Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - The Hall Way: 'Hockey is a game of intimidation'

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Sunday, October 10, 1999

The Hall Way: 'Hockey is a game of intimidation'
Coach's love of bruising play a perfect fit for Bumstead, Wingfield
By Mark Button
Caller-Times

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Taylor Hall's (center) style of hockey calls for Geoff Bumstead (left) and Brad Wingfield (right) to score and intimidate.

Taylor Hall's hockey philosophy is simple: Frighten your opponent and control the game physically.
   Do that, the Corpus Christi IceRays' coach says, and the chances for victory increase dramatically.
   "Hockey is a game of intimidation," Hall said. "If you control the physical aspect of the game, make it uncomfortable for your opponent to play against you, then you have a much better chance at winning."
   That philosophy has allowed Geoff Bumstead and Brad Wingfield to thrive.
   Both IceRays forwards, aggressive by nature, excel in the physical part of the game.
   Both love to hit, and neither mind getting hit.
   Want to brawl? They're your goons.
   Don't want to fight? They'll run over you all night.
   They'll push, hit and chastise to the point where some opponents would rather let the puck slide by than take another blow.
   "It's the style I play," said Wingfield, a bruising right wing who returns to the IceRays after fracturing his right leg late last season. "Coach and I see eye-to-eye in how the game is played. Obviously, everyone can't be like that. If I played for a coach who didn't like that style, he might not like me just because of the way I play."
   "I think you have to make it uncomfortable for your opponent," Hall said. "If they feel like they can go out there and do their thing and not have to worry about getting hit, the game is a little bit easier for them. But if guys are more worried about getting hit than making the correct plays, some of the guys' games are thrown off."
   Hall tells his players they can neutralize a highly skilled opponent by punishing him physically each time he touches the puck.
   It's all legal, Hall says.
   "You can bodycheck a guy as hard as you want through the boards if you keep your elbows down and your hands out of guys' faces," Hall said. "But what we want to do a better job of doing this year is playing tough and physical, but very disciplined so we're not taking stupid penalties that cost us.
   "You can't win the championship from the penalty box."
   In his two years of coaching, Hall has a regular-season record of 82-43-8. He awaits his first playoff series triumph, however. Wingfield, in his fourth year of professional hockey, has learned to scare his opponents in more ways than one.
   "It's not only a physical game, it's mental," Wingfield said. "I can let them know between whistles. If a guy hits one of our players, I can tell him that if he's going to do that, he's going to have to pay the price.
   "That's not against the rules. You just have to be smart about it."
   Ultimately, whoever controls the puck wins the game, Hall said.
   So he wants his team to intimidate the opponent into not wanting possession of the puck.
   "You want them to want to get rid of it very quickly, especially the skilled players," Hall said. "Time (with the puck) is crucial in hockey. If you cut a guy's time in half, then the chances of him making the same play aren't very good."
   Hall said physical players like Wingfield, Bumstead, Quinten Van Horlick and newcomer Kevin Holliday make their opponents react more quickly with the puck, decreasing their scoring potential.
   "It gives you a mental edge," Bumstead said. "They're not going to want to get to the puck first, they're going to give you more room out there. That enables your skilled players, and even your tough guys, to have more time, and that's key in hockey - the time to make plays."
   One or two seconds can mean the difference between a sloppy, rushed pass and a perfect one-timer that sets up an easy goal, Bumstead said.
   Most IceRays fans know Corpus Christi crumbled against Lake Charles in the playoffs last year. With the series tied at a game apiece, the IceRays fell behind the Ice Pirates, 4-0.
   What discipline Corpus Christi had played with disappeared, and after 83 penalty minutes and five Lake Charles power-play goals, the IceRays lost 9-0.
   "We got to a point where we weren't going to recover, so we tried to play more physically to try and set a precedent for the next game," Hall said.
   It didn't work, but Hall won't blame penalties for the early postseason exit despite posting the fourth-best regular season record (40-23-6).
   "Ultimately, I really don't believe we were deep enough to win it last year," he said. "I thought that we may have been, but I think our team was overachieving rather than underachieving at the end of last season."
   Indeed, the IceRays went 8-1-1 in their final 10 regular-season games. But Hall said the IceRays' problem last year was that one line - Bumstead, league MVP Chris Robertson and Lorne Toews - provided most of the offense. Hall says it takes three solid lines to win the WPHL championship.
   "Shreveport (last season's champion) was three lines deep," Hall said. "Lake Charles was just about three lines deep. We were about a line and a half deep.
   "This year, the plan is go with more of a balanced attack."



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or by e-mail at buttonm@caller.com

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