Ask any coach and they will tell you that a team’s power play can win and lose games on a regular basis. Ben Cooper is an Associate Coach for Red Bull Salzburg and at TCS Live he dove deeper into the importance of the man advantage.

As the power play coach for Salzburg, Cooper uses the off season to exchange ideas about what can be done to enhance the crucial, short advantages. When the season rolls around it’s those off season discussions that form the foundation for new themes and ideas. 

Fresh Perspective

For Cooper, it’s important to get a second set of eyes and share ideas about the PP, but it’s also important to not over-coach the power play. Give the players the structure and let them do their thing. Cooper tells his players constantly that when you fail to keep your composure an elite power play fails 75% of the time. 

Outwork the PK

It’s essential to find solutions to outmaneuver an opponent’s penalty kill, and that starts with work ethic. Make sure all five guys are out-working the four killers. 

Faceoff Importance

Have a plan for both a win and loss right off the face off. Additionally, he encourages pace while always having guys at the net ready to pick up the trash.

Cooper conducts extensive pre-scout research analyzing his team’s power play along with the opposition's penalty kill. Cooper watches film to pick up on areas of weakness that his team can take advantage of on the power play. The high attention to detail that Cooper has for the opposition's penalty kills allows his team to be prepared and successful on their opportunities. One thing that Cooper initiated after practicing the power play in practice is to follow the conclusion of the drill with a quick high scoring two on one drill. When the power play was not successful in practice his players would get frustrated and it would negatively impact the rest of practice. Giving his team the opportunity to feel the puck after working on the PP and get high quality scoring chances on net allowed his guys to refocus and have a strong finish to practice.   

Making adjustments on the power play based on what a penalty kill is giving you is vital as a coach, but allowing your players to have the freedom to read and react to the plays that they are seeing in front of them is what they need to succeed. Giving his players the structure and pre-scout information is Cooper’s responsibility and then allowing them to execute based on their instincts allows Salzburg’s power play to have success.

Noteworthy Timestamps:

• 0:45 Importance of mentors
• 4:20 My coaching style
• 5:45 Power play keys
• 9:25 My process for preparation
• 15:30 Breakouts/Entry routes
• 17:10 Semi-final opponent - Bolzano Foxes
• 18:25 Faceoffs
• 21:10 PK forecheck/breakout
• 24:40 PK in zone
• 28:35 Finals opponent - Klagenfurt
• 28:55 Faceoffs
• 31:05 PK forecheck/breakout
• 33:05 PK in zone