I was watching this game last night on Versus and I thought the move by the Flyers to just stand there and wait for the Lightning to come after the Flyers was interesting, I aslo thought it was funny that the Flyers got whistled for not moving the puck.
I have to admit that I hate the “Neutral Zone Trap.” Seriously the NZT is God awful hockey and very boring to watch and I would rather watch a game where two teams trade offensive opportunities up and down the ice. I can’t imagine a lot of fan bases that say, I want to watch a 1-0 defensive trap feast and watch my team line up at the blue line and wait for the opposing team to try and come across. Being ADHD it makes it very hard for me to stay interested in that type of hockey game.
Damian Cristodero; Lighting Strikes --- Here is what former Devils and Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said about the criticism of Lightning coach Guy Boucher from Versus commentators Mike Milbury, Keith Jones and Pierre McGuire Wednesday night about the team's 1-3-1 trapping system, which they said makes for such boring hockey the Lightning and Boucher should be embarrassed and even "punished."I think the worst hockey game I ever watched was a game 1-0 snore feast between Cornell and UND. The Sioux outshot the Big Red 2-1 and the Big Red played their boring 1-3-1 style of hockey and collapsed around the net whenever they saw fit.
"Myself, I laugh at this," Lemaire told the St. Petersburg Times in a phone interview. "I laugh at it this because are we supposed to coach as we please the people who are announcing the games or make comments on the games? Is that a new style or what? Do we have to please Milbury when we coach? It's the first time I hear of this."
If anyone knows about criticism, it is Lemaire. Lemaire's trap was vilified by hockey watchers and commentators all over North America as detrimental to the game because the defensive posture in the neutral zone was, when played correctly, very difficult to beat. It slowed down the action, critics said. It created boring hockey. But it also won, as Lemaire and the Devils captured the 1995 Stanley Cup.
I also can’t believe that the Tampa Bay Lighting fans want to watch this style of hockey on a nightly basis, nor do I believe that the Lightning need to play that style of a game. There is enough high end talent on the Lightning that they can open the game up and push the puck up the ice.
Lastly, let’s make no mistake about it, Jacques Lemaire is in the hall of fame, he was a great coach, but his hockey teams were very mind numbingly boring to watch. The New Jersey Devils of the 1990's were about as entertaining as watching paint dry. That being said, I also think that Lemaire has a point as well, he isn't coaching to please the TV audiences and the pointed headed pundits, coaching hockey is about winning games and using the your personnel to the best of their abilities.
