MURRAY: “We weren’t in positions. Whether it was on the checking part of the game, without possession, or if we had possession we were not in the proper lanes. Our centermen were not there, our wingers were not in position, our defensemen were looking up and they’re almost seeing the seat of the pants. There’s no way to get the puck up the ice, unless they get their feet going and get to the red line themselves. It got a little bit better in the second half of the game, but early, my goodness, structurally we were really broken down.”This sounds like some of the guys on my team -- including me -- when we pick apart our latest defeat or narrow victory. It's refreshing to see we're not the only ones to fuck up the breakout, which has often been the bane of our existence.
I particularly like the "seat of the pants" part. That's one of our common mistakes: the centers and/or wings don't put themselves in good position to take a pass. Oftentimes that means coming back toward the D instead of skating to the other team's blue line and waiting for a long stretch pass that will never arrive.
Here's a website with animations of a variety of breakouts. Some of them are probably beyond the abilities of a novice or beginner's team -- but they seem worth learning and trying.
--S.H.
