Thursday, December 22, 2016
U.S. Aims to Play SCSU’s Style
Head coach Bob Motzko brings his up-tempo approach to the World Junior Championship.
By Nate Ewell
United States National Junior Team head coach Bob Motzko has approached the upcoming 2017 World Junior Championship by building a team meant to resemble his program at St. Cloud State – fast, aggressive and creative.
How Team USA fares will be determined once the puck drops Dec. 26. One thing that’s for sure, though – if the team does play like the Huskies, it will be a fun one to watch.
Dave Starman, who will handle color commentary for NHL Network’s coverage of every U.S. game, has seen that first-hand covering St. Cloud State for CBS Sports Network.
“Bob wants his teams to play north-south, with an awful lot of pace,” Starman said. “He will utilize every ounce of skill on his roster. They are not going to overhandle the puck – they are going to get it and move it and go to the net.”
Built for speed
That approach has been evident in both the summer evaluation camp and the pre-tournament camp that was held in Buffalo last week.
“We really wanted guys we think can play the mobile system that [U.S. coach] Bob Motzko wants to play,” U.S. general manager Jim Johannson said. “Bob wants to play attacking hockey and that means, defensively, we’ve got to get in people’s face the whole time. The days of just brute, physical hockey are gone. You have to be mobile, fast and be able to get to loose pucks, take away space. I think that’s what we hope our defense will do for us.”
The group Motzko brings to Toronto for the tournament – featuring as many as 22 NCAA players – should thrive in that style of play. Sophomores like Wisconsin’s Luke Kunin (Chesterfield, Mo./U.S. NTDP/MIN) and Boston College’s Colin White (Hanover, Mass./U.S. NTDP/OTT) have been offensive catalysts for a year and a half now in college hockey, while freshmen like Ohio State’s Tanner Laczynski (Shorewood, Ill./Lincoln-USHL/PHI) and Minnesota Duluth’s Joey Anderson (Roseville, Minn./U.S. NTDP/NJ) have been immediate contributors.
It’s a style that players certainly embrace.
“He wants the guys to be a family and form a brotherhood, and he wants to go-go-go and attack the net, attack the offensive zone and just play,” said Boston University forward Kieffer Bellows (Edina, Minn./U.S. NTDP/NYI). “He wants to put the opposition on their heels, and I love that about him. It shows how aggressive he is. It’s a short tournament but you need to be aggressive in these type tournaments.”
Powerful force
Another element that Motzko’s St. Cloud State teams have consistently featured is a potent power play. The Huskies have been over 20% with the man advantage each of the last four seasons, and finished the last three seasons in the top five nationally on the PP.
Skilled defensemen like Ethan Prow and Nick Jensen and creative forwards like Nic Dowd and Jonny Brodzinski have been the beneficiaries of this style in St. Cloud. On Team USA, look for Harvard’s Adam Fox (Jericho, N.Y./U.S. NTDP/CGY), Boston University’s Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill./U.S. NTDP/ARI), Denver’s Troy Terry (Denver, Colo./U.S. NTDP/ANA) and Connecticut’s Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./U.S. NTDP/STL) to be critical to the power play’s success.
“When you watch a Bob Motzko power play, it’s all about puck movement, finding seams and getting the puck through the box,” Starman said. “His teams can break down a penalty kill and really get them scrambling. That should be a huge thing for this U.S. team because they have a lot of guys who are really creative with the puck.”
The U.S. begins play Dec. 26 against Latvia and will also face Canada, Russia and Slovakia in group play. Medal round games run from Jan. 2 through Jan. 5.