While it's not unusual in the process of changing lines on the fly for a few players from different lines to be on the ice when a goal is scored, I couldn't recall an instance when teams were playing 5-on-5 in which all three forwards involved in a goal had each been playing on different lines during a game (Zajac third line center, Brad Malone fourth line center and Andrew Kozek first line wing).
When I asked Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol how this happened, here's how he explained the situation:
When (Brett) Hextall came out of the box, he had an opportunity to join in the play, so he ended up staying out on the ice for about 30+ seconds, which made him unavailable for the next shift. With Rau up for CC, I wanted to get Duncan's line back on the ice. Malone was out in place of Hextall on the right wing. In the meantime, Duncan took a fairly short shift. Zajac's line was up next, so he took Duncan on the fly. After the partial change on the fly, instead of Kozek-Duncan-Malone, we had Kozek-Zajac-Malone. It made sense at the time, but I'm not sure if it does when I look at it in print!Hakstol emphasized that the key element in making this work was Malone's reliability in playing any position in any situation, a trust he has gained over the past couple of months.
4 comments:
That is good stuff. Very interesting. Nice to have players that are interchangeable.
also, that wasn't a shot on goal, it was a pass off the goalie. it's practiced all the time. great play. go sioux!
This article is a nice breath of fresh air because you don't get this X's and O's type of analysis from message boards or blogs.
Nice job and great catch.
Anonymous, while you are correct that the goal resulted from a play that the Sioux practice, what Malone did was indeed a shot on goal because Bachman had to make the save or the puck would have been in the net. The play doesn't work if the shot isn't hard enough to cause a rebound and it doesn't force the goalie to make the save.
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