Workin’ Overtime in CHL Playoff Hockey

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2004

By Lucas Aykroyd

When a playoff game goes into overtime, you often hear dramatic rock songs like Europe’s “The Final Countdown” or Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger” blasting through the hockey arena. But that’s to set the mood for fans. Coaches can’t let themselves get swept up in the moment. Especially in pressure-packed situations like the Memorial Cup, maintaining a solid strategic focus is the way to succeed in overtime.

It’s important to remember that playoff overtimes are very different from the five-minute 4-on-4 OT battles of the regular season. “Obviously in the regular season, you have another life,” says Marc Habscheid, head coach of the 2004 Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets. “And the question of whether you’re playing a team in your division or conference or from out of conference affects how you’re going to approach overtime. If you give up points to another team, that may come back to haunt you.”

But you can put your calculator away for sudden-death playoff action. It’s winner take all, nothing more and nothing less. So usually the best strategy is to aim to get the winning goal as quickly as possible. At least that’s what Brian Kilrea believes. As junior hockey’s all-time wins leader, the legendary bench boss of the Ottawa 67’s entered the 2004 post-season with two Memorial Cups and 156 playoff victories to his credit.

“Playoff overtimes mostly end quickly,” Kilrea says. “I like to get my best line and my best defensemen out on the ice at the same time, because you want them to get their chance early. You may not score on the first shift, but then you may end up causing a faceoff in the other team’s end, for instance, so that you’re deep in their zone when you make your first line change. Sometimes it depends on how overworked your lines are. You may want to come back with your best line very quickly if the other team puts its third unit out there.”

Anything that throws the opposition off-guard is worthwhile. That proved true in the 1978 Memorial Cup when the Peterborough Petes earned a berth in the final with a 4-3 win over the New Westminster Bruins. First, Peterborough’s Tim Trimper left the Bruins reeling after he scored to tie the game with three seconds left in the third period. Then Keith Crowder completed the comeback with the fastest sudden-death goal in Memorial Cup history, just 20 seconds into the extra frame.

“I think the best strategy is ‘Go get ’em!’,” affirms Kilrea. “If you’ve got confidence that you can go out and win it, do it early. Don’t sit back and play careful hockey. Look for a mistake, force a mistake, and take it to them early. Shoot the puck, because any time you get it toward the net, you never know what will happen. There could be a funny bounce, bad rebound, or deflection that decides it.”

But winning it in the first five minutes isn’t always possible. “Sometimes it’s a sprint, sometimes it’s a marathon,” Habscheid says. “Each overtime has a different complexion.”

Higher-seeded teams, in particular, must avoid panicking when they wind up in a tug-of-war with underdog opponents, who may gain confidence if the extra session continues longer than expected. Habscheid focuses on settling down his young troops: “They’re going to be hyped up. If anything, you want to put them at ease a little bit. You want them to play the game they’re used to playing. If they’re all tensed up, that’s when they’re more apt to make mistakes.”

One method Kilrea uses to keep things under control in overtime is giving his goalie a simple mandate: “If you get a chance to freeze the puck, freeze it! That way, we can get our best faceoff man out there or get the line change we’re looking for.” This defuses dangerous situations when the other team is pressing around your net.

Defensively, you can sometimes get away with things that might be penalized during the opening 60 minutes, as Kilrea candidly admits: “I think the referees are a little bit more lenient in OT. If it’s a direct scoring chance, they’re going to call a penalty. But the hook at center ice or interference along the boards, they’ll let that go a tad. They want the game to be won on the ice, not with a man in the box.”

If multiple overtimes are needed to decide a game, physical conditioning becomes a huge factor. “That’s a product of what you do in terms of training during the season,” says Habscheid. “You also want to make sure your players are properly hydrated, and if they need some quick carbohydrates for energy, you provide things like fruit and power bars.”

Victory often hinges on simply outworking your opponents. That’s what happened on the play where the Ottawa 67’s scored the OT winner for the 1999 Memorial Cup. Brian Kilrea remembers the scene as if it were yesterday: “We were playing the Calgary Hitmen. Mark Bell was on the ice along with Justin Davis. They did a little cycling in the corner and threw the puck out front, and Matt Zultek just crashed in and scored the goal. For me, that was the biggest overtime goal ever.”

Takin’ care of business and workin’ overtime? That’s how you do it. And in the end, the coach who pays attention to detail and motivates his team best just might get to relax to Queen’s “We Are The Champions.”