in, and they know they have ALL options available if they are willing to accept that they are buyers not sellers.

I see 15 games of the lines Eakins starts with, built from the defense out, then I see a panic and a line blend or two, then when the misinterpreted and mismanaged results are analysed we will see the usual Oilers mantra of “tighten up the defense” party line, this will be the beginning of the end. The more we tighten up the defense the more the Franken-System will begin to implode.

The problem is that the Kids have TASTED pure offensive hockey already, no one is removing that feeling. The men on the ice for Sams Big Night all know HOW he did it, how THEY did it, and obviously it wasnt conventional system managment. Nor was it being taught by the coaches in practice, at least not in Oilers practices consistantly.

Ralph Krueger didnt damage anything, he did an admirable job, I would have fired the man or men responsible for failing to identify and retain the Intuitive inputs this team has required to manage its system for DECADES.

You cannot fake being an Intuit, a bloated resume does nothing for you, nor does twenty years in the NHL, and all the “Analytics Seminars” in the world will not make you or any coach an Intuit. Those are Stats catalysed analysis. Second hand news to an Intuit.

There wasnt supposed to be defensive support in the middle for the forwards because our 1st defensive transitions were supposed to manage that area tacticlly, but if the transitions werent managed properly then the support broke down, and we naturally became vulnerable, nice observtion, now we need to go back over 48 games and map the number of times the team changed the defensive transition tactics, we were managing our entire gameplan off of our first defensive transitions, and had a heck a of time getting certain d-men to adjust,see Ryan Whitney to grasp the problem, as a result of multiple critical defensive zone exit strategys being implemented on the fly we had poor consistancy and haphazard n-zone transitions, the results showed this. However as we know from certain games when those defensive zone transitions were dialed in we were DOMINANT.

So now we are the crux of the issue, the Oilers system of choice the Franken-System needs to be initiated from the first defensive transition out of our zone, consistantly. This means the coaches need to be able to manage multiple defensive zone exit strategys to be able to effectively counter opponents coaching tactics, we dont answer from the n-zone or o-zone with the Oilers system, we answer from the back-end. This is the hardest managment strategy out there, because of the time it takes between communicating an adjustment and its impact on the ice. We cant react immediatly and properly until we have possesion in our d-zone. This seamsless first transition we need requires a high degree of Intuitive Dynamic Managment, we are gambeling from the backend consisantly when the system is clicking, the pressure is relentless and we do NOT dump the puck in. This means we need the team thinking together intuitively at a higher than normal degree. We need to be LESS conventional in our problem solving approaches, but with the Round Tables powerful influences we have become way to conservative or conventional, add in the systems inborn tendancies to implode when it is tightened up defensively and you have the losing history of the last few decades in hand, and possibly a crystal ball look at the future .

Has anyone checked the NHL record for highest number of Head coaching changes between playoff appearances for a team? We gotta be getting close.








by NewAgeSys on Aug 9, 2013 | 1:03 AM

The Franken-System is the general offensive Dynasty flavor System that the Oilers have tried to maintain since that team produced record setting results.The Olde Boys Club has simply been trying to re-create it for decades unsuccessfully,this does NOT mean that they were WRONG in preserving this System influence,in fact it was the best thing that group has ever done,and the worst thing is not realising that they need HELP to make that System work in todays NHL.Trying to institute any type of defensive structure will not just fail,it will fly in the face of decades of developmental and organisational progress and planning.THIS has been the Oilers Achilles Heel,not Coaches,not Players,and believe it or not not K-Lowe,these men have all done their jobs adequately with the exception of Systems Choice and Managmment,in this area ALL OF THESE MEN HAVE UNDER-PERFORMED EPICLLY.

Dallas had no chance this season,and he has nearly no chance next season,even if the System focus he was just beginning to put together comes together early in the season,he will encounter these same and exact challenges all over again and obviously he and the rest of Oilers managment havent solved any of them to date.This means we will definately see a repeat of this season ,if no capable EXTERNAL input is brought in then this nightmare season will be repeated,I predict the team wins 7-8 more games than this past season if no help is found.

I predict Eakins will be gone by the 30 game mark,the team will be playing under .500 hockey to that point and the Blame-game will begin again,we will not discuss potential Player moves because when an organisation has no ability to self-valuate or self-diagnose then they must reach out for external inputs and the Oilers refuse to be Buyers,they refuse to accept outside inputs,so obviously they will be making critical errors if they make Player moves before they sort out their laundry.


If I am near correct then Eakins was just figuring out that defensive zone exit significance at the end of the season. Passing Grades to ALL Players for 2013-14,across the board,the challenges the team faced ALL SEASON LONG were CLEARLY DEFINED in the Pre-season,just not by the Oilers managment group.This is their Bad,not the Players bad.I even pretty much nailed the timeline down,the Primary challenge is and always has been that clear.The Fix for the Oilers has always been simple and easy to execute,it has been difficult getting the message across to Oilers managment because of a historical record of executing the Messengers,like in the movie The 300 ha ha ha.


