VOORHEES, N.J. -- The things coaches do to maintain players' focus during a five-day layoff in the schedule can be rather off-beat.
On Friday — Day 2 of the break — head coach Dave Hakstol tried a drill he used at North Dakota. And judging from the Flyers' reaction, it was a drill the players seemed to enjoy.
Assistant coach Gord Murphy spray-painted a black line down the center of the ice, from the blue line to the goal line between both circles.
That was the Hakstol “Line of Demarcation.”
Hakstol then put two groups of five players on each side in separate 3-on-2 drills with goalies Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth in separate nets for the gray and green team.
The object was for the two defensemen on each side of the line to get the puck from the forwards and send it over the black line to their offensive counterparts to shoot on the goalie.
It was highly competitive.
NHL
When Jakub Voracek scored the game-ending winning goal, you would have thought the Flyers had won an overtime game, as players mobbed him in celebration.
Haven’t seen that in a practice in ages.
“I just hate losing,” Voracek said of his celebration, adding there were no side bets or incentives to win the drill. “Even better, I did it with Belly’s [Pierre-Edouard Bellemare] stick.”
Players said they had never seen this drill before.
“It was fun,” Voracek said. “It was good. We didn’t talk about it. I just saw Murph draw a curvy line, he was struggling with that. Not a straight line. It was fun for the boys.”
Hakstol called it “a competitive drill.”
“Guys like to compete and it’s a playmaking, compete drill," he said, "but there’s an element of fun and guys like to compete against each other. It’s a good way to end practice.”
Wayne Simmonds played for the losers — the gray team.
“Practice was a lot of fun,” he said. “It was upbeat and intense. Guys were really battling out there. You could tell by the look on guys’ faces. Everyone had a huge smile. It’s competition and everyone had fun.
“I imagine [Hakstol] did it at UND. I thought it was real fun. Guys were starting to cheat over the line and things like that when we got down to the end of it where last goal wins. Guys were doing whatever it took to get that last goal.”
One lament.
“We didn’t have time to form side bets,” Simmonds said. “Guys were yapping at each other. You come back to the line and guys are talking trash and slashing each other … it gets pretty heated out there.”
Mason said this isn’t all that much fun for the goalies because the nets are rearranged further to the outside and it changes their entire perspective.
“But they’re relative good drills to battle with,” Mason, who was back at practice Friday after a personal leave, said. “Bang, bang plays where you’re not sure where you are in the crease because there is no crease. You try to make those extra saves. At the end of the day, guys have fun with it … some breaking their sticks over the boards and what not.
“When they were spray-painting the ice, Neuvy and I were looking at each other as to what the heck was going on. Turned out to be a good battle drill.”
Anything to relieve the boredom of a five-day layoff between games.
Umberger update
R.J. Umberger (upper body) skated on his own this morning and then took partial practice with the team.
He said he is not limited by “no contact,” which suggests he did not suffer a concussion last weekend in Florida. He’s missed two games.
“I could do whatever the hell I felt,” he said laughing about some of the pushing and shoving he dished out in practice.
He expects to return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against Dallas.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “It’s up to the trainer’s to make a decision. I’m pretty optimistic.”