I am only at a Div III school, but I have seen both kinds of coaching
strategy.  And had the pleasure of Mark Mazzoleni as head coach for a
while.  For my two cents, if I had to concentrate on one style, I would
go for the goal scoring.
 
But, my reasoning actually turns on the goalie.  If the goalie's not
"with it," even great defense wont stop goals.  A really hot goalie can
stonewall anyone.  Therefore, if you can put a lot of offensive pressure
on (which, BTW, also limits the puck time in your own end and serves as
a kind of defense) and have a good or better goalie, I think you will
win a majority of your games.  If you have stiffling defense but can't
score when you should, you'll probably be involved in a lot of 1-0, 2-1,
etc., type games and may not win a majority of those.
 
Tom Rowe                                     [log in to unmask]
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Home of Division 3 National Champion Pointers
                    89, 90, 91 & 93
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>
>Working the midnights, your mind wanders...So I pose this question...
>
>"Do Goals or Goalies win games???"
>
>I'm curious for other opinions...
>
>Another way of looking at it..."If you were a coach, would you aim for
>having a high scoring offense, or a defensive unit with a low GAA???"
>
>(obvious answer is that you would aim for both, but consider only if you
>had your choice of one, for discussion's sake...)
>
>Marcus
>
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>
 
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