Just watch the Blues zone coverage and you will see what Dallas was doing with his defensive structure early last season,he was not making a mistake in what he was doing,he simply failed to carry it over to the rest of the 200 foot game,the Blues are implementing the same NewAge Hockey System tactics Dallas needs to embrace,however the Blues require some help ASAP as well,they are counting on their positioning the right way but are failing to incorporate contact into that focus,they need to keep the System structure the same,but they need to ADD contact without losing structural integrity,more fly-by types of hits,more interference types of contact,they must KEEP THEIR SUPERIOR POSITIONING as it is looking great,they are using their spheres of influence properly and optimally,however the Hawks also use NHS tactics and are simply looking for ways to use this in their own favor,this means that if you look at the last goal scored last game it says everything,had the man covering the shooter simply made a decision to move up and extend himself enough to make contact with his stick or body then no shot and no OT goal,the rest of the structural coverage was adequate when that goal was scored. This is the contact I am asking for now,not heavy contact in vulnerable areas that destroys System integrity,but good decisions that eliminate shooting opportunitys from the periphery,the Blues System is working perfectly and is keeping the passing lanes closed and forcing extended puck carries in their d-zone,this is what they want,but now they need to focus on stopping the peripheral tactics the Hawks are focusing on.Then we need to talk shots,the Blues need to generate more shots in OT and overall,this is a small adjustment in the 20% range,20% of their o-zone possesions must bring quicker shots on net,keep the all of the current System tactics the same,just bring the puck from the boards right to the net 20% more of the time using the first man on the puck on the backboards,I like how they are using the area behind the net and the boards,but they need to mix it up and create more shots on net,nothing fancy and nothing overboard,just take 20% of those o-zone possesions you battle to get behind their net RIGHT TO THE BUCKET,pick your spots and explode off of the boards and go for it.

There was an excellent adjustment late that stopped the Hawks tender from breaking down the dump-ins however there are better methods to use,you changed your entry tactics and timing when you could have left them the same and simply adjusted where and how you dumped the pucks in,you need to try to encourage their goalie to handle the puck as he like to because it plays into your own system execution , but you also need to set him up for failure by making those pucks he is getting very hard for him to handle.No Major adjustments,your System is working fine,just small adjustments.

Tonight we will focus on shutting down their o-zone entrys by forechecking their defensive zone exits umtil they cannot put together the three transitions they need to make their system work.

No more quick final transitions and quick strike offense with the defense collapsing back just enough to put the shooters in terminal range.

Sticks on the ice and extending ,feet moving for the entire shift, head turning constantly ,mistake free,loud communicating type of hockey.

The Blues need to make a few small adjustments .

They need to adjust their PP, the point man who works the middle of the blueline is a right hand shot and when he gets the puck he isnt managing it porperly all the time,two things need to be done to destroy the Hawks.

PP tactic #1 - the point man as you have it set up needs to immdeiatly skate the puck to his righ when he gets possesion,then he needs to stay high and hit the binders and then SKATE BACKWARDS TO TRIGGER THE PLAYACTION.

The sprint to his right laterally will give his support time to set up,and when he hits the binders and skates backwards back to his left he will force the entire defense to transition AND he will be putting himself in superior position to use his strong side passing to saucer passes over to his RIGHT side against the grain,to the backdoor angle,catching the goalie and the defense goinfg the wrong direction.

As it is being done now,he is getting possesionnand then is remaining planted where he is and he is trying to use his teammates to set up a multiple passing play to beat the defense, to many ineffectual high passes and no shot threat from him in the middle,when all he needs to do is set up an immediate shot mimself,cutting one or two passes out of the equation and capitalising earlier.The lack of a true shot threat from that pointman is a critical weakness,and needs to be fixed,this can be done AS HE SKATES BACKWARDS TO HIS LEFT ALONG THE BLUELINE ,he will have the option to shoot himself as he drags the defense into a transition with his motion,his Primary passing outlet will be across the grain back to his right backdoor,so as he is coming back to his left skating backwards he will need to judge the lane to that open man on the right and if it isnt clear then he needs to immediatly drag and shoot because it will mean they are cheating to their right side to take away the backdoor,this of course means that his shot will need to be taken from SIX feet to the left of dead center and go to the low left post or high left post side.So really to support this setup you need one support man going to the side of the net and getting position on the left side in close to shovel in anything off of that pointman shot if it comes and one support man hanging clear to the riight side backdoor,his zone depth doesnt matter as much as his angle of shot delivery does,the net will be wide open so he will have a lot of leeway.

