Sacred Heart men’s hockey out to dominate faceoffs
BRIDGEPORT — If hockey is a game of winning 50-50 battles, coach C.J. Marottolo wants his Sacred Heart men’s hockey team to dominate one set of those.
The Pioneers were about .500 on faceoffs last year, Marottolo said, and he wants that number more like .570 in the new year that begins Saturday afternoon in Hartford against UConn.
“We want to be a puckpossession team, and it’s hard to play that game if you don’t have the puck. You really have to work hard to get it back,” Marottolo said. “We just felt that was an area that, looking at college hockey, our stats weren’t where they needed to be.”
So they’ve talked about it a lot, Marottolo said, the whole team, about winning possession off draws.
“I think at first glance a lot of people think that a faceoff is for centers,” graduate transfer centerman Troy Conzo said, “but if you look more into it a faceoff involves all five guys on the ice.
“It’s one thing for the
centerman to win the puck clean, but a lot of times, at this level, centers are good, and there’s a lot of those 50-50 battles. Your wingers have to come help out, and your (defensemen) have to be available and getting good outlets.”
There are set plays that teams can run off clean faceoff wins, but that’s not always easy to do. A win on the draw often needs good communication and comes from a lot of practice.
“Individually it’s a skill you can definitely develop at the end of practice when you have a little time with the other centers,” senior Ryan Steele said.
“It’s a lot of repetition, going out there and practicing, as well as watching video. Every guy’s got to know what he’s doing on those plays, otherwise it’s not going to work.”
Junior Tim Clifton said he thought practice paid off last season and led to better transition.
Everyone has to know their assignments, he said. And centermen have to do their preparation, right up to checking how their opponent shoots.
“Every time I go on the dot and I see somebody’s handedness, I know which way I want to attack the draw,” Clifton said. “Whether he’s off his hand or on his strong side, it makes me think what I want to do. I feel that if I know what my assignment on the dot has to be before I even get in there then I feel more confident that I’m going to get the draw.”