"Scotty Wazz Guest Post" or "Words of Wazz"

I will start off in full disclosure that I have no alliance with any WHL team, mostly because I’m embedded with a few clusters of different teams. That said, I have seen more WHL game this year than I have NHL games in the past five years.

In any case, I’ve been lurking and smart-ass commenting on this site and the LiveBlogs because of the fact of my relationship with DS. And while I’ve heard some aggravation about the team and some of its players, I didn’t think it was as bad as people were making it out to be. I thought it was just passionate fans upset about the team’s slide in the second half and the drought of some of the players then.

Friday night proved me wrong and them right.

The first 40 minutes of Game One showed that a lot of what had been said was true. To be honest, there’s plenty of things I had conniption fits about-- like position in the defensive zone, five forwards on the power play, face-off positioning-- but the thing that got me the most was how the team was trying to throw the body around when they are outsized the way they were. They got thrown off their game very easily and lost focus on their speed game. Once they realized they couldn’t throw the body as well as the Bruins, the Ams got their shit together and their speed game killed. They got back on track, showed what got them such a big lead in the US Division in the first place, and had all the momentum into Game Two.

They promptly took that momentum and ran with it in the second game. While they didn’t put much on the scoreboard thanks to Lucas Gore having the Ams number, the Ams out hustled the Bruins and won the battles they needed. Though they got into penalty troubles early-- Drew Owsley was as advertised (or fawned over-- whichever) by DS. His position was solid, though I felt some mechanics weren’t quite right-- but I’m not a goalie coach or ever played goalie, so who am I to say?? Once they got going the second, the Ams had the Bruins off their game, making them take bad penalties and making them pay for them while on the power play. Once the flood gates opened on the third, which included two weight-off-his-shoulders goals from Todd Kennedy; that’s the signs of a team who had been dominant in the first-half and it seemed they had actually played a team game.

For both games, however, another issue I had was the lack of urgency when it came to shooting the puck. It seems like the team is a more pass-happy bunch. It showed with eight goals on 32 shots for Game Two, and while they make it count, this is not a way to victory in the playoffs. That lack of urgency also showed with the countless amount of times that the recipient of the pass would stop and set his shot, rather than taking a one-timer and giving themselves a scoring chance rather than a missed opportunity.
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Now, to the promised diagrams of someone who has no coaching experience and probably shouldn’t be taken literally. First off, the issue that really got me was the defensive zone face off. The Ams use an overload in the slot area, one on the near half-board and no-one behind center. While it’s alright to overload the slot, the fact there’s someone on the half-board irked me. So, rather than that-- here’s this.

As you can see, the overload is still there, however, you have a defenseman behind center. IF it’s won back cleanly, the defenseman can roll behind the net and start a breakout in the far side. Even if they lose the face-off, the winger on the inside will be unobstructed when trying to get to his point, cross-ice.

As far as the power play, the fact there’s a unit of five forwards out there when the team itself doesn’t have many high-octane scorers to start out with. The team is very consistent, but not consistent enough to warrant five forwards when you had so many short-handed chances given up in these first two games. What should be done where you have someone like Tyler Schmidt and Brett Plouffe on the point in an umbrella formation.

As you see, you put one of them up there to dish it out to the wings on the top of the circles while you plop someone like Neal Prokop or Jordan Messier in front of the net to mix things up and screening the keeper. You put a sniper like Johnny Lazo or Justin Faser on the backdoor to get the slap-pass and sneak in for a scoring chance.

Now, the defensive zone coverage is not something that is restricted to the Ams, at least from what I’ve seen, but it’s something that I’ve been irked by every time I’ve seen it. The wingers have been far too low for my liking, which has resulted in plenty of chances and sometimes easy goals for the opposition. Also, I’ve seen the defense being too far from the far post, which leaves the back door wide open (wocka, wocka).

So, this what I learned-- that everyone has their little quadrant with the center roaming up and down the middle and going where he’s needed to help out. It puts out a tight checking look to the scheme and keeps everyone in their position. One defenseman always in front of the net (which is something that lapsed a couple times during the first two games) and keeping the far post in check so no one can sneak in from behind (wocka, wocka). The PK can use this system too, just minus the center in the middle.

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So, that’s what’s up. Game Two was a much more complete game than Game One and it showed that this Ams team can be as good as they were prior to the new calendar year. The players that were raved about were as good as advertised and once the nerves were gotten over and once they got their game plan all correctly situated; the Americans look like a tough team to beat. As long as they can convert on their power plays as much as they did in Game Two and keep a calm, level head and stay out of the box-- they should be in a good position to win the series. While they’re up two games, it’s not the time to get too overconfident because that could be the downfall of the team in the end. Just look at what’s happening to the Calgary Hitmen right now; first in the regular season and now in a 0-2 deficit in the first round.

Everything here is my take and mine alone. Like I said, I’ve never coached, so I know little to none of what’s effective with certain players. I’m just going by what worked for my teams when I played on them when they were implemented. For more asinine babbling, check me out at this site and you'll.....probably regret it. Any bitching, complaining, or general rabbling-- email me here and I'll....do something with it, who knows.