Powering Up the Power Play

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2002

By Lucas Aykroyd

For a hockey coach, a well-executed power play can be a thing of beauty if you’re using offensive talents like Scottie Upshall of the Kamloops Blazers or Steve Eminger of the Kitchener Rangers. If not, you might need a more down-and-dirty strategy.

Regardless of their preferences, CHL coaches agree there’s more to success with the man advantage than meets the eye.

Newly hired Vancouver Giants coach Dean Evason realizes the need for flexibility. After three seasons with a perennial powerhouse in Kamloops, he now has a thinner talent pool to use as the Giants enter their second season in the WHL. And that could make it tougher in terms of punishing opposing teams when they take penalties.

“Your power play strategy depends on what kind of personnel you have,” says Evason, who played four WHL and 14 NHL seasons. “If you’ve got a lot of skilled players, you can work the puck around on the perimeter and then bring it in. If you don’t, you usually throw a guy in front and get pucks on the net.”

Sounds pretty basic. But like everything else in hockey, you have to get the details right. A good coach pays attention to each element of his power play. That includes his formation in the offensive zone, choice of players, faceoffs, breakout patterns, and decisions about the point men, among other things.

Evason outlines the typical power play formation junior teams use: “You have your best playmaker setting up on the half-wall, with a guy down low and a guy in front of the net. Then you set up your two point men, with the off side point man filtering in and cheating on the back door.”

Ideally, a coach looks for a mix of grit and skill. In Kamloops, for instance, Evason designated forward Jared Aulin as his quarterback, while permitting Scottie Upshall to roam free looking for openings. A more rugged forward would go to the net.

If you get a 5-on-3 advantage, your options multiply. Evason notes: “You can go into an ‘umbrella.’ That’s one point man right in the middle of the ice at the blue line, two guys off to the side of him for one-timing shots and two players in front of the net. Or you can go into a 2-1-2, where there’s two defensemen spread out on the blue line, two forwards off the goal posts for plays down low, and a forward in the high slot. The puck goes down to a player on the goal line, who can either feed it to the high slot or across the crease.”

But before any of this can happen, you have to set up in the other team’s zone. That means either winning a faceoff or getting the puck over your opponent’s blue line.

“Faceoffs are a vital part of the power play,” Evason says. “If you can win the faceoff in their zone, you start with the puck as opposed to having to skate 200 feet down the ice to retrieve it.”

If you must start out from your own end, the breakout pattern is critical. And you can’t go wrong asking Kitchener Rangers coach Peter DeBoer about this topic. His team led the OHL in 2001-02 with a 26.3 power play percentage.

“We have a couple of philosophies when we’re breaking out,” said DeBoer. “One is to make sure that the defenseman has more than one option for a pass. And two is to come with speed. You have to attack the other team’s penalty killers with speed, and that includes the puck-carrying defenseman.”

DeBoer cites Steve Eminger as an example of what a power play point man should be. The Kitchener stalwart was chosen twelfth overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2002 NHL draft.

“Steve has some special skills for running a power play, like skating and mobility and on-ice awareness as far as distributing the puck,” says DeBoer, who also encourages his young point men to imitate the patience of Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.

Evason and DeBoer agree that getting the puck in the core area around the net is the big key to success with the man advantage. “You can’t shoot from the outside and expect to score goals,” says Evason. “The goalies are just too good.” DeBoer emphasizes creating outnumbered situations and keeping things simple.

Ultimately, what makes the power play so important?

Well, to illustrate, last season the 19 WHL teams enjoyed 7,661 power plays between them for an average of 403 apiece over a 72-game schedule. When you get that many opportunities per game, the ability to capitalize can spell the difference between winning and losing.

It’s that simple.