You are executing a very good PP set-up,you are simply failing to manage it the right way,you ARE executing it nearly exactly as I posted a while back,but you need to remember why you are taking the puck to that middle pointman,you are doing it to control the playactions using lateral movement from up high,this means that because your pointman shoots right you need to have him manage himself as I outlined here earlier.You need that middle man to stay high on the blueline and to MOVE the defense into transitions with his lateral movement,BUT he needs to present a valid scoring threat at the same time.The impacts you are looking for are three-fold,one is the middlemans shot to the left post side,the second is the cross-grain pass to the right side back-door shot,the third is a give and go with the left side half-board suppor man,---- IF the middle pointman makes his right side sprint forcing the defense over and then hits the binders and skates backwards back to his left and the cross-grain pass is not there and the shot to the left post side isnt clear then his third option is to yell out and have his half-board support cut across between him and the middle defender over to the middle support position as the puck carrier curls inside off of the blueline up high and then the pass BACK to the middle point position to START the giive and go,as soon as he releases that pass back to the middle from four feet inside the zone along the boards he needs to cut into the net to recieve the puck for the quick release onetmer shot.



Go back to my original posts outlining this PP setup,and note WHY it is managed from the middle.


This is a quick-strike set-up,it is NOT designed for overpassing,just one extra pass screws up the lateral control aspects that force the opposition to transition when they dont want to.Once the puck is in the o-zone and has been given to that middle man everything goes into action based off of his positioning and managment including verbals,but once the puck is in possesion in the middle the hammer is pulled back and the PP is suppossed to fire immediatly.

No more back and forth up high,no overpassing,once the middleman gets that puck he uses his lateral movement to force their defense to transition and open up.Everytime a rebound is spit back up to the middle the entire gun is reset and the strike should be immediate again,NO PAUSES and no wasted pucks as soon as rebounds are collected they need to go right back to that control spot high in the middle on the blueline for the reset,Players on the PP should only leave their designated outlet positions to retrieve and pass to the middleman rebounds,then immediatly fade right back to position,no swarming all over,just darts out to get the puck back to the chamber of the gun in the middle on the blueline.

This series will be decided by special teams so work on this immediatly.

Things are so close I would not make any major system changes,but you need to work on getting the pucks to the net off of the deep boards behind the net,you need to start having guys lean back into the checks and explode towards the net,they only need to get back three or four feet to be effective,so lets see some explosions backwards to force those pucks to the netfront faster for shots ,not so much work along the boards and more explosions towards the net,less east west working and more north south bulling of the puck,you need to use your size advantage within your system execution so do it this way,bull the puck to the net,the defenders are always pinching you from behind off the dump-ins so instead of working along the boards bring it OFF of the boards immediatly and do it by pushing BACKWARDS using your size as a weapon.explode back and spin off to the net.

You need to stop their middle defender from cheating on offense,they have been doing it all series long and it is effective for them,but we will work on that at gametime,because you dont want to overthink anything,just adjust the PP so it functions as it is suppossed to and then bring more pucks straight off the boards north/south by exploding backards.

I believe that the PP adjustments will pay off immediatly because you ARE setting it up very very well,you are just failing to pull the trigger,and this is because your middleman wasnt considering his three options properly and he wasnt managing his east/west lateral motion to force the defense to transition effectively.Just sit down and use your chalkboard or clipboard or whatever and outline the set-up as I posted,this is how I designed it ,I outlined similar tactics then,but I didnt include the give and go, which will really burn the Hawks,because when that half-board support activates he will cut from the half-board position right over to the middle support spot and as he does so he cuts off and out the defense middle coverage man,he picks him out as the puck carrier slides all the way to his left high on the blueline,because of how the hawks are running their coverage you will isolate their middle coverage man and freeze him,and the finish of the give and go will end up being behind him and on the inside.

You will find that simple give and goes inside the hawks zone will pay great dividends,this is where the size difference really comes in,short 5-10 foot passes and bullying towards the net that way will overpower the Hawks defense,once you can force their forwards to engage you have an advantage,so those short give and goes will force the backchecking forwards to engage you in their defensive zone,if you keep dumping and chasing you allow their defensemen to handle and clear the puck to early and their forwards dont have to engae and you lose some of your size advanatges.Dont make major changes,but ADD give and goes inside the o-zone 25% of your possesions,be CLEAR when you want the men to do this,manage it as coaches from the bench and communicate it well.Keep your system integrity and do the dump-ins ,just ADD something new that allows you to utilise your size and work their forwards over.

An added bonus I forgot to list is that because of the middlemans shot side as he drifts over to his left coming backwards and goes into the give and go set-up about 5 feet inside the o-zone he opens up a 4th option for himself,and that is a top corner shot because he will be almost at the halfboards and in excellent body position to shoot it himself.And once again as he hits this spot the defense will be again in transition and vulnerable..

