NLL Insider

One of the key components of every NLL game that doesn’t prompt a great deal of discussion is the face-off. There are roughly 25-30 face-offs per game and each one of these presents the opportunity to gain a valuable possession for the offence. Simply put, in this game, you always want to have first chance at scoring whether it’s at the start of a quarter, after a goal by either team, or in overtime.

Of course the easiest way to gain an advantage in this facet of the game is to have a very good draw man. One only needs to take a quick glance at the stats to this point in the schedule to realize that Philadelphia’s Geoff Snider is dominating the category. He’s winning his face-offs at a monstrous .730 clip at this writing and the Wings just happen to be 5-0.

That face-off stat should obviously be bringing a big smile to the face of head coach Dave Huntley. Knowing that 3 out of 4 times there’s a face-off you’re going to be in possession of the ball is comforting news. And to make things even better, Snider’s back-up Peter Jacobs is winning at a .710 pace.

Obviously it’s just not the face-offs that are the reason the Wings are off to such a great start – a seasoned Iannucci and the additions of outstanding rookie Merrick Thomson, top-notch goalie Rob Blasdell and All-Star defender Taylor Wray have all helped the cause immensely – but Snider has added a huge dimension to the team.

Not only does the dynamic Snider win face-offs instantly, he’s also quick to pursue the loose ball if he doesn’t pick it up immediately at the whistle. And when he pursues the loose ball and gains possession, he’s a huge threat to take it immediately to goal. He’s clearly the best multi-threat draw man in the league. Others are good but don’t pack as many skills as Snider. Jamie Hanford of the Titans is the next best at the “X” winning at a healthy .632 rate and guess what, New York is a surprising 4-4- to date. Could it be that Hanford’s ability to get the Titans a lot of first possession is a real strength for the team given their potent offence?

After Snider, Jacobs and Hanford, the dominance drops a bit but Calgary’s duo of Nolan Heavenor and Devon Wray are winning at a 55% rate while Tim Booth of San Jose comes in around 54% and Stephen Hoar of Rochester checks in at 53%. Heavenor and Hoar both have very good scoring capabilities while Wray and Booth are solid defenders. Gone are the days of the FOGO (face-off get off) man in this league. With only 16 runners at your disposal you simply can’t afford to have the one-dimensional FOGO in the lineup. It’s just far too taxing on the other 15 runners given the pace of the game and the fact that you can lose runners at any time through penalties and/or injury.

Just because you don’t have a top-notch draw man doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be a top team in the league. The Buffalo Bandits have probably been the best example of this over the past few seasons. They haven’t had a dominant face-off guy for awhile but always seem to manage to be at or near the top of the standings. What’s the reason? Well, good wing play for one. Guys like Mark Steenhuis and Pat McCready are great at getting to the loose ball and gaining possession.

There are a number of techniques face-off men have in their repertoire. They will try different techniques at different times and against different opponents. They can use the traditional clamp or trap and rake. They can pop the ball up quickly in the air and grab it. They can try to go up and over the ball to get their stick between the ball and their opponent’s stick. If the opposing draw man is quicker than them, they can try to “block” their opponent’s stick as best they can or they can “go with” the opponent’s draw technique and try to make it a two-man battle for the loose ball.

As far as the wing play is concerned, after a goal against, some teams will line up three wing players in their defensive end to try to prevent getting scored on quickly again. The opposition can choose whether or not to put three up or keep two back. The player bench gates can also be used on the wing play. After the whistle goes, you can run a player in your defensive (D) gate and run an offensive (O) player out your O gate or vice versa.

So there’s a lot going on at the face-off. Some teams like Portland (Pat Jones) and New York (Hanford) use one face-off man almost exclusively, some teams use two like Calgary (Wray and Heavenor) and others who don’t have a dominating draw man use multiple players.

Chicago and Minnesota for example, have each used at least 5 draw men over the course of the season. Some teams survive the lack of a dominating draw man with strategic wing play and great loose ball work. Next game you watch, analyze your face-off teams. How many face-off men does your team utilize? What technique do they seem to be using? Who are the wing players and where are they positioned? With 25-30 first possessions at stake every game, the face-offs are a critical part of the outcome of each contest.

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