Ray Ferraro is one of the most beloved analysts in hockey and last night he got the opportunity to break down the strategy of everyone’s favourite head coach.
Christian Wohlwend became an internet sensation last year when he shared his unfiltered thoughts about his team’s chances against the eventual gold-medal Canada squad. His teams put up a better effort than most people thought they would last year and in their first meeting of the 2018-19 tournament, many people thought they deserved a win.
Wohlwend’s comments may have helped him become a fan-favourite, but his tactics are one of the reason he’s still behind the bench. Ray Ferraro broke down one of the tactics used in last night’s game:
There’s a reason Gretzky was so successful in what was eventually named his office.
Playing from behind the net makes everything more difficult for the defenders. They have to turn their heads that much more and with the other three attackers cycling through the slot like slashers in basketball, there tend to be a lot of open opportunities, as long as you have players skilled enough to control play from the corner.
It will be interesting to see if NHL teams try this at all, because a lot of innovation can often happen in tournaments like these where the stakes are quite as high for the people behind the bench.
Here’s that goal again from another angle for anybody looking to tweak their powerplay setup.
