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This week’s tip: Penalty killing
Player: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins center Zach Sill
Sill’s passion for defending the Penguins’ house makes him the perfect player to have on the penalty kill. The house is the middle of the ice extending from the goal to the top of the slot. It’s a realm where goals are produced at a higher percentage, and it’s a place that Sill and the other Penguin penalty killers don’t want anyone to enter. Keep opponents out of it and you decrease their ability to score. Simple as that. Here’s how Sill protects his house on the penalty kill:
Short shifts: “If you can over-change on a penalty kill, do it. Even if you do 20-second shifts, then you have guys on the ice that are fresh. The best time to change is when the puck is cleared all the way down. If it’s in the neutral zone you can change the guys closest to the bench, but the deeper in – usually your defensemen, have to hold.”
Box it up: “The box is the easiest formation to defend against a power play. It’s usually two forwards and two defensemen. The forwards cover the defensemen up top, and your defensemen take care of things down low. One defenseman is usually in front of the net and the other is just off of it. You want to box up your house – the middle part of the ice. That’s the easiest way to take care of all the seams and shut down a five-man unit.”
Listen to your teammates: “Communication is big when deciding to skate the puck out or shoot it. If your teammate has the puck on the wall and nobody is around him, the other team will sometimes pull out thinking you’re going to dump it down the ice. Then you can hang onto the puck. You depend on your teammates to tell you if your opponents are around you. On the PK, play away from the puck is more important than when you have it. If you have a friend telling you that you have time, you can skate it.”
Or shoot it: “The boards can be an asset. If the middle is clogged up, then get it off the glass – up around their head – because they’ll get out of the way. Get it high so they can’t keep it in. Up the middle a lot of times – if you get the puck in the corner or behind the net, everyone is plugged to the boards – so the middle may be wide open. Their point guys come in or go to the boards and that leaves the middle open.”
Watch the points: “It’s not a good thing to leave them open. If they are, someone’s going to find them with a pass. If you have too many guys down low he can just walk right into your house. He can shoot from the point, skate in and shoot or skate in and pass to a guy on the side of the net. It’s just a mess. Everyone’s scrambling and the box loses its form.”
Win the draw: “For me it all depends on where their defensemen line up. Sometimes they’ll line up a guy on the boards and the other in the middle, so then sometimes I’d shoot the puck past their forward up the middle and down the ice. Just go for the shot and shoot it right up the middle if their defensemen are wide.”
If they’re really close, in juniors I did this all the time, shoot it past my winger to the far blueline. I’d tell my winger to go for the puck and sometimes we’d get a two on one. The other option is win it back to your defenseman and he can shoot it down the ice. You have to know what you’re doing ahead of time. If I lose the faceoff, then I’m going out to the point right away.”