Issue #81 — The Pinch
“Invincibility lies in the defence, the possibility of victory in the attack.” –Sun Tzu
Yann Sauve made his NHL debut last night in Minnesota as the Canucks presided over their 17th road win of the season. He is the 12th defencemen on the Vancouver Canucks to dress this season. Earlier this year, after training camp, Sauve suffered a concussion after being struck by a car in Downtown Vancouver. The season hadn’t began yet and the injury plague had already struck the Canucks.
And then there was Sami Salo and his magnificently rupturing Achilles Heal.
Who is the Paris of our beloved local hockey club? Who keeps shooting all these arrows and marching our defence corp to the infirmary? Is this the death of the season? Is this the end of the beginning for our belovedey beleaguered franchise?
The most effective part of the Canucks offence is The Pinch. That means when the puck enters the offensive zone the defenders stands guards for loose pucks threatening to leave the zone. If a puck begins to creep up the half-board a defender will “pinch” which means leaving his position in order to join the attack. When this happens it leaves the points vulnerable and the forwards must remain vigilant in case a turn-over occurs, causing an odd-man rush the other way. The Pinch keeps a puck-possession team like the Canucks in the offensive zone longer then most teams feel comfortable so that two scenarios may unfold: 1) the Canucks score a goal, or 2) the Canucks draw a penalty and then score a goal on the power-play.
It is a style of play that has developed over many years with this Vigneault helmed squad. It has only, however, in it’s last two seasons reached it’s full potential.
Hockey like so many other professional sports has evolved tremendously since it’s inception as an outdoor, seven-man, on-side recreational game in the late 19th century. It has survived two World Wars, the Influenza, Harold Ballard, two lockouts, the trap and the perennial No-Star Gary Bettman presiding over and mis-managing the league for the better part of two decades. It has seen the advent of the wrist shot, the slap shot, the curved stick, Gordie Howe’s hattrick, Gretzky’s office, Marty McSorley’s stick, the enforcer, the instigator, the dead puck and puck possession.
The last one was brought back to life by teams such as the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the post-lockout era, when obstruction rules were meant to speed the game up from it’s Jacques Lemaire influenced retardando.
Rick Bowness and Alain Vigneault have done a bang-up job usurping this idea into their own game plan and tweaking it’s essentials into what I like to call The Pinch. Essential to the effectiveness of The Pinch is the health and welfare of the blueline. It is a strategy both exciting to watch as a fan and effective for a team still leading the standings after over two months at the top of the heap.
It begs the question in terms of possibility: What is the answer to the endless parade to the infirmary that seems to indulge the Vancouver Canucks every year the past few years?
You gotta to think, if this question could be answered, one can only imagine the extent invincibility might go for this talent laden group.
–Joseph F. Delamar