Actually a bit of Bruin news this week.
9. Sounds like Nashville is one of the teams interested in Vancouver’s Adam Gaudette. Boston was checking out Jake Virtanen, but I’m not sure where that stands. The Sharks poked around during the off-season.
20. Kind of disappointing Boston and Toronto don’t play this year. Those would be must-watch.
21. Last week’s edition of Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey featured Boston and Philadelphia. The Bruins feature The Perfection Line, exceptionally dangerous on offensive-zone draws. Down 3–0 to Washington two nights earlier, they got back-to-back scores immediately after faceoffs that keyed the comeback that won the game.
So, in preparation for our broadcast, we went to a faceoff guru, NCAA Vermont (@UVMhockey/@UVMwhockey) head coach Todd Woodcroft, for guidance. Woodcroft, who left the Winnipeg Jets after last season to lead the Catamounts, takes great pride in teaching the subtleties.
“Offence does not always come from a faceoff win,” Woodcroft said. “You’d be surprised how much comes from a faceoff loss. You have to know who the threats are.”
When it comes to Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — they’re all threats.
“The beauty is that everyone knows how they do it, but they still have success,” Woodcroft says. “Bergeron is dangerous on both his strong and weak sides. Even if he loses, everyone still finishes their routes because they know Marchand is sprinting in. He can be first to the puck or win the battle for it. They are so rehearsed, so lethal. Great chemistry.”
For example, you cannot let Pastrnak get to the high or low slot. That’s where he’s headed, and the Bruins are going to find him.
22. Since Woodcroft joined Winnipeg in 2016–17, Bergeron tortured the Jets like he tortured everyone else — winning 56 per cent of his draws. The positive is that the centre’s overall number during that time was 58 per cent, so the Jets actually did better than most. How do you counter Perfection?
“Our centres made it important,” he answered. “They cared about it. We made it a ‘specialty team,’ like the power play or the penalty kill. Every good team practises faceoff plays, and you’d go through video: ‘This is Boston play one, this is Boston play two.’ We’d talk about the ‘sort out.’ What’s the ‘sort out’ when this happens, so when it does happen no one is surprised? It’s rare that you see a play you haven’t already seen, but you have to make sure everyone has clear routes and knows what they have to do.
“If your centre doesn’t have enough strength on his stick, Bergeron will destroy you. He’s like a tornado. His torque is pure violence. Everyone else has to be wired, on their toes, ready to fight through a check. You want your defence to push people into the linesman, creating a mess.”
Full column:
31 Thoughts: What Hextall, Burke hirings say about the Penguins
