Learning From The Game
01 Mar 10

The world stopped today to watch the gold medal game between Canada and the USA ice hockey teams at the winter Olympics in Vancouver. Whether you follow ice hockey or not, it was still worth watching with so many key decisions being made by both coaches to try and sway the outcome of the game.

One particular decision was late in the third period when the USA coach had to decide when he was going to pull the goalie from the ice to put an extra skater on to the ice and try and level the scores to two all. The decision was always going to be a gamble since pulling the goalie leaves an open net but is necessary to maximise the scoring opportunities for the losing team when only behind by one goal.

The gamble paid off. Team USA was able to stick to their strategy of pinning down the Canadian team and firing shots at the goal and cleaning up any rebounds. The goal was scored off a rebound. Here the coach could have used any number of other plays to try and get the puck in the goal but remained calm and acted on the decision to pull the goalie and ensure his team had the best chance of leveling the match.

Of course, team Canada managed to win the game in overtime, but the whole world has to respect team USA's gamble that paid off and allowed all the spectators to view one of the greatest hockey matches of all time. When your backs or on the wall, remain calm and make the best decision possible.

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