As an assistant coach at the 2023 World Junior A Challenge in Truro, Nova Scotia, my job was to run the defence and guide the penalty kill. You can imagine the pressure on the coaches and players and trainers in that type of short term competition, but the element that helped calm the nerves the most was the distribution of responnsibilities. Our Head Coach Scott Barney was in charge of changing the forwards, running the power play, and directing the overall approach of the team. We had my buddy Alex Mandolidis helping with the forwards and bringing the players together in a short time frame. And then there was me on an island by myself with the D. 

I had spent the summer studying various penalty kill formations and the question came up during the interview process, and was a big part of why I was fortunate enough to get the job. And sure enough, we had to kill a penalty in overtime during the semi-finals against Team USA, after which we promptly scored to head to the finals and an eventual gold medal. 

I loved Ben Sexton's presentation at TCS ive '24 because of this focus on a specific area of the game. Most coaches have to do the PK, the power play, the defence, faceoffs, laundry, and drive the bus, so it's nice to know there are opportunities that will reward if you narrow your focus. That's what Ben has done, and it's been valuable with the young Senators. 

I particularly liked the parts of Ben's presentation that disagreed with - maybe that's a strong word. I just believe there are more than one way to do things, and Ben reinforced this idea. Every team is different, every pre-scout is different. That's what happens in a lot of these presentations, debate is created. The game isn't stagnant. Especially with special teams! Coaches are always trying to one-up their competition, which means if we're not adapting to trends or getting ahead of them, then we're going to be left behind. 

At the junior level I ran a triangle plus one to strong results, but I've seen it get picked apart as well. Ottawa isn't running an aggressive push-down, but this is the NHL - the execution is world-class. 

If nothing else, Ben's presentation fired up my mind to ask more questions and keep learning a critical, specific portion of the game. 

Check out this snippet from Sexton's presentation and view the full video here a membership to The Coaches Site.