Faceoff tawk

[Stoner]

Why is the player with stick down first at a disadvantage?

A few years ago the NHL smartly put the defending player in that disadvantage position rather than the visiting team, in an effort to boost scoring.

Also... for center ice draws whose stick goes down first? Must still be the visitors.

[shrader]

Because half the time the linesmen don’t care if the second person actually puts the stick down or not. 

[Stoner]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

Because half the time the linesmen don’t care if the second person actually puts the stick down or not. 

Wouldn't that be an advantage for the defending player?

[shrader]

11 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Wouldn't that be an advantage for the defending player?

Not when you have to lift your stick over the puck before pulling it back. 

[inkman]

1 hour ago, Stoner said:

Why is the player with stick down first at a disadvantage?

A few years ago the NHL smartly put the defending player in that disadvantage position rather than the visiting team, in an effort to boost scoring.

Also... for center ice draws whose stick goes down first? Must still be the visitors.

Curious title

[Pimlach]

I noticed that the west coast linesmen were fussy sticklers on the face-offs.  Drawing boos from the crowds in both Anaheim  and SJ.  

[mjd1001]

Since we are talking about faceoffs, an update on the Sabres.  Of the Centers that have taken over 100 faceoffs for them this year, the winning percentage:

Krebs:  56.4%

McLeod:  53.4%

Cozens:  47.2%

Thompson:  42.7%

I wonder if there is some benefit to taking faceoffs and being shorter.  The leverage of being shorter is much more important than the longer reach?  The Sabres success this year is a reverse correlation to how tall they are (Cozens and Mcleod being the same actually).

When I looked back just now over the best faceoff guys in the league (over 50%, some near 60%) over the last 5  years, you come up with Crosby (5'11"), Horvat (6'1"), Draisaitl (6'1"), O'Reilly (6'1") and Lindholm (6'1"), John Tavares (6'1"), Claude Giroux (5'11"), and the best of all of them, Bergeron (6'1 or 6'0" depending on where you look).

Only Kopitar and Jordan Staal are close to the top that are 'taller' 6'3"/6'4.

Some of the worst guys (well under 50%) who have taken a lot of faceoffs recently: Erikson Ek (6'3"), Scheifle (6'3), Cozens (6'3"), Luc Dubois (6'4) and of course Thompson.

Now there are some guys who are bad who are 'shorter' too....but it seems like, in general, being 6'1" or less helps with faceoffs, and being tall (6'4" or more) is mostly a bad thing.

Maybe its nothing groundbreaking, but I never thought of it before.

 

[Archie Lee]

As an aside, I’ve been watching hockey for decades and I have pretty much no idea what gets a player kicked out of the face off circle. I mean, I generally understand that it relates to cheating, not being set properly, etc., but I never pick-up on the specifics that result in a player being tossed. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

4 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

As an aside, I’ve been watching hockey for decades and I have pretty much no idea what gets a player kicked out of the face off circle. I mean, I generally understand that it relates to cheating, not being set properly, etc., but I never pick-up on the specifics that result in a player being tossed. 

Yeah, also when a linesman like fakes the players out, just drop the damn puck and let's play. 

[shrader]

5 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

As an aside, I’ve been watching hockey for decades and I have pretty much no idea what gets a player kicked out of the face off circle. I mean, I generally understand that it relates to cheating, not being set properly, etc., but I never pick-up on the specifics that result in a player being tossed. 

It’s incredibly random. One faceoff you can punch a guy in the face and not get kicked, then the next you’re tossed for blinking. 

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Archie Lee said:

As an aside, I’ve been watching hockey for decades and I have pretty much no idea what gets a player kicked out of the face off circle. I mean, I generally understand that it relates to cheating, not being set properly, etc., but I never pick-up on the specifics that result in a player being tossed. 

It’s so stupid 

[Doohicksie]

8 hours ago, Thorner said:

It’s so stupid 

New rule:  Once the linesman drops the puck it's a valid faceoff.  Period.

[pi2000]

When you take a draw, you can go overhand or underhand (with your bottom hand).   Overhand grip you're most likely trying to pull it back on your backhand side, underhand (normal grip) your likely going strong side.

Putting your stick down first gives your opponent the opportunity to counter your tendencies before the puck is dropped.

Edited November 25 by pi2000

[xzy89c1]

On 11/24/2024 at 12:01 PM, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Yeah, also when a linesman like fakes the players out, just drop the damn puck and let's play. 

have not done that in years. 

 

On 11/24/2024 at 11:56 AM, Archie Lee said:

As an aside, I’ve been watching hockey for decades and I have pretty much no idea what gets a player kicked out of the face off circle. I mean, I generally understand that it relates to cheating, not being set properly, etc., but I never pick-up on the specifics that result in a player being tossed. 

if you dont put your skates in the right place, try to pick stick up early, try to anticipate the drop. it is pretty easy to know why when someone is booted most of the time. typically linesman will warn a player to stop it and if they dont they will get tossed and have a tough rest of game.

[Wyldnwoody44]

48 minutes ago, xzy89c1 said:

have not done that in years. 

I legit saw it the other night, like a damn magician lol 

[PerreaultForever]

On 11/24/2024 at 8:15 AM, mjd1001 said:

Since we are talking about faceoffs, an update on the Sabres.  Of the Centers that have taken over 100 faceoffs for them this year, the winning percentage:

Krebs:  56.4%

McLeod:  53.4%

Cozens:  47.2%

Thompson:  42.7%

I wonder if there is some benefit to taking faceoffs and being shorter.  The leverage of being shorter is much more important than the longer reach?  The Sabres success this year is a reverse correlation to how tall they are (Cozens and Mcleod being the same actually).

When I looked back just now over the best faceoff guys in the league (over 50%, some near 60%) over the last 5  years, you come up with Crosby (5'11"), Horvat (6'1"), Draisaitl (6'1"), O'Reilly (6'1") and Lindholm (6'1"), John Tavares (6'1"), Claude Giroux (5'11"), and the best of all of them, Bergeron (6'1 or 6'0" depending on where you look).

Only Kopitar and Jordan Staal are close to the top that are 'taller' 6'3"/6'4.

Some of the worst guys (well under 50%) who have taken a lot of faceoffs recently: Erikson Ek (6'3"), Scheifle (6'3), Cozens (6'3"), Luc Dubois (6'4) and of course Thompson.

Now there are some guys who are bad who are 'shorter' too....but it seems like, in general, being 6'1" or less helps with faceoffs, and being tall (6'4" or more) is mostly a bad thing.

Maybe its nothing groundbreaking, but I never thought of it before.

 

Generally yes. It's the hunch over with the lower center of gravity. You are pulling the puck back or using strength against strength so being down low gives you an edge in how your strength is applied. 

It's the reverse on the shot as you see with Tage when he can be upright and gets that full extension into it. Makes it sizzle with speed and after he got his accuracy fixed he became a constant scoring threat. I would suspect you'll find the hardest shooters are on average big and tall. 

There are of course exceptions to all of this.