Claimed: Advanced tactics [1/2]

[jRuutu 2,475]

 

Season 55 rolling on, every team has played 16 or so games, but there is something unusual going on in VHL. One of the teams has decided to try something different and approach the game of hockey from a new angle. I´m sure some of you have already heard about it, but Cologne Express has played big part of the season with dramatic and somewhat controversial style. They have moved all the defenders to forward positions and in return, all the forwards to defense!

 

Pretty interesting concept someone could say, but now that the season has gone on for close to 20 games, the results have not been as promising. Express has won only one game out of the sixteen!

 

Many of the Cologne fans have been wondering what is going on for some time, but now that there seems to be no end to the losing streak, even some of the players around VHL have been starting to comment. The latest player to share thoughts and comments about the whole Express case is Fabio Jokinen from Quebec.

 

He mentioned the style of play Cologne has been using in his blog few days ago, this is a direct quote:

 

Quote

 

I have watched couple Cologne games this season and we have played against them as well with Meute and I must say that it´s quite weird idea to use all the forwards on defense and all of the defenders in offense. I could understand maybe one player here and there, but whole team switched like that? Quite interesting.

 

I mean, some forwards are pretty solid defensively and could be defenders with some practice, but in the end there is a reason why you rarely see it. Same can of course be said about defenders playing forward. If you throw a offensively talented defender to play LW, I´m sure you are not going to lose the game, but I doubt the defender is going to have as big impact on the game as he would have if he played his own position.

 

I do applaud Cologne and their coaching and management for trying new ideas. It´s what keeps people in the hockey world on their toes and forces them to adjust and adapt if someone brings out something new. Unfortunately in this case, the results are not too positive. Last in the league in points, least goals scored and most goals against show that defenders and forwards should play on their natural positions whenever that is possible.

 

 

Remains to be seen how long Express is going to keep playing like this, but now that everybody has seen how well the new system works, it might be time to go back to the drawing board and figure something new out. Winning only one game out of sixteen is going to make playoff hockey only a distant dream, or is it? Express is actually only six points behind the third placed Davos who is sitting on 9 points, so everything is still possible for Express. Question is, do they want to play in the playoffs or focus on finishing behind everybody? Time will tell.

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Review:

Interesting style, that's for sure. It's cool to see it done though.