Seems like it was a good tournament - really wish I could have been there.
Frank wins another doubles title? For a guy who flies under the radar, he sure wins a lot of tournaments, and with different partners too. And he's a dad who somehow managed to keep playing tournaments (I guess it helps if you have some in your city).
Wait - the top 2 spots in OS were taken by our Toronto rookies??!! What's going on over there Ottawa'ans? Imagine if Ariganello/Kane/Olavo/Hugo/Ken Alwell and maybe even myself had showed up!! Would we need our own event? LOL!
(12-Jan-2009, 01:50 PM)Paul Wrote: fuckin lemme know what to do vs his pull when you figure it out. I'm gonna bring a kazoo next time, see if it helps.
Are we talking about Taha's pull? Let me see.... ummm, how about just racing the long? Sit straight and middle, and jab the longs whenever you think he might shoot... swirly motions might help too. Get a clean block or make him shoot too far and hit post, and you've just taken his confidence away. After you've taken the long away, bait the straight for a few seconds, and switch up the rods and he'll guaranteed shoot at your man. After that, he might try another couple of straights, before starting to poke at the 2nd dot, 3rd dot, but he won't hit these with confidence as long as you're moving unpredictably.
Block these at a good percentage, and then he'll try to go back to long, but because you're now in his head, his long will be slower and raceable, which will really freak him out. He'll probably throw in a pull or push-kick to break the ice at some point too, block that cleanly and he'll be switching positions with his goalie before you can say 'shooting bricks'.
End the match with a victorious beer, toasting my name (unless I'm there, in which case you're buying my beer and toasting to Taha).
editors note: This 'D' works on most pull shooters, not just Taha. The main strategy is to make them try to figure out what you're doing (baiting sometimes, vs racing others), versus trying to predict what hole they are shooting. 'Make' them shoot the hole you want, don't try to read them. Use what you know about their tendencies to set the bait.
Some guys will keep shooting the same hole until you block it. Some guys will constantly switch holes. Some guys will generally shoot goalie side, while others will try to shoot around your defender. You should be able to figure this out in the first game - now use it for the remaining ones. The last position you want to be in is to lose the match because you couldn't make any blocks, AND you still have no clue as to their tendencies are, and what your strategy to block them in the future will be. Although bringing the Kazoo is a pretty good one, depending on where you try to apply it on Taha.