Part two in a look at the pratice habits of Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet
Running a practice at the National Hockey League level is a juggling act.
Do you actually practice or give your team a day off? If you do hit the ice, what are you going to focus on? And the debate a coach faces at any level 鈥� how do you balance teaching points versus having a practice with good tempo?
Those are the questions surrounding Tocchet and his staff as they try to navigate through an 82-game season in the NHL.
When the schedule comes out in the summer, Tocchet will examine it and map out days in which he hopes his hockey club will be able to practice. But once the season comes along, Tocchet will read the energy level of his team, communicate with his leadership group to see where the team is at, and then plan accordingly.
After a recent home game against Carolina, Tocchet cancelled practice the day before his team鈥檚 next game against Tampa Bay. The move paid dividends as the Canucks defeated the Lightning 4-1. On this occasion it was the right call, but as Tocchet will admit, there are no guarantees.
鈥淚 think that (reading your team) is huge and I think that comes from experience. I鈥檝e learned from other coaches when to push or when to back off. There are some times when the team doesn鈥檛 want to be pushed because they鈥檙e tired but you have to be the bad guy and say 鈥榥o, we鈥檙e practicing today鈥� and we鈥檙e going to go 25 minutes and you鈥檙e going to have to push through because I believe in the long run this practice will teach us to push through in certain situations. You have to find the sweet spot as a coach and that鈥檚 experience. Hopefully nine out of ten times it鈥檚 the right call but sometimes you make a mistake,鈥� explained Tocchet.
Another weapon at Tocchet鈥檚 disposal is to keep practices fresh by changing up drills and routines but sometimes such moves are met with resistance.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny because some times I want to add new drills and the players want the same stuff, so it鈥檚 give-and-take. I still think in the dog days you have to come up with some freshness in practice to get some fun drills with competition. Players like competition and I鈥檓 a big believer in competition,鈥� said Tocchet, who adds he sometimes will throw in a reward as incentive.
As we mentioned in part one of this story that can be found here, practices in today鈥檚 era are shorter than when Tocchet played.
Tempo is a key to any successful practice but a practice can come to a standstill when coaches have to stop a drill to correct mistakes or explain things. After all, you don鈥檛 want your players developing bad habits.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like going to the (dry) board very often. Maybe once a practice, maybe twice. But to me, when you have drills and you keep going to the board and talking to players, you lose your tempo. You have to find that balance,鈥� Tocchet noted.
One thing that tempo does help with is players being forced to communicate with one another. Much like a game situation, players will make the necessary corrections by communicating with themselves.
鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a really good leadership group, guys will correct their mistakes on the bench as the drill is going on. So a guy makes a mistake. As he鈥檚 on the bench for those 30 seconds before he goes out again - whether it鈥檚 a coach or player -they鈥檒l talk and correct the mistake. Whereas when we stop the drill and go to the board, you lose the tempo,鈥� said Tocchet.
Another key for Tocchet and his staff is to not only teach players their individual responsibilities within the team鈥檚 structure but to understand the overall concept of what is going on.
鈥淚 think when you teach, you just don鈥檛 tell the winger to go here and that鈥檚 your job. No 鈥� we want to teach you the whole concept. The winger has to know why we want the center here and why we want our defense here,鈥� said Tocchet. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e in a meeting, the winger can鈥檛 shut his brain off because we are talking about the defensemen. He should know what鈥檚 going on because he might be in that position at some point. It might not happen all the time but there might be a time when he is in that position.
鈥淪o in those meetings or practices where he was paying attention, it will make a big difference.鈥�
OVERTIME:
* The Canucks ended their four-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, securing six out of a possible eight points on the trip. Vancouver got goals from Brock Boeser, Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua. For Joshua, he continued his strong play as of late with his fourth goal in his last five games.
* Vancouver went 0 for 3 on the power play and finished the road trip 1 for 15 with the man advantage.
鈥淥ur energy wasn鈥檛 there. When you don鈥檛 have energy on the power play, it鈥檚 tough but we had a couple of looks. Power plays are ebbs and flows. It won us a lot of hockey games early and got us to where we are at. I鈥檓 not worried 鈥� we鈥檙e still getting some good looks,鈥� Tocchet said post-game when the subject was broached.
* The point earned against the Stars pulled the Canucks into a tie with Vegas for first place in the NHL鈥檚 overall standings with both teams accumulating 47 points in 34 games.
* Forward Andrei Kuzmenko was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.
* The Canucks now return home for a game against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night prior to the Christmas break. San Jose limps into Vancouver having lost four straight games.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob 鈥渢he Moj鈥� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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