So remember that once that middleman gets possesion HE activates everything and he is the catalyst ,first he will initiate lateral motion forcing the defense to transition the direction he wants it to move , then either he will be making the pass to the rightside cross-grain backdoor shot,or he will be shooting inside left post himself,or he will be sliding all the way over to his left and penetrating 5 feet into the o-zone setting up a give and go with his half-board support man,or he will be coming off the boards three feet above the half-boards position to go cookie Jar if that give and go is closed out. But under ALL CIRCUMSTANCES that middleman is the brains of the operation as soon as he gets possesion,and this is QUICK-STRIKE PP set-up,it is not designed to overpass the puck,once the middleman gets it everyone goes into action,and as soon as they recover pucks they get it back to the middleman immediatly and reset,no swarming around and collapsing on the net,just an organised darting in to recover and kick out pucks to re-set.Because this set-up foces defensive transitions so easily is is QUICK-STRIKE,the middleman will have three potential shot opps,the left inside pist,the finish of the give and go,or the top corner,his primary pass will be cross-grain to the right side as he is dragging the defense back to his left and is on his strong stick side,his secondary pass will be into the give and go with his halfboard support man,so really this is a fire and re-load set-up that is immediatly primed as soon as the puck is mack in the middle up high on the blueline,no need for overpassing and really if the pass isnt cross-grain backdoor or into the give and go ,then it is an overpass,there are so many options coming out of the middle of this PP setup that it is the most dangerous set-up available,and FYI this was designed for the Oilers,and they tried it but not for long enough to get proper results and to learn it well.This is the NHS PP set-up and it is ultra-QUICK-STRIKE,you have managed to execute it really well in terms of getting it setup and the pucks to the middleman,now you need to listen to Moma2 and start executing the PP as I designed it to work.

I am actually so confident in this PP set-up that i will say that if you can iron it out as I outlined here,or even go back to the original posts you used that I made for the Oilers ,either way if you execute it as the NHS dictates it will win you this series with the Hawks,the system executions are so close and will remain so that it is what is called a system chack-mate,your series willl be decided by extra efforts,by one man extended playaction superman efforts,it is that simple.The Hawks are finding ways to generate those situations where players can take risks and skate the puck hard on extended penetrations right to the net in superman fashion,this is a tactic and is system inducedYou MUST also greenlight men to make these types of decisons when they think they can win footraces,you must be prepared to break out of system posture and take 200 foot runs at the opposition once in a while,especially when the systems are essentially cancelling each other out in the n-zone.

On a sidenote,if you want to CRUSH the Hawks,simply use a two man hard forecheck timed to take out the puck carrer and primary pass outlet forcing them to skate it out immediatly,then shut them down in the n-zome just as the exit their zone.The Hawks MUST use their defensive zone exits to set up their o-zone transitions,you have been playing chess with them in the n-zone as they have done to you and this creates the system check-mate,but to kick it up a notch,send in the 2 man forecheck and keep the 3rd man high in the n-zone looking to pinch the d-man forced to skate it out.This is how you execute the Hawks and send them packing, you deconstruct their System by stopping the defensive zone transition,by making their defensemen skate the puck up and pout,you see fellas,they are getting the pucks into their forwrds hands immediatly and very very early,and this is killing you,so you need to keep the puck out of their forwards hands in their own zone,remember it benefits them to have the puck on their forwards sticks ASAP in their own zone,they are a possesion team.Use a high pressure forecheck to hurry-up their defensive zone exits,forcing their d-men to skate it out by pinching off the primary pass outlet along with the puck carrier,then again pinching that isolated skating d-man just as he enters the n-zone.

Right now you are allowing them time to set up the d-zone exits using forwards in their own zone and are challenging them in the n-zone,but this isnt generating enough offense for you,and they are slipping in behind your defense to much, so the real Hawks Buster is to shut down their 1st defensive zone exit transitions,and snuff them out at the high n-zone just as they exit their own zone.

In a nutshell they are constantly slipping behind your defense because their forwards are gaining possesion and control of the pucks early in their own zone and are always hitting your defense with speed and numbers when you are in transition yourselves,this is why the 2 man forecheck and n-zone pinch will destroy them,it will force their defense to skate the pucks out after you isolate one of them by effectively timing the 2 man forecheck,the Hawks copied the NHS tactics i devised for the Oilers a few years ago,they are easy to stop by using this simple forecheck and pinch method,and as a benefit the pinch if timed right will result in awsome turnovers you can take right back at them with speed,because you will be challenging them head on and facing them when you strip the puck.This focus will result in them dumping MNAY MANY pucks into your zone instead of skating them in with possesion and numbers advantages.


