As a part of their run and gun philosophy this year, the Icers look to create some big scoring opportunities in penalty situations.
Icer Coach Joe Battista feels that his team has the speed and tenacity to score short-handed goals, imagine what they could do for power plays.
“When other teams are a man up, they tend to kick it into slow gear,” Battista said. “Our penalty kill is going to work hard to take advantage of this, and catch the power play off guard.”
Senior Dave Murphy feels the Icers have the experience and skill to capitalize on key opportunities even when they are a man down.
“It fits well with our run and gun,” Murphy said. “We’re out to force some errors.”
Lary O’Byrne said their defensemen have a lot of reach, and will be able to steal many passes. With these steals will come some breakaway goals, and take away a lot of goals from the opposing power play.
This year the Icers are very offensive minded, and are taking some big chances in using an offensive penalty kill. Battista, and the rest of the team, has plenty of faith in senior goalie John Gray, and are willing to take these chances.
“You’ve got to have faith in your goalie before you take chances like we are,” Battista said. “Sometimes we will get burnt, but we know that Johnny will be there to break it up.”
Murphy said if they remember to be defensive while taking those chances, they will not be burned as much. On the power play, however, the attack is key to the Icers.
Battista is using two separate power play units, the White unit is known as the physical group, and the Blue is the finesse unit. Battista places great confidence in both units.
The Blue unit will be using an Umbrella formation, which will help them to set up the shots, and will put key players in position to get the rebounds. Another key is to spread the defense out by making a lot of cross-ice shots. This can either yield the big goals, or the big break up.
“It is a high risk, high reward situation,” Battista said. “If it works, we’re going to score. If it breaks down, we have to move on them, but I have the faith in these guys to take that chance.”
The Blue unit is loaded with the agile players with the delicate stick skills: Scott Mangene, Ross Cowan and newcomer Rob Keegan to name a few.
The White unit is more the bump and grind unit, and is loaded with the more physical players, who will attack the defense straight on. They use a lower umbrella, and compact the opposing kill team. The Blue unit will take any shot given, and will manipulate the defenders until a break occurs.
“We take any shot we can get,” Murphy said. “Our job is to reek havok, beat them down, and crash the goal.”
A key to the lower umbrella is distracting the goalie. This job is bestowed upon Murphy, who has been likened to a linebacker on skates. He said he skates from side to side, and even circles around the goal, and forces a defender to be on him at all times. If this defender were not present, Murphy would be in an ideal position to score. Instead the defender is forced to trail Murphy, which also shields the goalie’s view. Either way the White unit is in a position to create the scoring opportunities.
Battista is excited about this year’s icers, and feels if they work, they will be a force to reckon with.
“If these guys keep working, they have the potential of greatness,” Battista said. “I think we can have a great offense whether we are a man up or a man down, and we’ve got the defense to back it up.”