Scott Gordon to coach "overspeed"

Here is an interesting article that I found today. It is a type of style of play that is refreshing to watch. In today NHL it seems that coaches are more interested in playing defense than attacking and scoring.

Gordon's Islanders will be about speed...
Kate Strang|Newsday.com
Scott Gordon was forced to watch his Providence Bruins from the press box after a miscommunication with the AHL two years ago in which he thought he was suspended from a game instead of a player. It was the Bruins' third game in three nights, and Gordon said he was "disgusted" watching his team on the ice.

His players were sitting back, calculating where the puck would be, instead of forcing an opportunity. Gordon decided he wanted a team that used speed to its advantage and attacked instead of waiting for time and space to create plays.

The next day, he pushed his players and unveiled a new, faster way of completing drills, implementing the concept of "overspeed" in practice to improve his team's ability to put pressure on other teams. Ever since, he could tell a marked difference in performance.

Because of the success the change created, Gordon will utilize the same philosophy with the Islanders. "The key for me is that you play as a unit of five and you incorporate that speed into your game," Gordon said. "A lot of it stems from just moving your feet. You're going to put the opposition on their heels."

Introducing the element of speed won't necessarily translate into grueling workouts, Gordon said, but rather different ways of performing drills and approaching practices. "Every player has a comfort level of skating where they know they're not going to fall down," Gordon said. "We try to push players beyond that comfort level, so that when they get in the game, there may be a little bit of a drop-off, but it's better than the level they were playing at."

The goal is to not only improve the team's overall speed, but also adjust its mentality in terms of game plan. "The style of play that we want to instill in our players is, we want to play to win the game, not play to not lose the game," Gordon said. "It's very easy to play and be afraid to make mistakes. Instead of forcing the play, it can be tempting to back off and see what they bring. When you do that, you're on your heels and you're in chase mode toward your own net, instead of chase mode toward the opposition's."