Critic Critique: Shot Blocking vs. The Trap Defense

In professional wrestling, there is never a set style of how the company operates itself. The World Wrestling Federation goes through era's. Back in the 70's, there wasn't much flash, and people just enjoyed the spectacle. In the 80's, the over-gimmick era began with ridiculous costumes and even bolder characters. In the 90's and early 2000's, the WWE was in it's self proclaimed "Attitude Era," and since then have moved into their current for-the-family "PG Era." Nothing ever stays the same, no era is unanimously liked.

Much like the sport of hockey, strategies change all the time. Sometimes on a yearly basis. Last year, we saw the Tampa Bay Lightning exploit their 1-3-1 defensive strategy which lead them all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, their strategy failed to have them even sniff the playoffs. Teams adapted, and conformed to their strategy.

Yesterday, I read an article on thehockeynews.com about how the Rangers and their block-first-ask-questions-later mentality is BAD for the sport of hockey. The writer of the article, Ken Campbell, condemns the Rangers for making the sport boring to watch, and is not appealing to the audience. Campbell called out the series with the Capitals as being uninteresting because of how many shots were blocked, and even went as far to compare their strategy to The Trap defense that was mainly used by the New Jersey Devils in the early 2000's, which is now referred to as the "dead puck era."

I have many quarrels about this article, so much so that I feel I could make a nice pamphlet in Adobe InDesign, print it out, and air-mail it to Mr. Campbell.

First, let's compare The Trap to blocking shots.



Blocking shots has been around since the beginning of the sports induction. Remember back when Bob Baun broke his ankle blocking a shot in the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals, and ten later returned to score the Cup-clinching goal? Blocking shots is a part of the sport. Always has been, always will be. The Trap was a strategy of retreating into the neutral zone, clogging the middle, filtering the player to the boards, and forcing the opposition to chip the puck in on every possession. This lead to a lot of low-scoring games because of the lack of any momentum an opposing team to the trap could get.

The Trap was undeniably bad for the sport of hockey. It turned a once wide-open game into a war of attrition of who can find a way to beat this. It was so bad, that even the NHL and the Players Association gathered during the lockout to adjust some rules to the game to help eliminate the trap like getting rid of the two-line pass rule, and putting the trapezoid behind the net, making that the only area the goalie can play the puck. It was a tedious, gimmicky strategy that is all but forgotten in today's NHL.

What the Rangers are doing by blocking all of these shots is not stifling the opponents offense, but simply doing their job. I have played goalie before, and what most people don't realize is that the goalie is meant to be the last line of defense for a team. A team that relies too much on their goalie ends up getting beat (see the Canadiens with Carey Price), because the goalie cannot attack a players shot like a forward or defenseman can. By them throwing down their body to help keep the shot from ever getting to the goalie is a plus for the team.

Plus, shot blocking is not a complex science. Unlike the trap, while having the two-line pass and no trapezoid, which was unsolvable in most cases because the team against the trap had no choice but to chip it in. If a player goes down in front of a shot you are going to take, people tend to freeze up and see what happens. That could leave a player open with one of the opposition down and out. Or, find a way around the player who is down and out.

The only reason why I can fathom people are upset with the strategy of blocking shots is because people thrive on offense more than defense. People who want every game to be like a Pittsburgh/Philadelphia game where there are 15 goals a night are the ones who don't like the shot block mentality. A game where both teams just say "screw it," throw all caution to the wind on defense and goaltending is the game they want. But how far those two teams got into the playoffs?

It's not cautious, it's not smothering the game. Blocking a shot is the equivalent of jumping in front of a bullet in the hockey world. It is a testament to how far one players is willing to give his players that extra chance to stay alive. Shot blocking should not be condemned, it should be praised.