There are numerous ways one can describe a hockey team.
Jeff Jackson, though, would appreciate it if people stopped using one term to describe Notre Dame.
“I really hate when people say we’re a defensive team,” Jackson said Monday night. “We’re a puck-possession team, in my opinion. We really focus on our ability to possess the puck in the offensive zone and possess the puck coming out of our own end. Possession is the most important part of the game, because if we possess the puck 60 percent of the time and the opponent possesses it 40 percent of the time, our chances of winning are much better.”
Sure, they’ve only played one conference series, a sweep at the hands of Minnesota in Minneapolis, but the narrative of the Fighting Irish being defensive has kind of been put to bed during the first month of the season. Notre Dame does feature the 10th-ranked offense in the nation, averaging 3.56 goals per contest, as it hosts Wisconsin this weekend.
“We don’t have a lot of first rounders, we don’t have any on our team, so scoring has got to be done a little bit by committee and, so far, that’s been a positive for us,” Jackson said. “We’ve had some guys that have stepped up as juniors and have moved up from an offensive perspective. That’s certainly a bonus for us, and getting scoring from all four lines.”
All that said, Jackson has noticed a defensive trait from this year’s squad that he does like.
“This group is a little different in that I think we do a really good job of pressuring the puck when we don’t have it,” he said. “That is defensive, but I think it comes more from the offensive zone when we’re pressuring the puck, and not just the forecheck but on puck recoveries and just trying to make sure that we sustain possession.”
While the team’s offensive has been clicking, the special teams have been hot and cold. More specifically, the penalty kill that has only allowed one goal has been great but the power play has only converted on three of 33 opportunities.
“We’re going to start getting into games now against some really high-end opponents that you’re probably going to need to score a power play goal to win a game,” Jackson said.
So, from a veteran head coach, what’s the secret sauce for a struggling power play?
“We have players that can be productive on a power play situation,” Jackson said. “From my personal experience, it’s always been about the chemistry of the unit. Tinkering with it is probably more a matter of just trying to find the right personnel that works together.”
Jackson doesn’t think that has been achieved yet. He added that he hates to over tinker with the units, but that it was important for the players to realize that a successful power play is about more than simply scoring a goal.
“To score goals you have to win faceoffs, you have to have good entries, you have to have good offensive-zone possession and then you have to recover pucks,” he said. “There are different components to having a good power play and you need different guys contributing in different ways.
“I don’t think we’ve done that yet. I hate changing it all the time, I hate moving guys in and out of the power play or from what unit to the other, but until we find that chemistry and that ability to work together to score a goal — to me that’s the culmination of a great power play, it’s not just about scoring goals.”