So Captain Kirk,there it is,you have two choices,keep er steady and make mnor adjustments to the PP and kill them that way keeping your System focus the same,OR,you can switch to the 2 man forecheck with an n-zone pinch on the puck carrier who is isolated and forced to skate it out and into the coverage.

This is a tough choice ,adjusting the PP alone will keep things consistant but will not really stop the Hawks 5 on 5 System,however if you eliminate their 1st defensive zone exit and isolate a d-man with a 2 man forecheck and force them to skate it out then pinch themn the high n-zone with NORTH/SOUTH pressure you will dominate them 5 on 5.

If you are confident you will do BOTH things,adjust the PP AND the System focus in terms of forecheck and n-zone coverage.

Just look at the tapes and see how early the Hawks are getting the puck into their forwards hands and see how much they depend on the 1st defensive zone exit transitions,look at how they are getting behind your defense by catching them in transition because their forwards are already postured and coming forward with numbers advantages.Look at your PP and see how good you are at setting it up into the middle ,but then notice how everything falls apart and dies as soon as one option is closed when that middleman is flatfooted and static and how ineffective the entire setup is if the middleman doesnt inititate EAST/WEST lateral motion to force defenisve transitions.


Make these few small adjustments and walk all over the Hawks, These are adjustmets they cannot stop even if they are reading this as they likely are.The Hawks system is dependant on the 1st defensive zone exit,and getting the puck into their forwards hands,and if they cant do that then they greenlight the d-man to go 200 feet so he is easy to pinch in the n-zone,he has little support by the time he gets there.

Captain Kirk,earlier when i was telling you to watch what J Schultz was doing,I was referring to the east/west lateral high blueline motion I have been working into him the hard way,this forces defenses into transition and opens up cross-grain seams all over the place.

As soon as the middleman controlling the playaction is static and standing still not moving laterally the entire PP stalls.That middle man wants to be skating the puck east/west along the blueline and NOT having to recieve hot potatoe passes from the half-boards unless he absolutely has to,this PP is QUICK-STRIKE,so every time you have to reset and pass the puck back to the middleman it is an unwanted risk,as you are executing it now the middleman is static and waiting for their coverage to come out to him and is killing the entire PPs focus,and you are passing it between the half-boards and middle A LOT without getting shots off.

This is the main adjustment to the PP you need to make,J Schultz likes to pull the trigger and catch goalies cross-grain right side,a weird risky [shot blocks coming back out with him going the wrong direction]preference as soon as he drags the defense into transition with that movement,it took a long time to get him to learn to sprint the puck forward to his right and then brake and reverse skating backwards in an immediate reversal transition and then use his strong right- side passing and shooting to catalyse the playactions.

You can run the set-up in the opposite direction if you have a lefty controlling the tactics from the high middle.

If you use a right shot middle support man as you have been doing make sure the right half-boards man is a LEFT shot so he can finish the cross-grain passes with one-timers.And no wasted motions on the shots ,use onetimers or redirections or scoop-shots,touch-shots anything that is QUICK-RELEASE,remember you are trying to catch them in transition and score using quickness not power.


Make sure both half-boards supports on the PP are LEFT shots ,this is important for the give and go play off of the left side,AND for the cross-grain backdoor shots.If you try to initiate the give and go pressure outlet play using a right handed shot on the left half-boards you will end up giving the pucks up for breakaways off of pokechecks,you need to have a Lefty recieving the puck in the middle on the outside on his forehand from a righty fading to the half-board area to keep it away from the middle coverage mans stick checks.

The Barons need some help I see,Mr.nelson I havent seen a lick of your games,no easy access,I will look at the highlights I can find while I am posting here and give you a rundown,I just watched a goal you scored last game and saw quite a few major differences in presentation and posturing on the ice that deviate from the NHL game,a lot of weak areas in your opposition,especially in their d-zone.


Lets break it down man.

"The Oklahoma Barons arent built to protect a lead." - This was a post-game blog comment I randomly stumbled across.

This comment stood alone in the series of posts I read,it was a sore thumb,everyone else was discussing observations in a one dimensional way,but this person may have hit the nail on the head.


I quickly looked over game summaries for both games,and this is a fairly accurate valuation.It seems to me that as soon as the Barons switch to a defensive game preservation mode they open up cracks in their system.

So i immediatly referred back to the only 5 second clip of action I had seen on the goal the Barons scored last game and looked for corroberating evidence,and I found it.

Texas wants to slow the game down as much as they can,they do not want to run and gun,they are trying to keep the tempo down.They are playing a zone type of system and they are playing positional hockey,zone coverage type of structure.They are trying to play the patient waiting game.

