Knights' Training

On Tuesday night was Knights' Training.  Ten of us turned up this time, along with almost that many higher grade players (of whom a couple assisted Justine with coach/mentor duties).  It was a good hour and worth the effort it took to be there (it takes quite a bit for me to be there at that hour on a Tuesday every week).  Last week I wore my 'Koivu' sweater.  This week it was Kovalchuk.

The pacing of these sessions is more deliberate than in the Academy sessions.  In the later there might be as many as twenty individual exercises.  In team training, more like half a dozen.  They are different experiences.  A lot more stress on 'gamelike' situations with the team.

This week, started with a protracted two way horseshoe.  Most of my passes didn't connect, and those that did required some quick thinking skating on the recipient's part.  In retrospect, I was passing too slow.  My shooting was almost all to the right of the net or at the goalie's pads.  Need to look for the corners.

Followed by faceoff drills. This was achieved by having a face off near the goal.  This was repeated again and again, each player rotating through the roles of D in defence and offence, W in both, and C.  Faceoff technique, positioning, movement, and shooting.  There were two assistant coaches with us as we did this, tutoring as required in all these aspects of the game, although Christian had provided initial leadership while the coaches worked with the Div I group.

Next up, a couple shootout shots (where I cheated my way in with the back hand on my second attempt).

Then, a ten or fifteen minute four on four shinny, with that many on each bench.  My lesson came on the final play when Cap'n Tom was bursting around the outside for our goal and I was trying to shield him out.  Our relative size and strength didn't really come into it, it was about positioning and direction.  I managed to hold him out there and keep my stick up to prevent his shot until it seemed we were skating out of the danger zone.  I was starting to feel I had succeeded.  At this point he took an extra step, got around for long enough to whip a shot that the goalie didn't expect, finding the back of the net.  I'd pushed him, but not sufficient.

Reminds me of our game against the sharks when, in the final period, the gun skater is prevented from a useful shot by my presence.  But whereas I slowed up at his lack of success on the shot, he took the extra steps to move beneath me and loop up in front of the net for any rebounds that might come off the goalie should his own errant shot have found its way to another shooter.

In both instances, the lesson for me is to keep shutting my player down regardless of any tactical victories along the way.

The session ended with the God exercise, whereby we did lateral cross steps, drops to the ice and getting up again, at a fair pace for three minutes.  For me the crunch moment came about two minutes into it when I felt like giving up (but didn't).  Several had stopped before the end.  Not me.  Though I feel it today!