authentic
Registered User
- Jan 28, 2015
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I don't see the pace of the game being any greater than it was then, if for no other reason than that the game is so highly structured now that it would basically just be two teams in defensive shells all the time.
When trap hockey took over in the late 90s, the solution was to beat teams in transition. Wait for a seam to appear, and haul ass up the ice before it could close up again. When they took the red line out, even more so you needed guys to be flying full speed as much as possible. That turned short shifts into SUPER short shifts, because you needed your guys to be skating full-blast during that split second of opportunity for a stretch pass.
In an NHL with long shifts, those opportunities would be moot. Nobody's going to beat a defenseman to the vertical seam after they've already been skating for 2 minutes. So the solution to the trap would have to be calculated, plodding attacks. Probably something along the lines of approaching your own blue line, drop pass, the next guy gets it almost to the red line, drop pass, the next guy gets it far enough to dump it in, chase, grind, hope for a turnover.
It would be S-L-O-W hockey. I kind of hate that I brought it up, because now I'm imagining having to watch it and it hurts my brain a little.
You are almost describing early 2000s hockey it seems. Except with even longer shifts, and less bear hugging and tackling.