Turn the tables on them and , go back to your game one focus,and feed them the offense for 60 minutes consistantly,they will want to keep it close next game,they will be under all of the pressure,not you fellas,so open it up on them and keep the offense coming hard and fast.

You as a Coach need to find ways to use your players to force the Texas team into TRANSITIONS,they are consistantly getting into zone coverage positions early and uniformly.You want to make them execute ANOTHER transition immediatly after they posture up in zone coverage.

I think that their System strength is in the NORTH/SOUTH layer of the game,and that they are designed to collapse into zone coverage areas quickly to snuff high speed rushes and zone transitions, the texas System doesnt do so well against laterally focused zone transitions and penetrations executed at controlled speeds which are alternated tacticlly,.

Nelson,you want to force them to make transitions using your lateral puck and player movements,spread them out wide and make them communicate more than they want to,dont make any huge changes,just adjust your o-zone entry tactics a bit to utilise a 3 man lateral blueline breach that exits the n-zone at 75% speed,leaving accelleration room through the o-zone so the players can stagger themselves as they penetraste the zone and spread out there defense as wide as possible.Then you use your sticks,you keep the pucks wide and on the periphery,you use touch passes and re-direction shots,scoop shots one-timers quick-release stuff.

As long as the o-zone entry speed is properly managed at 75%,then the puck carrier wull have the time to make a lateral adjustment as soon as he crosses the blueline,at his disgression,but the support men will all continue to penetrate the zone at different speeds,the outside winger will INCREASE his speed as he crosses the blueline to 100% and drive to the backdoor,the other winger or support man will continue into the zone penetrating at the same 75% entry speed, and the puck carrier will be allowed to use and speed he chooses to move laterally as long as he focuses on hitting his wingers with saucers ,remember he will be moving and facing a lateral direction so his passes will be angled perfectly for saucers,which means QUICK-RELESASE shots.The puck carrier will always have a PRIMARY backdoor option on one side that has slammed their defensive structure by INCREASING HIS SPEED SUBSTANTIALLY BY 25% just as he hits the blueline pulling at least one man to him and maybe two if the center ice coverage bites and cheats,he will have a SECONDARY pass option in his other support man who will be maintaining a 75% penetration speed and should be in the slot in excellent shooting position and at a perfect speed exactly as the backdoor man hits his spot,this means that as a third option a pass to the slot followed by a touch pass to the backdoor will beat them consistantly all night long.And remember the puck carrier will be moving laterally as soon as he crosses the blueline,maybe cutting east/west two feet into the zone and increasing his speed laterally getting good shot opportunitys himself.


If you use this lateral zone entry option with your speeds properly managed you will spread out their defensive coverage to the max,remember they are focusing on areas of real estate.

This means they are also ,at least in the 5 second clip I watched so far keeping their sticks high and are cheapshotting to the body with a lot of cross-checks,this is territorial behaviour and validates their Systems zone coverage focus in their zone,when a player postures up with his stick in both hands and OFF the ice he presents a squared up body and this can be used against him.

Think about the backdoor men and how they position their feet and bodies when they engage around the Texas net,they need to prepare for the cross-checks up high,and this means facing the defense from the outside,so essentially if you are looking at passing the puck cross ice to the backdoor you will actually be seeing the BACK of a squared up defender who is blocking out the FRONT of your teammate who is being hit high and has no stick on the ice,--- you see you need that backdoor man to engage the defenders face-to-face and to try to work them side to side with the focus on keeping the defense from blocking them out and staying tight to the post as they fight to turn the defenseman sideways ,this way the man with the puck can simply pass high and hard and likely bank the oucks in off of the back of the sideways defender or the front of his teammate whois glued to the post backdoor facing the playtaction.

Remember to consider exactly what the passer will see at the exact moment he is in position,dont let that defender block out or screen your pass reciever at the backdoor,that man has to work himself out of the defenders shadow and stay glued to the post so he wants to push the defenders sideways and towards the slot while staying glued to the post facing the play squarely.Turn the d-mans body and BACK into a bank shot position for the incoming pass and keep your own body
square and FACING the playaction so your body cleans up any pucks that make it through and you bank them into the open backdoor.

Let them execute like they want to,just make these small adjustments and exploit them for not keeping their sticks on the ice and body positions optimal.Remember it is their System forcing them to keep their sticks up defending a territorial mentality,so they will do it consistantly and if they change it might make things worse for them and better for you because it will break their system continuity.

