Simple Breakout (Rec League)

Like most of you, I still like to play some rec hockey (though for me it's ball hockey now instead of ice). Our team is mostly guys in their late-20's and early-30's and we are routinely pretty competetive in our lower tier division (don't blow anyone away, but we usually compete for the championship).

Lately though, we've been running into these younger teams who transition from ice hockey. Most of them in their early 20's, lots of wheels, lots of good individual skill, that sort of thing. Most of these teams send in a rather disorganized 2 man forecheck, but because of the overall team speed it was causing us problems. We don't practice, so we needed something we could pick up fairly easily on. Nothing too complicated, but enough to breakdown and expose the forecheck and aggressiveness.

Most of these teams attack in waves. First group goes in and presses, and the next group follows up with immediate pressure if the ball gets past the first group. Our goal was to sort of expose that by quickly chipping past each wave. The one benefit our team has is that we aren't lazy, we run hard, we don't stand around too much and we all get back.

We needed something that was not only easy for us to pick up on, but also something that wasn't too easy for the other team to read and pick up on.

This play can be reversed to either side, but we'll look at the right side only. When the puck is at the right D, the RW will circle down a bit, then cut across the rink. the C then goes outside the blueline and circles back down to where the RW was. The pass goes from the RD to the C. As that happens, the LW goes to the RW wall between the blueline and centre for a chip from the C. As this is happening, the RW cuts up the middle of the rink, then can either accept the pass from the LW in the middle, or continue over to the RW wall (just outside centre) for another chip pass by the LW. The centre follows up by jumping back into the play. In ballhockey this play is more of a chip out, dump and change (due to the redline becoming the blueline when you get possession). In ice hockey you can use this as possession breakout.

Oilers Look: Games 23-27

Things went from bad to worse for the Oilers. Hemsky is now out for the season and the Oilers finish another stretch below .500

Games 18-22:

• Team Record: 1-2-2


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 157 - 141 (+16)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 112 - 108 (+4)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 14 - 15 (-1)


• Team Shooting %: 8.92


• Team Save %: 89.4

Games 23-27:

• Team Record: 1-3-1


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 142 - 167 (-15)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 97 - 117 (-20)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 14 - 19 (-5)


• Team Shooting %: 9.85


• Team Save %: 88.6

Solid games against a very good San Jose team, as well as a surprising Coyotes team weren't enough to save this stretch either. The San Jose game really hurt, because it was a game they should have won based on the numbers. San Jose just caught the bounces when they needed them and got it to a shootout where they picked up the extra point.

They scored early and often against Phoenix (which is a bit of a theme for this club against the Yotes), and coasted to an easy win.

Those games were sandwiched by a pair of lousy outings for Deslauriers. He looked bad against Chicago and even worse against Vancouver. His performance has been all over the map this year. He's struggled badly on shots up high, but manages to keep almost everything on the ice out of the net (no matter how open things seem).

If They Start Playing Like They Did Earlier...

We'd be in pretty much the same situation.

Despite the pleas from fans to revert back to the scoring at will team from before, I just don't think it's going to happen. Early on, this team wasn't generating scoring chances, but they were scoring goals.

This team never really was playing good, they were just getting a lot of bounces for them. I don't just mean bounces where it goes off a body and in, but even a bounce where a good defenceman misplays a puck and you get a good scoring chance out of it or a breakdown happens and the puck goes to an open guy.

Those situations benefitted the Oilers greatly in the first 10 games of the season, and some have mistaken that for playing well. They really weren't, but wins and goals change the perception for a lot of people. They were playing more physical, but that really hasn't translated at all into their time of possession or ability to generate shots or scoring chances.

The most worrisome part is that this team hasn't shown it can get any better in this regard as players return. They've been just as bad with Souray in the lineup as they were without him. They are just as bad with their injured regulars returning as they were with them all out.

They have yet to throw more than 1 line together that can consistantly out chance their opposition (whatever line Penner is on seems to do the trick), and the coaching staff refuses to hard match that one line.

So sure, they can start playing like they did earlier, but I'd argue they have been!

Oilers Look: Games 18-22

A win in game 22 wasn't enough to salvage this stretch. It was the 3rd in a row where the Oilers failed to be above .500 since their hot start to the year.

