It’s Wirth the effort for Wilkes women’s soccer team

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Crestwood soccer team works to make wins look easy

When it comes to defining his role as a power forward, Jimmy Hayes had perhaps the best teacher.It wasn&#8217;t a coach or even a teammate that taught Hayes the finer points of being a power forward.He learned the ropes from a member of his own family.Hayes, who hails from Dorcester, Mass., is second cousins with former NHL player Keith Tkachuk &#8212; who defined the term &#8220;power forward&#8221; during a 19-year career during which he totalled 1,201 games, 1,065 points and 2,219 penalty minutes.When Hayes turned pro in 2011, he had already learned from Tkachuk how to use his 6-5, 215-pound frame to his advantage.&#8220;Keith Tkachuk was one of the best at the power forward game. I tried to model my game after his,&#8221; Hayes said.But is today&#8217;s power forward the same as those who played the game in the 1980s and 90s when the term was coined? Is the same blend of physicality and goal scoring required of today&#8217;s power forwards, as the game has shifted toward an emphasis on speed and skill?&#8220;The roles are similar,&#8221; Hayes said. &#8220;The skill level of these guys just coming into the league, they&#8217;re so high-end that sometimes people confuse it and think they&#8217;re just high-end skill guys.&#8220;But they use their size and speed to their advantage, and that&#8217;s a power forward.&#8221;Penguins assistant coach Jarrod Skalde, who played with notable power forward Owen Nolan during his time in the NHL, said there are still similarities between the roles today and thpse of decades ago. The aspect that defines a power forward, according to Skalde, is the courage to go to the front of the net and produce goals.&#8220;We talk about speed, skill and where the game is going, but there&#8217;s also still that element where guys have to go to the tough areas. Power forwards have the courage to stay in front of the net,&#8221; Skalde said. &#8220;The skill involved with guys like Tkachuk and Jason Arnott was they had such great hands and compete when they got to the net, and that allowed them to score a lot of goals.&#8221;Skalde mentioned Hayes, Garrett Wilson and Anthony Angello as three Penguins who fit the power forward mold. Hayes and Wilson are throwbacks to the role, providing plenty of physicality and a willingness to drop the gloves along with offensive production.Angello, who is a rookie, is still developing into the role but he knows the importance of physical play and balancing it with a speedy game.&#8220;I try not to lose physicality for speed. I want to use them as compliments,&#8221; Angello said. &#8220;That can lead to domination in the corners or play in general.&#8221;Still, while Skalde and Hayes insist the role of the power forward remains somewhat the same in today&#8217;s game, there is one aspect that has changed dramatically: penalty minutes.The power forward of the 1990s was defined by a player who could score 20 goals or more and approach or surpass the 200-penalty minute mark.Today, a player can be considered a power forward and not come close to reaching 100 penalty minutes in a season.Skalde said the drop in penalty minutes is attributable to a change in the rules and the type of defensemen that today&#8217;s power forwards encounter in front of the net.&#8220;Back then you had big, burly defensemen that took offense to a player driving to their net, and you saw a lot more scrums. A player like Tkachuk drove to the net and gets into the paint, there&#8217;s a confrontation after the whistle,&#8221; Skalde said. &#8220;Now, the player has a right to get to the area.&#8221;But it&#8217;s an area that doesn&#8217;t appeal to every player, and that&#8217;s what makes power forwards unique. Skalde said it takes guts to go to the net and endure a stick to the wrist, a cross-check on the ribs and shove into the goal post.It&#8217;s a tough job, he said, but that&#8217;s how a power forward puts up points.And that&#8217;s one element of the game that Hayes said isn&#8217;t going to change.&#8220;That aspect is always going to stay. Players that use their size and speed to their advantage - that&#8217;s considered a power forward,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Today&#8217;s game might be faster, but the concept of a power forward is still the same.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>While the penalty minutes have dropped, the concept of a power forward remains unchanged</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom Veneskytvenesky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div>

Role of a power forward endures in today’s speed-based game