Troy Terry: Weak Side Spacing
When it comes to weak side spacing among 5v5 and power play situations, yes it can be a very underrated skill to leverage, and at the same time it is really important to understand what goes into this. There are situations where close puck support is needed, like a center swinging low on the breakout, or a D-to-D sequence on a breakout, or a winger coming down on the half wall to keep a puck alive, and sometimes neutral zone line rushes as well. When it comes to weak side spacing, this is something that can be more important with a stretched out neutral zone and offensive zone forecheck from the opposing team.
The ice will usually open up more in those situations, as opposed to situations where forechecks are aligned and forechecking comes in waves of pressure. So, it’s tricky to say that weak side spacing is important when there’s situations where it’s not needed to be successful.
Like I said though, when coverage is stretched and there’s situations where long passing can be leveraged there, then spreading the ice and leveraging those stretch passes becomes more important.
Terry Goal
We see here how in the neutral zone sequence how Terry is spread out right away, both on the breakout and eventually near the entry. It’s pretty ironic how to start this play we wouldn’t have noticed Terry’s positioning, and then he eventually becomes the focal point of the O Zone entry by Ryan Strome. Off a great indirect pass to the blue line from D1 of ANA, the puck gets moved to the middle of the ice to Ryan Strome sprinting the weak side of the ice in the middle.
Strome has a ton of space to work with, and on the entry, Strome makes the pass without looking to Terry, and pushes both D back effectively by doing so. Strome is able to do a great job of running into McDonagh without actually interfering with him, and then the pass back to Terry creates that next layer inside the offensive zone entry.
Terry takes the puck, realizing he has no puck support (This is a situation where weak side spacing becomes less important) and then quickly rips the puck off his stick with a powerful weight transfer and great power through his bottom hand on the stick. Excellent release, and excellent entry play in which Terry really didn’t have to do too much in this scenario.
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Hockey Analytics: 2024 Edition eBook