Temporal Occlusion: Becoming Auston Matthews

Can you figure out Auston Matthews' Offensive Sequence?

Since I posted a shift of Auston Matthews on Twitter back in August 2021 - and it wasn’t exactly highlight-reel material - it’s safe to say you probably don’t remember the sequence.

Here’s the premise: I challenge you to ‘become’ Auston Matthews for a shift and predict what he does next and why. Can you understand the details to accurately predict where the play is headed next?

I’ll post what percentage of the voting population were correct when I ran the polls on Twitter.

Part 1:

We see Matthews enter the zone at the very end of the clip. What do you think he is going to do next?

What happens next?

• Cover for his defender who is deep in the offensive zone

• Head to the net front

• Near-side support by the offensive faceoff dot

• Stay in the high-slot area

Part 2:

What happens next?

• Net front

• Behind the net

• Corner/Cycle

• Recover to the high slot

Part 3:

What happens next?

• Pass to the defensemen crashing to the dot

• Skate the puck up the wall

• Stop behind the net

• Find the forward behind the net

Part 4:

What happens next?

• Cover for his defensemen

• Funnel to the net

• Moves to the high slot

• Skates behind the net

Full Video

At no point did the majority of people guess correctly on what was his next play:

• Part 1 - 30% correct

• Part 2 - 14% correct

• Part 3 - 11% correct

• Part 4 - 44% correct

We hope this illuminates last week’s post further and gives you a fun little exercise on figuring out what you are reading and why those reads were made. And if you found yourself flailing on this exercise, consider: what elements should you be reading/focusing on instead?

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Further Reading

• Visual, Spatial, and Temporal Occlusion in Ice Hockey

• Scanning in Hockey: Scanning Research

• Finding Creative Ways to Improve Vision

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