Game Notes from the Minnesota Wild vs the Vancouver Canucks on December 16th, 2023
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Do players not want to score goals anymore?
Does it seem there are way more players who like to pass than shoot?
As a former defenseman who didn’t score much (Damn Goalies!), I still don’t understand why it seems like coaches & teammates have to remind players to shoot the puck. Is there anything better than scoring a goal in hockey? Or in life for that matter?* They don’t interview the player who made the game-winning pass!
*Yes! There are things better than scoring a goal in life!
Some players do seem to enjoy passing more than shooting for some reason. Is it the feeling they get from setting up their teammates and helping them score goals? It’s probably a stretch to call it a big problem but players should know when it’s better to shoot than pass most of the time. There have been times where I’ve thought a player should shoot and they passed for an easier goal and maybe that’s just me being more of a shooter than a passer. It would be difficult for me to have the chances described in the first 5 minutes of this game and not take the shot on both of them.
The biggest reason this bothers me is because, like those two examples above, a shot never happened and it is extremely difficult to score a goal if you don’t shoot the puck.
So… if you get that chance, take the shot more often than not. This is a good life motto too. Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way!!!
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A New Voice in the Room
The Minnesota Wild played their 2nd home game in a stretch of 8 of 11 games at home. It’s a great chance for them to get back into the thick of the playoff race! They are now 7-2 since head coach John Hynes took over for Dean Evason. That includes allowing just 13 goals in those 9 games!
Confidence in their game has put this team back in the mix and they’re now getting results with points. Even if those points are coming in shootout wins, it’s still two points and that is all they want. They’re learning how to win again, something that every team has to re-learn every season because of changes to the roster. Rookies & or new players have to figure out what it takes to win in this league or on a new team. The education of how to win might take a while or happen fast depending on how many new players there are on the team and how the team’s culture is.
The strange thing about the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild is they had a training camp that focused on taking care of business so they’d be ready to start the season the right way. It didn’t work out that way because that start ended up with a coaching change. Injuries may have played a part in the bad start but this team is supposed to have the depth to deal with injuries and keep winning. So was it scheme changes that had the defense and penalty kill playing without confidence and giving up too many goals? The goalies are blamed but they are only as good as the team in front of them allows them to be. A goalie shouldn’t have to face a ton of grade-A scoring chances to help their team win.
Just look at how different this team looks now. They have confidence in their game and the system. That came from a few changes made by the new coaches but you also have to realize a coaching change gave every player a new life or a blank sheet (or space for you Swifties! HA!). It sucks to be a player when the coach isn’t high on your skills or your ability to play the way they want you to play. That makes it seem like a larger hill to climb or with more weight to carry up the same hill.
This game is hard enough to play with confidence. Take that confidence away and add worrying about making mistakes or thinking you have to be perfect and you see how that would cause hesitation and bad play. You can’t play scared. Coaches have to allow their players to play and make mistakes because failing is how you get better at anything. Early or easy success breeds laziness because you think you don’t have to work on your skills to get better or you think you don’t have to get better at all.
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Stick Penalties – Change Your Instincts
One reason (of many) why coaches have gray or no hair!
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello took a hooking penalty at the end of the first period. With just one hand on his stick, he put his stick under the hands of Ilya Mikheyev & was called for hooking. He was trailing the play so he reached because he thought it was the only way to disrupt the play. Could he have skated harder to catch up to the player and avoided that reach? Yes. Probably. So how do you get players to know that and make that their second-nature response to that kind of a play instead of reaching? How long does it take to change instinctive reactions?
You have to build a new habit to change it so it’d have to be done in practice. Show them how to do it differently so they don’t have to reach. An interesting experiment would be to have any or all players watch one of their shifts or any player’s shifts and have them count how many times they would say “move your feet” or “skate” during that shift. One way that would probably work wonders is to have them practice playing without a stick so the only way they can defend is with their feet. They still have the use of their hands so you would whistle the drill dead if they reached and grabbed with their hands because it might be a penalty and that’s not good either.
The players have to do better at not making the same stupid stick penalties meaning Hooking, Slashing, Tripping, High-Sticking and Cross-Checking. Stick awareness should be taught early & often. Control your stick and move your feet. Don’t reach and stop skating. Don’t stop skating until you’re even with the player you’re trying to reach or defend.
Other Notes
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The IIHF World Junior Championships are Here Once Again!
Or what we call… International Clutter!
It might be the Greatest Hockey Christmas Present we get Every Year!!!
This year’s roster has 4 Minnesota Gophers (2 defensemen & 2 forwards):
#71 Ryan Chesley, #8 Sam Rinzel, #11 Oliver Moore & #81 Jimmy Snuggerud
USA Hockey Announces Roster For Upcoming World Juniors
2024 World Juniors: Team USA Roster Announced Led By Gauthier, Hutson – FloHockey
Here’s the schedule with all games on the NHL Network again:
Next up:
The Minnesota Wild will try to get above .500 when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins to start a 2-game road trip on Monday night at 6pm on Bally Sports North!
Thanks for Reading!!!
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AND…as always…