If they want to take the body and ignore the pucks,dont look for pucks and get yourselves smashed to pieces,simply battle them back on their terms but in a smarter way,use Intuitive Dynamic Managment to victimise them by manipulating their body mechanics and positioning.Score goals how they let you,use the entire rule-book,who cares if 5 goals go in off of bodies the same way right? If you can make this simple adjustment you will force them to adjust their entire zone coverage system focus and it will unravel them.just use the same play over and over and over on them,on the tactics I gave you earlier outlineing the multi-level and speed o-zone entry I showed you how to install the backdoor man lightening fast,so you will be able to set up this dynamic using the defenders body mechanics as a first strike weapon because that backdoor man will be in position first allowing the puck carrier who is moving laterally the option of making the cross-grain pass/bank-shot if he chooses early.Just ask the backdor man to engage the way I say and turn the defenders body to the right angle as he faces the playactions producing a two-layer bank-shot option for any pucks coming across high and hot.If they are going to take away the sticks on the ice around their net by using viscious cross-checks then score your goals up high with deflections and bank-shots into the open net.Remember everyones skates are at ice level as well and when your back-door man turns the defender sideways he will also turn his skates,this backdoor man also has to remember to position his own feet in a favorable angle as well tight to the post.You take what they give you and then find ways to squeeze out even more than they are willing to give you.

I just watched a replay of the Locke to Olson goal, THAT is almost exactly what I am asking you to do to them on your o-zone entrys,almost exactly what I am asking for,except I want to see the back door man hitting his spot first and faster than they got set up.

Now I have watched a 5 second clip and this Olson goal which is a two minute clip,and that is all I need to see.As soon as I saw the Olson goal I realised I was already steering you in the right direction,just dissect that goal they scored and compare it to what I posted earlier,it is the same tactics,you need to do this as well as the other small adjustments I advised.

Start the tape when they have the puck in the mid n-zone,then take it frame by frame,pay attention to the SPEEDS the 3 forwards are using, especially watch what happens to the d-man on the left side when the blueline is breached,more specificlly watch his face as the puck is transitting the n-zone and he is forced to make decisions,he gets caught flatfooted when the forward on is side ACCELLERATES to 100% at the line but the playaction is moving slower as a whole.



You now have my analysis based off of about 2min and 5 seconds of tape and gut instinct which just so happens to mirror a goal they scored on you EXACTLY.

You have my version here and if you watch that tape you have a real-life on-ice version of almost exactly what I need you to do now.You get to see them doing what I advised to YOU and you get to see how you reacted ,if you can grasp this and do it to them,you will turn this series around.

At any rate you need to contact the puck carrier in the n-zone and birddog him all the way in.

You might want to watch your backcheckers coming back as well and count the number of fly-bys of the puck carrier there were,men who were focused on something? so important that no one thought to close on the puck immediatly even though they had a speed advantage as soon as locke slowed down and activated laterally in the o-zone.

Remember the backcheckers are ideally creating a hammer and Anvil action with the defense,so if the defense collapses in and the backcheck hasnt caught up to the puck carrier things collapse,,if you are lucky when this happens and the puck carrier is dumb enough to take the puck laterally and slow his speed then your backcheckers can nail him if they are focused,not fly-by like everyone did on that play.The worst threat on that defensive collapse is actually a north/south net drive threat with direct zone penetration,you got lucky and they screwed up but because you werent looking for anything and were just skating back aimlessly on the backchecks no one engaged the laterally moving slowed down puck carrier.

I have to comment on the backcheck speed and determination,it didnt look good enough on that play boys,remember that the payoff on hard backchecking cannot be anticipated,you DO NOT KNOW WHY you are going back so hard so there is no carrot or target for you to dial in on,BUT you still need to pretend there is one and give 110% and let things develop as they mat,HOWEVER you still need to keep your head up and dial in on the puck carrier,in other words everyman backchecking should be angeling onto the puck carrier getting into his passing lanes,HOPING he slows down and makes even a tiny lateral adjustment so he can be run down and caught.



You may be losing the footrace in a backchecking dynamic as you are exiting the n-zone,but if you stay on it 100% there is a high chance the defense will force a puck carrier hesitation,so in reality you can be TWO FULL STRIDES behind the puck carrier at the top of the n-zone but as you exit it into your d-zone you will be rapidly closing that distance,and by mid-zone you will actually be impacting the playaction with your stick-check influence.

it should be a terminal mistake to make a lateral puck movement adjustment on an offensive rush if the backcheckers are giving 100% and understand how and when they will get their payoff for that hard work,once the backcheckers grasp how and when they become important then they gain confidence and dont give up on footraces through the n-zone,communication is key as well,if the backcheckers and defense are talking then one d-man can step up and make contact high when the backchecker is closing fast on the puck carrier with superior speed and will overtake him,this is the Hammer and Anvil action, as soon as the d-man makes a move to step up on the puck carrier,the puck mover hesitates or busts a move and decreases his speed and angle of attack,and THIS is where confident and hardworking backcheckers bacome gamebreakers because it is this tiny hesitation that makes all of the haed skating back pay off,this is the window of opportunitty that backcheckers use to take pucks back and break up playactions.It is a sweet-spot and it is slightly different every time,but it is still there nearly every time,the only way you miss your crack at the puck is if the puck carrier busts his cojones right to the net and encounters no resistance .

