Sportsnet "What Kris Knoblauch can, and can't, do to turn around the Oilers' season"
In this article I found nice language that illustrates some gameplay realities..
“I am concerned, though, that the amount of "systems" discussions these days had led some fans to believe that the role these systems have in the outcome of games is more impactful than it really is.
In some sports the “systems,” or the “tactics,” or the “strategy” that comes from the coach are nearly as impactful as the team’s roster. In the NFL, players run very specific offensive plays via routes, where some guys are asked to operate like figures in bubble hockey tracks. In basketball, plays can be run with every possession and all five bodies can contribute something to the execution of getting a good look at the basket.
Hockey is so free-flowing though, with so many random bounces, that its “systems” are so often referred to as “structure” for a reason. They’re guidelines to eliminate those moments where players are caught between two choices and the worst possible outcome isn’t selecting the wrong option, it’s hesitating.
You don’t hear the term “structure” as much in other sports. Hockey is such a quick-twitch instant-reaction sport that you often don’t have time to look up and make a thoughtful play, so the best thing the team can provide for you is: in this type of scenario, here is where my teammates should roughly be. That allows you to blindly bang the puck off the boards to where a teammate is supposed to be, or flip it up the middle, depending on the situation.”
The two choices the author hints are the two ways.. Interesting he mentions in game scenarios where one not having enough time to make a thoughtful play is left with banging the puck off the boards or flipping the puck in the middle— two gross, wildly insufficient team plays. Please see these occasions as gaps or shortcomings in team play with the individual player communicating through body language— I’m afraid of the moment, all the other subscribed solutions have failed and aren’t available so please let me terminate play so that my status as a serviceable team player remains. Let me stop play, don’t let me create hockey as a richer refinery for human development and error. Hockey is the end.
Is the game’s purpose to win or to grow and share something common along lines that mirror finer realms of human excellence?