Hockey ready on the face-off

Are you ready to take the face off? I used to have a player who was primarily a defenseman who was great at face offs even in Bantams. He would glide into the face off circle hockey ready, while looking around to make sure everyone was ready, see who he had for options, give a quick look to the player he intended on getting the puck to, and last but not least - he bought us time. We always put a wing who could take the face off if he got tossed, but we knew we could count on him. He would watch the puck drop from the official’s hand like a hawk. He always looked to the bench for a cue as to where we wanted the puck during big face offs, but he was smart and knew what we wanted. We worked on this during practice all over the ice. To me the face off is huge. Even if we lost the face off our team had learned to pressure the puck and who to pick up depending on where we took the drop. If your heads not in the game - you’ll lose the face off to a sharp and quick opponent. Everyone has to be ready. If your looking away - you miss a lot. A coach can kill a face off by putting the wrong player in the circle, and by delaying a player to the face off from the bench. If they’re going to drop the puck, then your team better be ready - not drifting into position. Each year I seem to pick up a few good face off players, but practice does make a difference. The whole team needs to know where to go on the win, or where to cover if the face off is lost. Goalies need to be on their toes when the face off is in their end. I’ve seen many goals off the face off, and many more off the point when the goalie doesn’t move into the shooting lane fast enough. It’s all about being ready - using your head , and using speed on your feet and with your stick. This goes for quick under handling of the puck on the quick pass.
If you get a shot - take it. Don’t play with puck and lose your advantage of speed. Once your team has possession of the puck - start moving. If your in your own end - get it up ice. If your in their zone - get your shot off quickly. If your in the neutral zone - get ready to move the puck around the other team, or start pressuring the puck hard to gain possession. Most of all - be ready.