A good example of this would be last weekend, when we played three games. All three games were against teams that played the trap. Many people have heard this term and have asked me what it is. Basically, it is a style of play that forces teams to try and make passes or decisions that lead to turnovers, which leads to a quick counterattack for the opponent. Playing the trap is a passive and opportunistic style of hockey.
Teams allow their opponents to come out of their end with the puck virtually untouched.
That sounds good, but in reality they're guiding the puck-carrier into trouble. Trouble is a position where a player has to make a difficult pass through sticks and legs across ice, allowing a trapping-team player to pick it off and go the other way. Trapping teams typically want to guide the puck-carrier to one side of the ice or the other near his blue line, taking away his time and space. These teams tend to be a little bigger and slower, so it really is a good strategy for them. Having said that, the trap is very hard to play against for a team like ours, which features a lot of quick skaters who like to move the puck.