NLL Insider

Last week we took a look at the short-man or man-down defenses.  This week we’ll consider the power plays (PPs) or extra-man offences (EMOs). Power play is the traditional Canadian reference and extra-man offence the traditional American reference for the man-advantage or man-up situations. Both terminologies are used in the NLL.

The traditional EMO setup has a point man at the top, a left- and right-hand shooter and a left- and right-hand crease man. The point man is much like the point guard in basketball or the quarterback in football. Normally it is he who analyzes the defense, calls and triggers the plays and generally orchestrates the power play.

From a team-building perspective, next to pursuing a quality goaltender, the next key to ultimate success is finding that special point man to lead your offence and your EMO. Of course John Grant Jr. comes to mind first because of his incredible stick skills both shooting and passing. But there are others not far behind.  To name a few, in the east you have the likes of Casey Powell of the Titans, Ryan Ward of the Swarm and John Tavares of the Bandits.  In the west there’s Gavin Prout of the Mammoth, Tracey Kelusky of the Roughnecks and Colin Doyle of the Stealth.

Some teams are fortunate to have more than one capable point man on their team. Two examples of this would be the Toronto Rock who has Blaine Manning and Josh Sanderson or the Portland Lumberjax, who have Dan Dawson and Derek Malawsky. Adding further flexibility to these two PPs is the fact that both the Dawson/Malawsky pair and the Manning /Sanderson pair are opposite hands. This presents the option of being able to show a different look to their respective EMOs at any time causing the defenses to alter their positioning frequently.

So, what is it the point men are looking for when setting up the PP? Well first they have to quickly discern what man-down defense the opposition is using. Is it box, diamond, split box? Of course, the other players on the PP also have a responsibility to quickly determine what the short-man setup is as there are some basic principles to adhere to depending on whether they see box or diamond. It’s the point man though, who not only has to make a quick read but then has to decide on how they’re going to attack. And don’t forget there’s only 30 seconds on that shot clock so there’s not much time to dally.

What are some of the basic principles of attacking either the box or diamond defenses? Versus the box setup, you want to expose the 2 defense (D) versus 3 offence (O) at the top of the power play. The creases are virtually locked off so you attack the 3 on 2 options. Let’s look at 3 options:

1. The Drag and Dump: In this option either the point man with the ball or one of the shooters with the ball will try to drag one of the two top defenders out of position thereby opening big shooting lanes for the remaining two top PP men. The ball carrier simply “dumps” the ball to one of the other 2 top men after he has “dragged” his man.
2. Cutters: In this option, the ball is moved deep to one of the crease men (who has stepped out a bit to get space on the defender) and either the opposite shooter or the point man cuts to the middle to receive a pass for a shot. The ‘Cutters” game can be run continuously as for example, if the first option fails, you could move the ball crease to crease and run another opposite cutter.
3. Top Picks: These can be run on or off ball and once again exposes the 2 D versus 3 O at the top. For example, the point could pass to the left shooter who in turn is guarded closely by one of the top two defenders. The opposite shooter can set a back pick on the other top defender and the point man can cut behind the pick to receive a pass from the ball carrier. There are many variations of the “Top Pick” that can be utilized.

Versus the diamond setup, the keys to success lay in forcing the defense to rotate multiple times until you force a rotation error or running a simple pick play to prevent the diamond from rotating. Here’s an example of each:

1. Forcing Rotation: the key here is utilizing diagonal passing rather than going around the outside. You can go point to crease and run an opposite shooter cutter and if he’s not open go back to point forcing rotation again. Then find the open man with another diagonal pass. You can continue the diagonal passing game until the D makes a rotation error.
2. Crease Up Pick: In this simple pick play versus the diamond, the point man throws a diagonal pass to the crease while the opposite crease man picks up on the side defender who is trying to rotate down to the crease. The shooter on that side uses the pick and cuts to crease where he receives a crease to crease pass.

So now you have knowledge of some of the basic EMOs you’ll see in every NLL game – basic being the key word here. PPs that have been together for awhile will have reached a level of sophistication that goes well beyond what I’ve presented here.

There’s also the matter of “execution.” Well-executed picks and cuts go along way to ensure plays will produce as designed. This will give you the analytical tools though, to try to spot what each team tends to do against certain traditional man-down defenses.

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