NEUTRAL ZONE TRAP
HISTORY of THE TRAP
Much has been said about the famous Neutral Zone Trap and there is not much material written about the system. The origins of the trap come from the days when hockey teams could not keep up with the Russians' conditioning, speed and passing.
The Swedish devised a system where the puck carrier has virtually no passing options and no choice but to dump the puck if he can get to the red line.
The Russians believed in puck possession and tape to tape precision passing, so the "dump-in" was not part of their game plan.
When the Swedes where confident the system would work they sprung it on the Russians. This system confused the Russians so much they had their best people study this trap and try to find a way to beat it without giving up possession.
Since the trap is still popular now there is really no 100% true counter attack known to "defend?" against it. If there was the Devils probably would not have won a Stanley Cup.
THE TRAP
The trap covers 3 zones:
1) The LOW TRAP takes place approximately from the offensive zone faceoff dots in toward the goal.
2) The HIGH TRAP is performed approximately between offensive zone blueline and the offensive zone faceoff dots.
3) The NEUTRAL ZONE TRAP (NZT) is setup in the neutral zone. Its probably safer to use if you have a slower, bigger squad, so they don't get caught deep in your offensive zone.
Copyright © 2003 Daniel Otten
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