AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 23
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Williams helps forwards ‘win’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thrashers coach John Anderson likes to keep practices fun while getting the necessary work done, and he seemed to achieve both by ending today’s workout by dividing the team in half and having a contest.
One team consisted of the forwards, aside from the fourth line and Brett Sterling and Mike Hoffman. The other teams consisted of the fourth line, Sterling, Hoffman and the defense. They practiced breakaways, with the team with most of the forwards trying to beat Johan Hedberg and the team with the defense trying to beat Kari Lehtonen.
The result shouldn’t surprise you. The forwards are forwards for a reason, and Lehtonen is the No. 1 goalie. My No. 1 star of the “game” honors go to Jason Williams, who scored twice, including the winning shot. His teammates mobbed him in over-the-top celebration, but they had reason to be happy. The other team, the defense, had to do a back-and-forth across the width of the ice skating drill.
I’m going to take this opportunity to type something about Williams. On my previous blog, kracker noted that Williams is one of the Thrashers’ most accurate shooters. Part of shooting accuracy is the shots you choose to take, and Anderson describes Williams as a “whites of their eyes” shooter. His game is to shoot in close to the net. Incidentally, the other right wingers have been accurate, too. Six of the nine shots Colby Armstrong has taken have been on net, and two of those went in. Chris Thorburn has hit eight of nine on net. So all of the Thrashers’ right wingers — including four-goal scorer Bryan Little — are getting at least two-thirds on net. The team as a whole is at 58 percent.
One tough thing for Williams is that he plays on a line with penalty killers. That limits the amount of ice time for him, especially in games when the Thrashers keep getting sent to the box. So far, Anderson has chosen to use complete lines most of the time on power plays rather than mixing and matching his forwards, so Williams isn’t getting special teams time, and that cuts down on scoring chances.
By now you’ve probably noticed the story about Mike Hoffman, who is headed home to Boston for a day and then will join the Chicago Wolves. Hoffman fully expects to be back in Atlanta once he’s healthy enough not just to play but also to fight.
