subject: The Checkerboard Coaching Technique sm and Reaching the Stanley Cup by Winning Now!! [print this page] The Checkerboard Coaching Technique sm and Reaching the Stanley Cup by Winning Now!!
With the Stanley Cup race on and the open opportunity for so many teams in each division to make the playoffs by winning out in these remaining games, winning now is the key. Every game that is played could make the difference to reaching the playoffs for as many as 12 teams in the NHL. With that in mind is there anything that teams can do without changing their players or game plans, to win now?
The Checkerboard Coaching Technique was designed and developed for just such a circumstance. The one thing every team can do is study the goalies they are facing using the Checkerboard Technique. Take the entire season of games the opposing teams goalies have played and have your video team place them in sequence on video tape. Have the video in all the goalies for each team you face. If a team has three goalies have the sequence on each goalie. It is likely if your team is successful on one goalie he will be pulled so be aware and ready for the second goalie.
Have the video highlight each goal scored and where it went in the net. You will find the area that each goalie is most vulnerable. In your review of each goalie also note how the goal took place. It may be that one goalie is vulnerable stick high when he is on his knees for example. The object then for a team facing that goalie will be to have him in that position. The pattern will be very clear to the players once they see the tape. The second element in this process is to have every player shoot on to the most vulnerable spot on that goalie. It will have the finger in the dyke effect. The pressure on the goalie will become so acute that goals will come in quick succession. It may take some time in a game to reach that point, but with all your players understanding what they saw on film, and by shooting only there, it will happen.
It is easy to forget in hockey that the goal is to score goals. This technique highlights that fact and everything else is secondary. As any hockey fan knows once the flood gates open the opposing team like a heavyweight boxer becomes dazed. Score five goals on any team and they will doubt themselves and their game will change. This time of the year the focus is on winning now and the one way that can happen is by scoring more goals than the other team.
