Yesterday, Team Canada took a 3-0 into the third period of the gold medal game in the World Junior Championships against the Russians, and promptly lost by 65 goals or so. Hi ho...silver.
As is the case with most comebacks, you could feel it coming, building like a drumbeat in the distance before some epic battle scene in a movie.
Momentum is a hell of a drug - somehow it gets into the minds of every human in the building, and everything spirals out of control. It's not like the personnel or the playing conditions or the size of the puck suddenly changed. It all takes place in the space between our ears.
It's sudden helplessness versus a team of swelled chests. The ice slopes. It seems unstoppable.
But of course, it isn't.
In my experience, there are three effective ways to battle a potential comeback, none of which were apparently employed by the Canadians last night. It may be too little too late for them, but it's not for you and your team next week, next month, and next year.
1. Smart Leadership: The Early Timeout
It has to start at the top -- if momentum is all in your head, than a coach should be able to climb in there and straighten things out.
He can quell the comeback by using his feel for the game, calling an early timeout (please note that "early" is in italics for a reason), and creating a fresh jump-off point.
As with most things, whether it's starting a diet, stopping a losing streak or whatever, humans need mental checkpoints to make changes. We need them so we can say "OK, ever since Jan. 1, I've lost five pounds" or "ever since we traded away Player X, we're 3-0."
Ever since the timeout, Team X has gotten it back on track.
That timeout is a quick reset button on the bench, a moment for a coach to actually have his teams' ears, instead of sitting back at watching them get swept up in the wave of chaos taking place on the rink. Again, the sooner the timeout, the better.
2. Capitalize On Your Opponent's Risk Taking.
In order to engineer a comeback, your opponent has to take some risks like "not really playing defense."
Where teams struggle is when they get into hockey's version of football's "prevent" defense that so often gets shredded like a curtain near kittens. A lack of aggressiveness in an aggressive sport is a recipe for disaster.
When your opponent opens it up, you can't get into a routine where you stop a rush, get to center, dump it back and apply a weak (but safe!) forecheck. All you're doing is loading your opponent up for rush after rush after rush, and after enough battering rams to the castle door, it will inevitably come tumbling down.
Successful teams keep their firepower activated even when defense is the main priority. Having the puck and trying to score when you have the lead isn't something to fear, it should be the goal.
So why is everybody so eager to give it back?
You need to cash in on that jumping defenseman of theirs - if they want to go four men up, by all means. That should be the perfect equation for dagger driving, so go get one and turn this damn thing back around.
3. And Finally, Slow The Game.
I know, I know, this is a crappy part of the game that fans hate, but you're trying to win a hockey game, not be an entertainer.
You have to Matt Cooke it up a bit to take your opponent's focus off their larger goal, and move the game to that herky-jerky part of the world where comebacks go to die.
The following are some decent game slower-downers:
• The facewash after the whistle
• Sending a winger into the faceoff circle to get intentionally kicked out
• Making, complaining to a linesman about a hole in ice, having him fix it
• Grabbing a guy's jersey when the liney goes to separate you and not letting go
• Having your goalie encounter mad equipment problems
• Arguing every single call
• Getting "hurt," rolling around like a soccer player
In sum: Get petty.
All that BS keeps your team engaged while frustrating your opponent, a welcome change to the type of free-flowing game that allows a team to keep their foot on the gas and run over your pedestrian team, who're clearly back on their heels.
In the end, the worst thing you can do is not recognize the momentum shift and do nothing.
Also not good: Recognizing it too late, and not calling a timeout until the game is tied.
The snowball grows as she tumbles downhill, and by the time your opponent has tied the game up, she's basically an avalanche.
There's nothing to fear out there but fear itself, so don't let whatever the heck "momentum" is defeat you.
Make your opponent do it.
Tamie Sheffield Kelly Monaco Gisele Bündchen Jennifer Aniston Amy Cobb
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