Physics in the slot

I covered the physics of hockey players in a general way a couple of weeks ago. I talked about position, velocity, and acceleration, and how, as you move from the perceiving the simplest concept (position) to the most difficult (acceleration) your understanding of the game increases. Deciding what to do with yourself in the slot (or in general as an attacking forward) so that you are in a good scoring position follows a similar evolution through position, velocity, and acceleration.

Position: The first level of difficulty is mastering position. You might find a spot in the low slot where you're not covered by the defencemen and park yourself there. Depending on the skill of the other team, they may not notice you (or they decide you are not a threat - common for women in co-ed hockey), until you start scoring goals on passes from the far side of the net. Then they'll start covering you, and it will be easy - they don't need to move to cover you because you aren't moving. At that point, standing still won't work anymore.

Velocity: The next level of difficulty is to exploit velocity. You start somewhere outside of the slot altogether, but as you see the play being set up, you skate across in front of the net, at a constant velocity, stick on the ice and ready for a pass. If you and your teammates time it right, you can score. You might score directly from a pass or pick up a rebound from a distant shot. You're harder for the defence to cover because you're moving. But you're also harder to hit with a pass for the same reason, and if the defence is paying attention they can guess where you are heading and get in your way. Nevertheless, velocity definitely trumps [stationary] position.

Acceleration: The final level of difficulty is to exploit acceleration. This requires considerably more skill (to do a quick start while surrounded by skates and sticks) and timing (to do it at the right time). I had this revelation when I was totally fooled by one guy who did this last week. I was playing D, and he was just standing still, so I was on him. Then he saw something (I don't know what), but I guess he knew the pass was coming, so he leapt away from me, three or four short strides into a mess of people, and tipped the puck in on the far side of the net. There was no way I could keep up with him because he accelerated so quickly that I barely registered his movement in time. And he had me fooled by standing still beforehand.

So, the interplay of position, velocity, and acceleration will determine whether you're in  scoring position or not - that's physics in the slot.