Posted By icup on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 2:28 PM
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Why why why why why don't many people anticipate/THINK ?
On offense:
When you're not carrying the ball and are on offense, be AWARE of what is going on with the person carrying the ball. A lot of you act like zombies and just go by what you read (tips on these forums) or by what you are told to do so. Please take the time to think about what's best instead of doing what you think others want you to do.
When your teammate gets possession of the ball, YES you should get open as quickly as possible for the pass. Many times there won't be a clear path to you because opponents are blocking you or blocking the paths to the clear pass. This is not the problem. The problem lies when getting the ball down/up the field to score. When you are not the person on your team with the ball. MAKE SURE you are open but more importantly, make sure you can stop a breakaway from occurring.
Never fully trust the person with the ball. No matter how good they are (think they are  ), there is the chance that he will lose it and not be able to recover. Also, if you see your opponents boost to the ball carrier to double, you are now playing defense. It's a good idea to always assume he's going to lose the ball. By knowing he's safe from breakaways, it might give him more confidence to try a play or make a pass he wouldn't have otherwise.
Now, when you've reached the part with the boxes, being ready to quickly defend will give you a better chance to score. The more goal opportunities you create, the more likely it is you're going to score. There should always be one person who knows how to boost stopping breakaways. This does not mean your offense should become 2 vs 3 because that won't work well at all. The '"last man" should place himself in a position where he is to contribute to the offense, but also to the defense. The best place to do this in Hockey is in the between the two boxes and in between the goalie and the wall accross it (so pretty much in the middle). You can't just stand there (duh) since every situation is different, but it's a good spot.
One thing that's good practice is to face your goalie (going backwards) when you don't have the need to boost. This should be done when going down/up the field and whenever a chance for a breakaway might occur. Those valuable seconds can be the difference between a win or a loss. Of course, this might not apply to the people that use fast spin since they turn like tornados.
"If someone is behind you, get them." I wish we still had macros because I'd be spamming those like crazy. I think that's self-explanatory, but it basically means don't let your opponent get an easy goal due to stupid defense/ (people ? )
One more thing for this. Don't follow the ball, see through the play and defend accordingly. Many just chase after the ball and get beat its speed while being passed. How can you do this ? You need experience to see what things can be done with the ball according to the current positions of your opponents.
On defense/really any time:
This probably takes experience as well, but it's not hard to do. While following the play in progress, anticipate errors and get the easy goal/pass for goal/save/whatever. But AGAIN, don't make it easy for them to get a breakaway.
I forgot what else I was going to say, but now I'm going to eat breakfast. The most important thing to do in order to be good at this game is to THINK. Don't be another "game filler" as I call them. Bring something new to UB and raise the skill level. I didn't bother checking for grammar/typing errors so I don't care, I think I got my point accross.
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this is the most icup has ever typed online.
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