By Jack Blatherwick

Let’s Play Hockey Columnist

Have you ever lost sleep over some pesky squirrels in the attic? I have. It’s one thing in the middle of the day when I’m pounding on the keyboard. But these critters are gnawing away on my rafters at midnight.

So, I bought the best squirrel trap money can buy. It’s the clear deal, like the vaunted 1-3-1-trap employed by the Tampa Bay Lightning to stifle opponents who are mystified by traps. I spread some peanut butter on the trigger, and sure enough it attracted squirrels. They ate my peanut butter and left the trap empty. I heard them laughing at me last night, so I decided to get up and start writing. 

The Philadelphia Flyers decided to make fun of Tampa’s trap, so a few seconds into the game, Chris Pronger (Flyers D) took the puck behind the net, stood there and laughed. The ref counted to 30, blew the whistle and called for a faceoff in the zone.

The NHL has this old, rusty anti-stalling rule that says, “The team with the puck must not stall and mock the team without the puck just because they refuse to forecheck.” Trust me on the interpretation even if the wording is a bit imprecise.

Tampa Coach Guy Boucher had the last laugh, though, as his team won in overtime. Actually, I’m not sure he was laughing, because the Lightning fans were booing both teams throughout a boring 1-1 game.

Fans paid big bucks without knowing in advance that Flyers’ coach Peter Laviolette had planned this ‘in-your-face’ mockery of the Lightning’s style. The Flyers held the puck behind the net several times during the game, and players were challenging the Lightning to come out of their shell and play hockey. They even used some words I can’t print.

A ‘trap’ strategy has a chance to win only if there are brilliant counter-attackers like Martin St. Louis, Peter Stamkos and Vincent LeCavalier, along with the best goaltending of Dwayne Roloson’s life. Of course, with all that in the roster, any style could win. 

But ‘the trap’ has ‘em buzzing at NHL headquarters because this game was a sham. They’re even considering an emergency new rule, perhaps like the basketball 30-second shot clock to prevent the old four-corner stall, which resulted in boring games with final scores like 10-9. How does someone enforce a hockey rule that says, “A team must forecheck … hard?”

Neutral zone traps have been around hockey for decades, and the best players just laughed at them. Wayne Gretzky faced many defenses that sagged back, hoping he would dump the puck? Of course Gretzky wasn’t buying it. A trap wasn’t an insurmountable wall; it was just another challenge. 

When players aren’t ordered by coaches to dump the puck, they find creative ways to beat immobile defenses. They use speed, indirect passes and rushes that attack at various angles, not just straight up the ice. 

If a new football defense had everyone scratching their heads in the NFL, coaches would stay up all night finding creative ways to break the defense. Much of the offensive creativity in hockey must come from the players, so we’ll just have to see if Tampa’s trap continues to have the fans booing and the NHL office buzzing.

As my unsolicited contribution to the present solution, I’ll offer some advice to the NHL – short of a rule that can’t be enforced. I have a pack of squirrels running around my attic. They’re creative geniuses, and like Gretzky, they specialize in turning a trap into a joke. You can have the whole lot, but there’s just one thing – you’ll have to come and get ‘em.

Visit Jack’s website at www.overspeed.info.