"You can't have the same conservative alignment every time," he continued. "And, you have to be able to 'read' the other team. Sometimes, they may position their players in different areas and you have to be able to adjust your defensive-zone alignment.

Faceoff options

A center taking faceoffs has three basic options. He can draw the puck back to himself or a player behind him; he can push it forward so that he or a teammate can get to it first; or he can block his opponent and try to collect the loose puck or have a teammate breaking in to the circle control it.

Some players try to take faceoffs on their forehand, some on their backhand and many are adept either way. Charron said there are times when one is better than the other but in general it's best to take faceoffs on the forehand.

"You can try to draw the puck with your forehand or backhand but when you're tapping the puck forward past the opposing center, use your forehand," Charron said. "Use your forehand to block your opponent's stick to create a loose puck for yourself or your winger.

"Perreault will go with his forehand or backhand, depending on the play, which sometimes depends on the opponent," Charron said. "The technique that is not used as much is the blocking technique. We don't see a whole lot of that in the NHL. A player who would use that strategy is stronger physically, so most players use the quickness of their forehand or backhand."

While Charron learned a lot from the Europeans in the 1980s, they apparently learned a lot from the Canadians.

"At that time, I didn't think the Europeans were as thorough as we were and I thought that was an edge we had," he said. "As Canadians we had an edge because we worked on it a lot more. That's because with the bigger rinks and fewer stoppages, there were not as many faceoffs as in North America. They got a lot better with practice."

Charron said there are seven ways for a player to improve his chances of winning faceoffs:

1. Keep your skates spread slightly wider than your shoulder width.

"Some centers tend to get too wide and lose their balance," he said.

2. Keep your knees bent for power and stability.

3. Keep your hands as far apart as possible to overcome the resistance of your opponent's stick.

"Usually the bottom hand is quite low and the top hand is higher," Charron recommended. "Some players choke down to get their hands closer together. A taller player may want them closer for leverage. Whatever a player feels comfortable with is best. I'm seeing a lot more finesse than before in terms of watching the placement of hands."

4. Your hands should be held firmly on the stick, but able to maneuver in any direction.

5. Be close to the faceoff dot so that you can use your upper body and leg strength.

6. Lean on your blade in order to be stronger on the puck.