Face Offs

[jjtt99 0]

Hi folks.

I'm usually pretty good in the face off circle but since I have changed to a lighter stick I'm not doing so well. I'm now at a point where my confidence is down, which certainly doesn't help.

Care to share any tips, tricks and techniques to help me get out of my funk?

Thanks,

JJ

[TMD#89 0]

heres my technique:

I line up for the facoff looking the other center directly in the eyes then wait for the ref to drop the puck, as soon as it hits the ice i knock his stick to the right and pull my stick to the left winning in back. by the way i'm a lefty.

When you cant beat another center on a faceoff i use this technique:

I tell one of my wingers that i will push the other center out of the way and that I want him to come in and take it. so i get low and as soon as i see the refs hand start to go down I lift his stick, tie him up and turn with my butt facing him so that if my winger does not make it in I can just kick it back to my d-man.

[Chadd 916]

Have a plan, it's the most importnat thing you can do. If you aren't beating the guy clean coming back, chip it forward and have a winger go right off the drop. You can even let the other guy win it clean and have a set play to deal with that.

[Sven 1]

I always try to push the oppontents stick away and win the faceoff.

works like 8/10

[kevinbelt 0]

the important thing to remember is to watch the puck. watch it the whole time, and react when it comes out of the ref's hand, instead of when it hits the ice. but you probably already knew that.

the suggestion about having your wingers help is a good one. if i don't win it cleanly, i'll always try to nudge it to my left winger. (i'm right-handed, and i draw it back with my backhand, so the left winger is a forehand pass.) it's also helpful b/c you get a quick rush going - you might surprise the defense/goalie.

if you're in the offensive zone, take a shot. i don't know why, but for some reason, not thinking about drawing it back makes me quicker. i can usually get a shot away off a draw, even if the other center is pretty good. if confidence is your problem, scoring a goal off the draw should help a lot. in the neutral zone and your own end you can use the same strategy, only chip it up to your wingers.

if the new stick is the problem, maybe you could switch to the old stick for faceoffs, then skate by the bench and switch them out? other than that, practice...

worst case scenario: play wing. :)

-k

[EBondo 232]

or worst case scenario, act like your going for lifting the stick up, and miss his stick and get right in the groin area :D ...nah dont do that...

[Chadd 916]

Nobody mentioned the most important part. CHEAT. Get your stick as far into/across the circle as the ref will allow. Put your feet wherever will give you the best leverage. If the ref corrects you, you have to listen but you would be surprised how often you can get beat guys simply because the ref isn't paying attention to how you set up.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Nobody mentioned the most important part. CHEAT. Get your stick as far into/across the circle as the ref will allow. Put your feet wherever will give you the best leverage. If the ref corrects you, you have to listen but you would be surprised how often you can get beat guys simply because the ref isn't paying attention to how you set up.

That's so true...Cheating is the most important thing on a faceoff. That's what Yanic Perreault told me. I don't remember his techniques but he always win his faceoffs.

Edit: I asked my brother about the techniques:

Perreault pass his blades under the stick of the opponent and bring back his stick as hard as he can while bringing the puck with it.

[kevinbelt 0]

Nobody mentioned the most important part. CHEAT. Get your stick as far into/across the circle as the ref will allow. Put your feet wherever will give you the best leverage. If the ref corrects you, you have to listen but you would be surprised how often you can get beat guys simply because the ref isn't paying attention to how you set up.

good point. also, if you're chipping it to your wingers, make sure they know to cheat in. the ref will usually check to see if you're outside the circle, but then he'll concentrate on dropping the puck. that's when the wingers ought to glide in towards the dot. this way, if the center tries to get it to the wing, he doesn't have to work as hard, and the wing is in position to scoop up the puck if neither center wins it cleanly.

-k

[PBRyan 0]

there are so many different ways to win draws. It is mostly a matter of pp but if you are losing draws and they are not being won by the opposing center cleanly, you should talk to your wingers and come up with 2 or three basic stratgegies for different scenarios so you are all on the same page. One of the most important parts of faceoffs is your wings tying up or going to the point (depending on where the draw is located). Draws are much more team oriented than most people believe. I have won draws clean and have still "lost" the draw because of opposing wingers making good plays (and vice-versa). Communication before the draw is extremely important and, like what was said before, have a plan and cheat as much as you can get away with.

