Defending the 'Michigan'?
The Michigan isn't the meta .... yet. My club had this goal scored against us the other night and it got me wondering exactly how we're going to defend against this in the future.
Here's the clip. I show the goal a couple of times at game speed to give an idea of just how quickly it can happen and then slower version that shows how we failed defensively.
We almost stopped the play right when he starts his move but 11 just misses the poke. By the time he gets to the far side of the net my poke is useless because the puck's already at crossbar height. I think the goalie should probably stop this since he's over to the far post before the puck, but the animation pulls his head and shoulders away from the post to open up the scoring chance.
With players getting used to the controls, unlocking more x-factors and this being a simple one-button move I'm expecting to see this a whole lot more often. The question is, what should be done to defend it? "Don't let him set up behind the net" doesn't really apply since he just did it while quickly skating by. I worry that being hyper-aggressive in chasing players behind the net will just open up more passes to now-open players in front. At least with wraps in previous years you could meet the player on the scoring side with a poke, but the Michigan negates that. Hitting the player might be an option before he can fully get around the turn, but again I worry that will require a dangerous commitment from the defender.
Any thoughts or suggestions?