News Article: Key to Success? The Kings' breakout

[Jason Lewis]

The other night when the Kings took on the Winnipeg Jets I was utterly fascinated.

The game was night and day, black and white, and good and bad. Unfortunately for Jets fans the "bad" side of the spectrum was mostly on their squad. Never before had I noticed a team give so few options to their defenseman on a breakout. Maybe it was due to the Kings' high forward pressuring the zone, or maybe it was due to Winnipeg forwards getting caught too far up ice. Either way, the young and incredibly average group of blueliners for Winnipeg were often left on an island with one forward available for a move up ice. So what happened when that forward was covered or the carrier was pressured? Red line and in. Classic dump and chase hockey. Except it wasn't even dump and chase. It was, "Oh my god, I have no options and no one is moving, I need to get rid of this before I turn it over." hockey. The more common option was just mentioned; turning it over. That happened on several occasions with the Jets, and at least two times it led to goals.

Take a look.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=63074

Click to read more...

 

[driller1]

Great article. Love the break downs of systems - so much better than the standard "player xyz" is playing well articles. Keep it up!

 

[Fishhead]

I have no idea why more teams don't have the far winger head towards the center on breakouts to add that extra option and/or draw defenders. It forces the other team to either back way off or to commit to a play that leaves them open to a successful dump and retrieve.

I'm glad they don't, because it's incredibly effective. Of course you need a big, disciplined team to pull it off....