Three things I hope improve next year

[ForCuseSake]

1.) Ground balls - this team was excellent at using their collective heads. They clearly had the most heart given the number of comebacks & 1 goal games. I hope they improve the final H because they were out ground-balled most of the year.

2.) Riding - a staple of the program used to be our relentless pressure via the ride. Our attack in particular was slow at riding and teams seemed to clear the ball easier than us.

3.) Doubling the ball - too many times our D slid early or doubled the ball when the offensive player was looking straight at the oncoming defensive player. It ends up creating offense for the opposition and leading to scoring chances/goals.

Everyone can complain about face offs but I think eventually rule changes will make face offs as important as the jump ball in the NBA.

 

[Orangetradition44]

But ground balls are a symptom of face offs. For example, the duke face off guy had like 17 ground balls against us by himself. In standard game situations, I thought we were a good ground ball team.

1.) Ground balls - this team was excellent at using their collective heads. They clearly had the most heart given the number of comebacks & 1 goal games. I hope they improve the final H because they were out ground-balled most of the year.

2.) Riding - a staple of the program used to be our relentless pressure via the ride. Our attack in particular was slow at riding and teams seemed to clear the ball easier than us.

3.) Doubling the ball - too many times our D slid early or doubled the ball when the offensive player was looking straight at the oncoming defensive player. It ends up creating offense for the opposition and leading to scoring chances/goals.

Everyone can complain about face offs but I think eventually rule changes will make face offs as important as the jump ball in the NBA.

 

[ForCuseSake]

But ground balls are a symptom of face offs. For example, the duke face off guy had like 17 ground balls against us by himself. In standard game situations, I thought we were a good ground ball team.

The face offs he didn't win cleanly Duke had 2 guys going after GBs. But I noticed this in other games too. I think we ceded possession too easily and retreated to defense rather than fight harder for the GB. To me we looked a bit timid in many GB situations regardless of who was facing off or how many draws we lost.

The offense was under tremendous pressure to be efficient because of the lack of ground ball work.

 

[wvlax]

Everyone can complain about face offs but I think eventually rule changes will make face offs as important as the jump ball in the NBA.

I'm sure this is what Desko is hoping for, but I doubt it will ever happen.

 

[ForCuseSake]

I'm sure this is what Desko is hoping for, but I doubt it will ever happen.

It's moving in that direction the only question is how long it'll take (hopefully not as painfully slow as a shot clock).

I think you'll see face offs for the start of each quarter but the ball will start at X after each goal.

At least I hope it does because that'll put the breaks on specialization & continue the flow of the game.

Edit - IMHO, specialization is what slowed the game down to the boring snoozefest it has become. Lax was, and still is to a certain degree, an over-coached sport. I'd rather see the players' skill & athleticism decide the game.