Saturday, May 22, 2004

The "Sopel", behind the back bank self pass

Here's a play that was inspired by Brent Sopel who in the Vancouver Canucks' playoffs against Calgary was backing into his own end (backwards) with the puck and an opposing force close infront hoping to pressure him into the corner and battle for the puck.
Sopel took the puck on his backhand, slighty twisted his body and really twisted his arms around to hide the behind the back pass to the boards. He passed it on such an angle that he really had to work to skate for it. This ensured that the guy who was hoping to put him into the corner was out of the player and also that Sopel now had a nice break to the Calgary Flames golie.
The animated play for this is somewhat incorrect. The player (Sopel) just did a behind the back pass to the boards, but in the animation it shows him doing a spin-o-rama. ~Sorry
View the play