Give your backcheckers a pat on the back and sit down with them and explain how and when they should expect their hard work and impact to be felt by the playaction no matter how bad it might look as they are coming back,explain to them that they are in the best positions to break games open because as backcheckers they often catch entire lines of opponents going against the grain together,this means that when you strip a puck backchecking the playaction even in your own zone,YOU ARE NOW THE MAN and you are green-lighted to take it on a 200 foot footrace if you choose,you DO NOT need to wait for teammate support to transition immediatly to offense and go the other way,and many many times you are the last man back and open to clear sailing.

Backchecking ---- Backbone.......

These are the men who work the hardest every shift,they are the difference makers,they are deep in the trenches every second they are out there.

Lets go Barons,you fellas know how to lay it on the line,so let it all hang out and turn this series around.

Coach Nelson,do not make any MAJOR adjustments,just small ones where you see fit,listen to these tactics i offer,but if it means major changes re-consider,if you can create the impacts i outline without major system chcnges then perfect,go for it man.

My advice coach is to put together the most powerfull and confident lineup you can muster,be IN IT TO WIN IT,you have knocked on the door enough times and if you have learned anything it should be that when you see a gifthorse you dont look it in the mouth you kick it in the cojones so it drops long enough for you to unload all of its gifts.You need to come out with the intention of winning the next game,not competeing but DOMINATING,you need to change no more than the next games results,you will then change momentum,there is no wiggle room now.


Review your options,only take paths of least resistance,remove nothing,ADD if needed.Be pro-Active and go manifest a Win,if you do not take it you may one day convince yourself that it was never within reach.

Destiny must unfortunately be ripped from the hearts of prone opponents,you must carve your way to the top on their backs,you must view them as a single step of the staircase and then step on them to elevate yourself,nothing more complicated than that.No overthinking,just one step at a time.

Sorry fellas,I didnt have access to a T.V,I see it is 1-1 ,mmmm,thats not very good,there are no periods left to waste.

Lets see if we can fire this offense up.

I will be short and sweet with the adjustments,not much explanation attatched tonight,the chips are down and you need to react fast and stay in sequence with me.

Very very nice lateral movement on this PP,you got it now boys.

You are stopping their 1st defensive zone transition perfectly,and it is shutting them down,keep on it.Just like you are doing.Nice forecheck adjustment and n-zone support.

This is the St.Louis System execution that is optimal and dominant.

The Hawks dont know what to do,how to adjust,they cannot overcome the stuffing of their 1st d-zone exit,and when their forwards cannot get the puck early they wilt and collapse.

On this PP lets see the middleman dragging the playaction to the left and passing against the grain to the backdoor onetimer from the right circle or half-boards.

I was just going to say there was a distinct lack of urgency on the PP and no zone penetration,but you all decided to shoot yourself in the foot huh?

Maybe this penalty was a result of that lack of urgency and focus,talk about it and get your crap together now.

Why all the passes on this PP,you are overpassing,you are killing yourself,there is no urgency.

One pass to the blueline,then a lateral move and a shot or a pass then a shot,no overpassing,you are looking silly now.

You need to make your passes crisper and your shot releases faster,onetimers,re-directions deflections,but your are taking to LONG TO SET UP AND GET THE SHOT OFF,you are simply to slow,speed up that passing ans those shot releases.

I told you this series would be decided by special teams yesterday,and it is happening right now.

You need to quick-strike off of the high blueline possesion on the PP,not overpass


There is a slim chance that there will be an NHL record one-sided PP number on the stats sheet post-game ,but i am more inclined to think you are screwed already if you do not score a shorthanded goal tonight,one way or another it will be special teams difference,it is what you are making it be remember that.

On the PP once you get it to the blueline up high,you can move it anywhere you want to ,but you must finish a playaction every time,not just go back and forth along the blueline with it playing catch with your half-wall support,if you pass it ONCE that means the reciever is EXPECTED TO SHOOT THE PUCK ASAP,not look for another pass,but shoot immediatly,the high blueline man is the triggerman,either HE SHOOTS or he sets up a shot,he NEVER sets up another pass,so whenever he passes on the PP the wingers are responsible for JUST SHOOTING ASAP,not THINKING IT OVER.


That PP pointman needs to make clear decisions and faster,and the shots really need to speed up coming off the sticks,there must be an urgency and an immediate shot taken especially on the PP.

The idea is to get the puck off your sticks as fast as possible,to speed up the finish,no getting set,no windup,just redirections,onetimers,scoopshots,deflections,anything FAST.