Jack Blatherwick
Adults must make it happen: Replace violence with skill
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
An incredible, young athlete lies motionless in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, because that is all his restrictive halo allows. When Jack Jablonski is not visited by a parade of friends, or listening to someone read thousands of letters from around the world, he lies awake in fear that he may be paralyzed for life.
I’m sure that any parent who would stand next to their child’s bed – where Leslie and Mike stand with their son – would start a movement to change the direction of youth and high school hockey. We can act immediately in youth hockey – with or without the governing bodies, with or without the NHL. After all, young athletes trust that rational, caring adults will make their game safe.
Read more: Adults must make it happen: Replace violence with skill
Trial and error ... then someday ... trial and success
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Bear with me hockey folks, while I insert a paragraph about round ball. To appreciate the genius of UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, we’d likely start with his record: 10 NCAA Championships, seven of those in consecutive years in which they won 38 straight playoff games.
In 40 years of coaching he had 885 wins for an .813 percentage. By comparison, Gopher basketball has had an excellent 120-year tradition, but never won an NCAA championship, appearing in the Final Four only once.Read more: Trial and error ... then someday ... trial and success
Interdependence … a timeless lesson for wolves and hockey players
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
“The most important lesson a coach can sell is interdependence.”
This was Herb Brooks’ favorite advice for every team and for any individual who wants to play at a higher level.
There are two parts to the formula: 1) Each player tries to be a catalyst and make teammates better, and 2) each player uses teammates to make himself better.
Pass early, to get “Out of sight, out of mind,” in Brooks’ words. “Then, break to open ice for a return pass.”
A century ago, Rudyard Kipling had the same advice in his poem, “Law of the Jungle.”Read more: Interdependence … a timeless lesson for wolves and hockey players
Stop the charade: Fighting in hockey is not part of the game
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
By Jack Blatherwick
Let's Play Hockey Columnist
Hockey fights always bring us out of our seats, even during a game when nothing else does. We cheer for every haymaker to the head, and if it draws blood and breaks facial bones? Well that's even better. In other sports, bare-knuckled fighting is against the rules, but hockey defends fighting as if it is part of the sport.
Read more: Stop the charade: Fighting in hockey is not part of the game
Hey NHL, get help from the squirrels
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- Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31
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.
