EHM The Blue Line

My team seam to be thowing away all sorts of leads and losing games by 1 or 2 goals. I am usually 2 goals up by the end of the first, but then things start to go wrong. I regularry finish with a 4-3 loss. My teams is perfectly capable of winning with players like St Louis, Jagr, Niedermayer, Lundqvist, & Drury. I rest players when they're below 90% condition, lines ice for 40, 40, 30, & 20 seconds each. I'm training them on both Conditioning and Skating on intensive. So what could be going wrong? It seems to me they're getting tired, but I see no reason why they should.

I can't say for sure but I think this could be because your team is taking too many chances offensively and/or playing too soft defensively and as the game goes on players naturally tire a bit no matter their conditioning and thats when mistakes can happen.

I play a high pressure style and it is always later in games that you see it pay off for example.

What so play harder defence by maybe changing the sliders to be closer gap control and puck pressure? then taking to many chances on offence? whats this mean? Isn't it a good thing to be taking chances on offence cause that means your scoring goals? what would you do to solve this?

It's usually a lot of experimentation before having a tactic that works perfectly with your team.

And when you get it, it's already the end of the season... People came in, other goes out, and you have once again to find the best strategy for your team.

By the time, you become more used to it and find the best strategies for your team earlier in the season, and so win more games and titles

Everything in tactics is a tradeoff between risk and reward. If you play too conservative you won't get any offensive pressure and that means you can't create enough chances to score.

If you play too risky offensively you leave yourself open to defensive breakdowns. If your whole team is devoted to defense and your defense are pinching in to near the faceoff circles you're in trouble if there is turnover that or a quick clearance/deflection. So, at the beginning of a game a player may be able to cover for his mistakes more easily than later in a game...

Defensive mistakes = offensive chances/goals. Since you said you're always getting out to a two goal lead you can't hold later it seems your team is probably getting caught taking too many chances. So ideally you should find a balance where you are still creating chances without giving up just as many to the other team.

You can also be really offensive, as you are, to take your usual two goals lead, and then change your strategy to a more defensive-minded to protect your lead.

There are a lot of approaches, and more than just one solution.

things is though I'm not playing with really offencive tactics. Most sliders are set in the middle, so I think it might just be my players

It may be the players, or how you build the lineup, or your tactics, or your tactical positionning, or a mix of that. Or maybe just your goaltender who is unable to display the same level of play all over the game. Or maybe your team gets too tired during the game to play the same way. Or you should have players with low workrate and teamwork, which means that they'll play their best hockey only when they want and be useless the rest of the time. You maybe have a lack in leadership, so you loose some cohesion while the game is going on.

There are many possibilities that make a team fall down. If you are sure that it's the fault of the players (too many with low workrate, for example) then make the appropriate trades. If the issue doesn't come from the players, then it may come from your coaching staff. If it's neither your players or your staff, then YOU are the problem lol And will be there to help you solve what's wrong

But first, try to see if you're problem doesn't come from the players or from your staff

well firstly, i've got another thread on here about my lineup, so take a look

http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... php?t=1824

i think you've posted on there, but just don't realise I'm the same person in each!



My players attibutes are all increasing, so my coaching staff can't be a problem. I think its my tactics set. I've posted them in that other thread so take a look and see if you can help please?!

Oops I didn't pay attention you were the same guy on both threads, sorry

I suggest you using just one thread Especially the other ones, as all your problems and all about your team is mentionned there It will be more easy for other users to help you as they'll have a general view on how your team runs, and so see better what could be wrong

By the way, i gave you a more detailed answer on the other thread

Locked this thread so you can use the other one for comments on your team.