USA lost 5-3 to Russia at the U20 World Junior Hockey Championships last night. The Russians seemed very prepared. They were ready for USA’s attempts at a heavy forecheck; using smart, quick passing to evade F1 and F2. Once they had the puck, they consistently attacked the middle of the ice through the neutral zone (NZ) and once they entered the offensive zone (OZ).
I’m not in the coach’s room so I don’t know what the game plan was, but to my eyes it seemed that USA was keen on dumping pucks in so they could pressure hard and fast on the Russian D. Team Canada seemed to get Russia flustered with a heavy forecheck in the pre-tournament game so Team USA may have been trying to employ the same strategy. But that’s not really their game. They don’t need to play that way to be successful. Too many times last night, they deferred chances to attack the middle of the ice or create secondary attacks by just skating themselves down the wall into the corner or dumping the puck with little plan of a retrieval.
You need a mix of both creative plays to the middle of the ice when gaps are weak, and the plan to chip pucks by with support and a plan to retrieve when D start to gap up. It’s a give and take. USA’s default read was to dump pucks in, when it should have been to attack across the dot line into more dangerous ice. Here’s what I mean.
Don’t Oversimplify
Team USA needed to try to get the puck into the middle of the ice whenever they could. The lack of urgency or confidence to do so led to many entries that stayed on the outside and resulted in a loss of possession.
Here, Team USA’s Alex Turcotte doesn’t quite take advantage of the late Russian angle. He can attack the middle of the ice in the NZ early, skating directly at the Russian angler, and it will open up more options for him. It will also allow more teammates to jump into the play and provide secondary support.
Alternatively, see below how the Russian forward uses the space provided to gain the middle of the ice, opening up a passing lane to a streaking teammate who drives the D back, delays and finds the second wave of attack I mentioned.
Need Smarter Delays
Speaking of delays, USA did have some players who used the delays at the right moments. But they lacked the second wave support or awareness to continue into the middle of the ice. Here, Bobby Brink gains the line with speed and although he is outside the dot lines, he uses a smart delay to create a little space for himself. But the next move needs to be a pass to supporting players attacking the middle of the ice with the correct spacing. He could also climb back up towards the blue line, around the backcheckers and into the middle of the ice.
Matt Beniers found himself in the same situation as Brink but on the other side of the ice. The US players attacking the middle don’t seem to want the puck and the second wave of attack is lacking. Beniers could try and circle back up and get to the middle of the ice that way, but he settles for a low danger shot with bodies going to the net. Credit to Russia as they had very good sticks in their DZ defending these rushes, always taking away passing lanes and options.
Conversely, the Russians consistently had +1 rushes with their D jumping into the play and finding the space in the middle of the ice - at the correct time - to provide an option in the middle of the ice after the delay.
Blue Doesn’t Always Mean Dump It In
Whenever Team USA got close to the blue line, they seemed to revert to just dumping the puck in. This is where Russia really outplayed them. USA didn’t use hinge plays in the NZ very well, as when they did their forwards got ahead of the play and ended up flat footed. They needed better routes in the NZ; having the freedom to come back and under the puck to help attack with speed.
Below, after a good hinge play back to the D, all 3 F end up flat footed along the blue line leaving the USA D with no option other than dump it in. They needed a lot more urgency in WANTING the puck instead of being content standing and waiting.
Instead of the USA’s inability to make plays at the blue line, the Russians were not bothered if the play seemed to stop on entry. They bumped it back to players that had come underneath the puck and created a solid entry instead of dumping it in and hoping. Watch below as, even after the bump pass backwards is made, the Russian player follows his pass and gets underneath again to provide another option later.
Good Things Happen When You Get To Middle Ice
The US did attack the middle at times. When they did, good things usually happened. And even if it didn’t lead directly to a scoring chance, it changed the way the Russians needed to defend and made them actually have to work hard to defend the middle of the ice.
Here, Trevor Zegras attacks the middle off the entry and then has support from the D jumping. A smart curl to the outside and open-up from the USA F #28 (Arthur Kaliyev) gave the D the option of one touch passing to that threat, and if that had been completed it would have been a great chance. They just scored their second goal before this to make it 4-2. So they had some confidence and momentum, and needed to score 2 more goals to come back. But they need to play with this kind of creativity and urgency from the get-go.
Again here, Turcotte does really good work battling through the NZ to enter through the middle. This is the urgency and grit they need to make their way through these areas. Once they enter, he quickly bumps out to Zegras who one-touches to Cam York who is in good support position from jumping up.
Although they don’t score, they create pressure where Russia has to sort out their coverage from these attacks. These are the kind of chances they need to create to be successful. Just because you are playing a good, skilled team like Russia doesn’t mean you need to simplify to beat them. Play into your strengths rather than changing your game in order to try and win.
Team USA should try and “bring back the joy of the game” as Larionov has done with Russia. Show the World all the skill and creativity you have built up with the way you train your young players and allow them to be themselves off the rush.