Copycat
Copycat: the importance of watching hockey
This week's video is about the importance of learning by watching, which ultimately allows a player to develop, recall, and execute during competition. The first two clips are from a couple years ago. In the first, Elias Pettersson makes an incredibly intelligent pass off the end boards to Brock Boeser after recognizing he is going to end up behind the opposing defensemen to negate any icing on the play. The second clip shows another example of this play utilized in a pre-planned way by the Bruins after seeing Pettersson use it previously. Torey Krug makes a long indirect pass off the end boards to David Pasternak for a power play goal. In the third clip (a few seasons later), Mika Zibanejad of the Rangers makes a great, live recall of the same play and executes the indirect pass to Chris Kreider for one of their 5 goals to beat the LA Kings last night.
Pettersson used his hockey IQ and creativity a few seasons ago to show us an innovative way to create offense off the rush when all direct passing options are unavailable. Krug and Zibanejad copycat the idea they saw from Pettersson to create their own team's offense. So much can be learned by just taking the time to watch some hockey.