[jjtt99 0]

Thanks for the help boys. Now that I think about it, I'm definitely not cheating enough as my winter league refs really inforce the rules. Now I'm playing spring it's a different kettle of fish as these refs are just out for a skate as they don't call anything, anywhere!

I also like the Perreault technique where you pass your blade under the stick of the opponent and bring it back with the puck. I can see how you need to have your stick pretty far forward on the start to pull that one off. That's a good one to add to my current bag of tricks: forehand side, forehand shoot, backhand diagonal and tie up stick and kick back.

Bring 'em on!

JJ

[Chadd 916]

I find the ref dropping the puck makes a bigger difference to me than who I am up against. If he can't get it flat or is really slow, I'm in trouble.

[Bruin88 0]

im a lefty

if theyre a left ill lift their stick turn to the right and back into them and then kick the puck back

if theyre right i lift their stick and cleanly push them away from the dot and let someone pick it up

or ill just run them over

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

I usually pull the run the guy over off the puck drop, but I like the turn too. Stevie Y did the turn really well.

[A_Steeves12 0]

back in the day when i played center/rightwing, when taking a draw i would do the turn as dan the man said, or i would try to pluck it out of the air or tie the guy up and kick it bakc to a teammate.

[DeI 18 0]

I always figured that hand placement on the stick was the most important thing for winning faceoffs. If you keep your hands lower on the stick, you have more control, and can easily just slide your hands up the shaft as play continues, but that's just my 2 cents. That's probably why I play wing now.

DeI

[ktang 34]

back in the day when i played center/rightwing, when taking a draw i would do the turn as dan the man said, or i would try to pluck it out of the air or tie the guy up and kick it bakc to a teammate.

I think that plucking the puck out of the air is supposed to be an illegal faceoff, and the plucker gets tossed out of the faceoff circle for the do-over. However, most rec-league refs / linesmen don't catch that, so there are 2 tricks that I know of for plucking it out of the air:

(i) hold the stick in the "power draw" grip (knuckles up with both hands), with the blade vertical. Keep your eye on the puck, and as the ref / linesman drops the puck, tilt your blade to bat the puck high to lob it high forwards.

(ii) Same grip as above, but as the ref / linesman drops the puck, lift your blade slightly forward and let the puck bounce off the blade backwards between your legs.

[jjtt99 0]

A note to let you know I kicked some royal butt on the face offs last night. I won at least 80% of them. Thanks for all the help!

Now if we could only solve my problem of 'hands of stone' as easily as this!!

JJ

[Project824 0]

Winning a faceoff is a combination of many things, some you can control, some you can't.

First, you don't watch the dot or your opponent's stick. It's the puck, and more importantly the referee's hand. When it begins to move (some referees with poor form will actually move their hand upwards before dropping it), that is where you cheat. You cannot bat it out of the air before it hits the ice, this should result in a stoppage and you being thrown out of the faceoff. But you can get the jump and gain position on your opponent. Most good faceoff men lower their bottom hand to gain more leverage, whether you turn your bottom hand over is personal preference.

If you are able to match or overmatch your opponent in quickness and hand strength, you can either try to outright win the puck back, or basically force your stick through his. This is a traditional faceoff "win". You'll have to be very focused to get the best possible jump on the face, and plan on going through a lot of sticks/blades. They will chip and crack quite a bit (I used to go through about 3-5 blades a week when I was still playing. Good thing they were free.).

If you are on the other end of this and getting beat on faceoffs outright, you can try to neutralize your opponent's stick with either your stick or body positioning, and use your feet or stick to win the puck back afterwards. This requires you to get the jump too, only now you are not counting on the puck, only that you will make contact with his stick before he can get the puck. This isn't really much easier, but requires a little less precision and allows you to muscle your way to make up for some shortcomings. You can also neutralize his stick and bull your way forward, leaving the puck for a teammate.

That leads to the most important part, faceoff wins are dependent on your teammates. You could win a faceoff clean but if your defensemen doesn't tie up the other team's winger and lets him drive to the net, then it's possible all you've really done is give your opponent a good pass. The faceoff is the first 1 on 1 battle, but there are 4 more other little 1 on 1 battles that must be won at the same time. Same goes with winning a faceoff clean to your point in the o-zone, if your wingers let the other team get out clean, then all you've really done is give the other team a breakout pass towards your defensemen, who are now caught with their pants down at the point.