Lessons from Gilmore: 'Don't ever touch my puck'

Thanks to Hollywood's frequent dramatization of hockey movies such as "The Mighty Ducks," the face-off has gained fame as a high-intensity, in-your-face showdown that gives opposing players a chance to talk smack face to face and set the tone for the hard-fought, action-packed on-ice battles to follow.

In reality, there isn't as much hype attached to face-offs as the movies suggest, but that doesn't make them any less important.

"In a hockey game, there can be upwards of 100 face-offs, so generally if you can control the face-off circle you can have a decided edge in puck possession and therefore opportunities," sophomore center Brett Wilson said. "If you are able to control the puck off a face-off it is a huge advantage over your opponent."

Winning face-offs is an often-overlooked but necessary skill that the Princeton men's and women's teams have excelled at this year, winning 51.7 percent and 52.7 percent of their draws so far, respectively. With these stats giving them as solid credibility, the Tiger centers each offered their different recipes for success in the face-off circle.

"Every center has a different strategy," junior Marykate Oakley said. "I personally like to turn my bottom hand over on my stick and try and win it back to my defenseman on the backhand."

"I try to get really low and hold my stick low so that I can get good leverage," junior Landis Stankievech said. "I also try to watch the ref's hand for when he releases the puck — don't watch the ice where it's gonna fall."

Senior center Darroll Powe noted that another popular method is to tie up the other man's stick and kick the puck back to a teammate. Sound positioning, particularly tying up the opposing center, is absolutely crucial, especially in the defensive zone where a clean face-off win for the other team can spell doom.

"Getting smoked on a draw is not only embarrassing, but you end up spending time in the 'D' zone and trying to recover afterwards," junior Lizzie Keady said. "It's important to tie up the opposing center — win or lose [on the face-off]."

While centers are the focus of attention in the face-off circle, the other skaters shouldn't just stand around and watch.

"Everyone on the ice has a responsibility for winning a face-off," Powe said. "Wingers usually come in and win loose pucks back to defensemen when the center ties up, and the defensemen can do the same. Everyone has to be ready to win their one-on-one battle."

Even after the center wins control of the puck, it still needs to be sent to someone. The recipient of the pass off the face-off varies depending on what the situation is. Senior Laura Watt said that in the defensive zone it's important to win the draw away from your goal back to the defense, which, Wilson explained, ensures the puck is away from the net and the middle of the ice in order to give the defense the option of a breakout pass.

Centers can get a little more creative with playmaking in the attacking end.

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"In the offensive zone we like to get the puck to the wingers so they can make a play to the net while the other team is still trying to organize their D-zone coverage," Wilson said.

Oakley likes to employ a nifty tactic sometimes called the "nutmeg."

"One of my favorite things to do is try to tip the puck between the center's legs, step around, and try to get a shot off or hit the winger back door," she said.

Since face-offs can make or break a close game, both teams frequently work on techniques and set plays during practices and, according to Stankievech, sometimes even hold competitions to see who can win the most draws.

With so much at stake in the face-off circle, especially in the closing seconds of a close game, Keady revealed that at times a team must approach a draw with the high intensity portrayed in movies. The bottom line for the best way to approach face-offs, as written on the team t-shirts and taken straight from "Happy Gilmore": "That's MY puck, baby. Don't you ever touch my puck!"