enlarge 2008 Press Herald file

Dylan Hunter, a center for the Portland Pirates, has gone to his father Dale, a former NHL player, for advice on faceoffs.

enlarge Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The responsibility of stepping into the faceoff circle is not taken lightly by hockey players at any level. “So many guys make a living off it,” said Portland Pirates center Marek Zagrapan. “Especially for us centermen, it’s a really important skill to have.”

ADVICE ON FACEOFFS

Dylan Hunter, Portland Pirates center:

"Know the linesman who's overseeing the faceoff."

Kevin Dineen, Portland Pirates coach: "Communicate with your teammates on the ice. Study your opponents and be a cerebral centerman."

Tanner House, Maine center: "Practice faceoffs. And practice some more. And do it against as many different opponents as possible."

Dylan Hunter couldn't win.

No matter where he put his stick, no matter how long he stared at the puck and no matter how much he pushed, shoved and prodded at the guy across from him, Hunter, a center for the Portland Pirates, couldn't take control of the puck on a faceoff.

Desperate for a solution, he talked to his father, Dale, a former NHL center. Dad gave him some good advice.

"'Stop looking at the faceoff circle and start looking at the linesman's hand and react from there,'" Dylan Hunter recalled his father telling him. "I find when I'm having problems, I focus on watching his hand, then I get the timing of it down."

While hockey games ultimately are won and lost on goals, battles through the course of a game are won and lost in other areas: along the boards, in the corners or deep in the slot. Or above a red circle about 2 1/2 feet in diameter, better known as the faceoff dot.

Faceoffs sometimes are overlooked in the flow of a game, but they are a critical part of strategy for any hockey team. Offensive plays are built around winning a faceoff – and are destroyed if a faceoff is lost.

"They're the one thing you can almost have a set play off of," said University of Maine forward Tanner House. "If you can get control of the puck, you can end up having possession that much more. It's a huge advantage to be able to win those and have the outset play, and maybe you have the odd goal."

The odd goal? Consider that the outcome of some games has been determined because of the faceoff. Hunter said a faceoff is a microcosm of the sport.

"It's a game within a game," Hunter said. "No matter what's going on in that game, it's your responsibility. It's you against that guy. It has nothing to do with strength or how tall you are or whatever. It's whatever your technique is, and I like it for that one-on-one battle. But it's frustrating."

The art of taking a faceoff is psychological. It's tactical and intellectual. And at it's essence, it's a physical conflict for control of the puck.

"It's two forces going in the opposite direction," said Pirates Coach Kevin Dineen. "One guy's going to be stronger than the other."

At a desk in his office at the Cumberland County Civic Center, Dineen watches video on his laptop computer and analyzes every faceoff each of his four centers takes, noting everything from stick positioning to how each player grips his stick. He identifies where each player is on the ice in relation to the faceoff and how each play is executed afterward.

He also does some quick math. A 60 percent success rate on faceoffs is astounding and a rate of 52 to 55 percent is ideal. At the halfway point of the season, the Pirates were slightly below 50 percent. They still hovered around that mark entering the weekend's games.

"It's an area where we need to improve on," Dineen said.

Dineen said the two best faceoff specialists he had as teammates in the NHL were Rod Brind'Amour and Mike Sillinger. Brind'Amour, a 19-year NHL veteran, is still going strong at his specialty. In 57 games with the Carolina Hurricanes this season, he leads the NHL with a faceoff percentage of 62.1.

"There's a lot of pride that goes into that," Dineen said. "The intangibles are there. They realize that a faceoff is extremely important.

"You can make a living being strong at faceoffs. It's an underrated talent to fans, to maybe the media, but I think teammates and certainly coaches recognize that winning faceoffs is a big part of the game."

Pirates center Marek Zagrapan didn't give much thought to faceoffs when he was growing up and playing hockey in Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. But as a professional hockey player in North America, he has a far greater appreciation for faceoffs.

"So many guys make a living off it," said Zagrapan. "Especially for...