Games 12-17:

• Team Record: 2-4-0


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 160 - 218 (-58)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 102 - 146 (-42)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 13 - 20 (-7)


• Team Shooting %: 8.13


• Team Save %: 91.7

Games 18-22:

• Team Record: 1-2-2


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 157 - 141 (+16)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 112 - 108 (+4)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 14 - 15 (-1)


• Team Shooting %: 8.92


• Team Save %: 89.4

The Oilers had a rather unfortunate stretch here. They played better both by the math and by the eye, but the results just weren't there. This time around though, the puck luck is going to the other team and the Oilers are left to stumble around at post game interviews trying to answer "why?".

Well, the answer is simple really... other teams got good goaltending and cashed in on their chances. Pretty tough to argue that when the Oilers on multiple occasions this year scored 4+ goals on 20 or fewer shots. If the Oilers can start pulling a few more of these stretches together (with a higher conversion and better stopping rate), they can hang with the playoff teams in the west.

Oilers - Avs Post Game

With the Oilers down 4-2 in the second, it almost seemed like Murphy's Law was not only going to hit the Oilers, he was going to steal their car, empty their bank account, max their credit cards and steal their girlfriend. For the first time in a long time, the Oilers looked like the better team all over the ice and were very unfortunate to be losing (based on the shots and scoring chances).

And with the way this team has played this year, no one would have anything to complain about if they did lose... after all, it's how they've won a good portion of their games this year.

After watching the Avs a lot lately (they just happened to be on when I can wrestle the TV away from the women in my house), I think their bubble is about to burst. I find it hard to believe that Craig Anderson can play 60 NHL games in one season with a sv% anywhere over .920. The way the Avalanche have played this year, that's about what they need to be a playoff team.

As it stands, they are basically the Edmonton Oilers with better goaltending. Both teams have been badly outshot this year, both teams have very high shooting% (Colorado at 11.5%, Edmonton at 11.6%). The main difference is that Colorado's team save% is .924 on the year. The Oilers are about 12 points lower.

If Anderson can't maintain an elite level of play, this team is going to falter very badly. They won't keep getting the shooting percentage results that they have been, so any faltering in net is going to hurt them.

Oiler Look: Games 12-17

The Oilers are currently in the midst of one of their worst stretches since the 06-07 stretch run. The offence that carried them early has basically disappeared, and the guys who were going have slowed down.

Games 6-11:

• Team Record: 3-3-0


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 151 - 208 (-57)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 103 - 121 (-18)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 18 - 18 (E)


• Team Shooting %: 11.9


• Team Save %: 91.3

Games 12-17:

• Team Record: 2-4-0


• Shots For - Shots Against (Diff): 160 - 218 (-58)


• Scoring Chances For - Against (Diff): 102 - 146 (-42)


• Goals For - Goals Against (Diff): 13 - 20 (-7)


• Team Shooting %: 8.13


• Team Save %: 91.7

The Oilers have gotten continually worse at giving up both shots and scoring chances. That was going to be a problem anyways, but it's gotten worse simply based on the number of injuries this team has endured. The only real bright spot about this stretch was that the goaltending held up rather well. If this team can keep getting a team sv% over .913 it's going to give them a chance. The big downfall was the shooting%. This was the first set of games where the team sv% fell not only out of upper-echelon territory, but to below league average. It really was bound to happen (15.2% ring a bell?), but the team on the season is still at 11.4%. The shooting percentage really has been the only reason the Oilers record has been so flattering to this point, otherwise they would be closer to Taylor Hall than the playoffs.

The one positive from the Oilers this year has been their PP. The Oilers PP hasn't clicked like this in a long time, and if they can pick up the rest of their game to at least an average level, it is a playoff team. But when you can't kill penalties (on pace for the same pk% as last year), and you are horrible at ES (on pace to be -27), average is a long ways away.

Absolute Joke

Let me get this out of the way... I firmly believe intentionally hitting a player in the head should be a penalty. I don't care if it's your shoulder, if you intentionally hit a player in the head, it should be called.

That being said, this hit doesn't constitute a head shot:



The fact that Michael Liambas has been suspended for the rest of the OHL season and playoffs is an utter joke. The only reason Ben Fanelli got hurt as bad as he did was because he turned and his helmet became undone.

Liambas doesn't make contact with the head if Fanelli doesn't turn and bend. Fanelli doesn't get hurt nearly as bad if his helmet stays done up and his head doesn't come into contact with the stantion.

This is simply a horrible decision by the OHL. Hopefully Fanelli can recover quickly and not face any lifetime setbacks from this.

Now this is a legitimate headshot:



Don't get me wrong... Booth had no business cutting acrosse the blueline like that, but Richards intentionally went for his head. Richards even avoided Booth's body in order to get his head.