Power Play - Half Wall "Exchanges"

Discussing options for your Power Play, half wall & D man exchanges can make or break the flow and speed of your PP. Practice the "common exchanges" for results.

[@ArifKhan.]

Works well with a bumper in the high slot. 👍😊

[@darrynthiessen4667]

You make a lot of interesting points. I see the benefits of L shot being on left side and R shot being on right side, that you can better protect the puck and move it around the perimeter. Other than that, I really believe the attack from the half wall is always better with the player being on his off wing. The biggest reason is the options that are there in that scenario. The off wing half wall player is always a threat for a shot by either shooting from the outside, or more importantly being able to walk to the middle for a shot. Also for one-time shots. A player playing on his correct wing can't do that as well if at all, so the options are more limited. Maybe in less skilled age groups it would be a safer strategy to protect the puck, but at higher skill levels and leagues, I would always want my team to be running plays from half wall with the player on his off wing.

[@jerrysmith9780]

Bruce Cassidy agrees with your philosophy. Boston does exactly what you're talking about and for the same reasons.

[@dms8355]

Great video's, I really enjoy your stuff. I've also experienced through my days playing having the winger on the half wall actually leave the ozone and cut back in (same side) with speed. This would make sense for a left winger on the far side half-wall or a right winger on the near side. Really takes good timing from the d to lay that puck to an area so the forward can catch with speed and attack the house.

[@justincollins529]

great stuff. makes so much sense. the only real advantage to off sides is 1-T's. Would be wise to have a playmaking player on the strong side and a shooter for the 1-T on the other flank.

[@eliteicehockeyanalysisnorc1824]

Justin Collins 100% agree. 👍

[@johnsondangles1033]

This is all great if you want to be predictable and pigeon hole your power play into a top down PP. Being on your off wing allows for better positioned scoring options and allows the PP to attack or re-adjust the attack from top down to more of a back door or offside soft slot shot. I see so many teams in junior hockey that struggle on the PP because the coach has over systematized it to a one approach attack. I would prefer for a one line PP unit to be versed in being able to adjust in the moment of possession on the PP if one approach isn’t working. But when a 1st PP unit isn’t connecting what happens? Coach puts out a 2nd unit to try doing the same thing the first unit couldn’t with lesser skilled players. Does that make sense? Let’s be honest, kids these days are in awesome condition. The PP is not tiring them. So teach that higher skilled unit to switch from say an umbrella system to a 1/2 wall, goal line - behind the net pass approach. Being on the off side corralling puck off boards is much easier than on the back hand. Any good coach will tell his PK group to close gap quickly on a player using his back hand on the PP. Obviously if you are coaching in an academy setting and are concerned with equalizing ice time or you haven’t got players that have the skill or ICeQ to do this then it’s not an option. High end junior A teams and all WHL teams have enough talent to employ this. And coaches are not concerned with upsetting the parents of pay2play players.

[@wallacegarneau2270]

I don’t think the goal of this video was to tell a team how to run a power play. I think it was focusing on one specific skill that is an important element of the power play. The guy who made the video is absolutely correct that sloppy exchanges between the defense and the half wall player will make an effective power play impossible - and getting to your point, if you lack that skill you WILL become one dimensional, given that the half wall top-down approach is then off the table. Perhaps instead of criticizing a video intended to help teams sharpen up specific, critical skills, you would like to make a video that covers a wider power play strategy? I’d certainly watch such a video. But I do not think that was the intent of THIS video. The fact of the matter is that practicing specific details of play, over and over again, until they become second nature - that is an effective way to develop players. Look at Wayne Gretzky. What made him so good? He was the best back handed shot in the history of the game - learned through endless practice in backhanded shooting. The advice to do that, incidentally, was given to an eight year old Wayne Gretzky by Gordie Howe.

[@abraxas511]

A forward in hockey should be able to play all three forward positions well. If they can, the power play will flourish and creativity will happen with on the fly calls by players during the power play. The reason guys struggle on their off wings is because they dont play them enough. In scrimmage, in blowout games, in practice, every forward should play both wings and center at times and be able to do them competently. Its then up to the coach to spot where they need work, isolate them, and drill them until they get it.

[@stiehr30able]

How do you draw the arrows over top of the video?