Quote:
Originally Posted by CubanPuckstoppr
From the replay of last night's first Detroit goal, (the replay view from behind the goal), Turco hopped from left to right, and by all appearances used the inside and outside edge to stop, and in essence stopped his momentum to the right.
Would two strong shuffles to the right, with continuing momentum at the end of shuffle two been more effective?
My answer is I don't know if, that was a wicked backhand shot, but thought I'd discuss the point.
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The goal in question here happens in this highlight vid at the 40 sec mark...well the hop step that is.
Link in case the embed doesn't work:
YouTube - Red Wings @ Stars 5/12/08 Game 3
I watched this live and immediately said 'HOP STEP!' The post mortum of the goal shows that while the play is still to the outside and shifts to the slot, he does a double hop to the middle of the net then makes a slight correction to his left. At that moment Datsyuk puts it by him with a sweet backhander.
Now, this vid doesn't show the view behind Turks that Cubes is talking about, and it is a bit grainy so it is hard to see what really happened.
When Turks 'corrected' his angle to the left, he actually lost his angle and center to the net. The puck doesn't go around Turco, rather it takes a sharp angle through the 6/7 hole off the post and in.
To me this says that he did not feel as if he was square and centered, so he corrected, and on a backhand none the less, which almost always goes back against the grain, i.e. the shooter has trouble 'pushing' a backhand from that distance.
Upon further reflection it occurred to me that maybe Turco thought he was off angle, which send me tripping down the path that says to me that while this is a method of moving, is it precise? Meaning, you know with a shuffle exactly where you are in regards to the net based upon the strength and length of the shuffle. Same holds true with regard to a T-Push. You can basically mentally 'measure' the distance traveled using these two techniques. I am not so sure that a hop step, where you actually leave the ice for a split second, you'd need to be able to mentally measure your distance traveled and have that recorded in your brain so you know where you are at all times, and it seems that this is not the case with this particular goal against.
Personally for me, a hop step wouldn't provide the level of precision that I need when moving. My angles need to be dead on precise and any corrections after a movement to become square can kill you if the shot is released during the correction which many times it can be, and was the case here.