“Make him make the first move, Conway.”
Remember these famous words to Charlie from Coach Orion?
Coach Orion was onto something. And it clicked for me after reading a few posts about angles from Jack Han.
In his Queens Gambit article, he gives a quick guide for what to do in certain 1v1 situations based on your angle to the defender.
1v1
Here’s what he says about 0-degree play:
0° (face-to-face): Square up to the defender and use weight shifts & crossovers to make him/her move first, then exploit the opening
Example: OZ middle entry 1v1
If you remember back to the movie, Coach Orion was teaching Charlie (a forward), how to defend a 1v1 at 0 degrees. The goal of the offensive player is to get the defender to move first, once the defender commits to a movement like a crossover, you can get to space while they are still in their crossover.
Coach Orion is teaching him the defensive side of this situation.
Note: The defender wants you to do the inverse. The defender also wants you to make a telling move first to space he can then close down and disrupt the puck.
After some practice and a secret scrimmage against the Varsity team, Charlie is able to deploy what he learned about 1v1 situations at this angle.
He gets his redemption by transferring Coach Orion’s teaching to the big game against the Varsity.
Shoutout to Coach Orion for teaching us 90’s kids offense and defense at 0 degrees.
Success Leaves Clues
Once you see angles you can’t unsee them. Check out lacrosse success when you play at 0 degrees. When the front and lateral gap permit, play face to face. 0 degrees.
If you’re curious how to play the other angles, check out Jack’s 2 articles on this.
His other one is on Pavel Datsyuk’s magic at 0 degrees.
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