Canada v USA

[CFH]

I have two more questions. One I haven't quite figured out the structure, i.e. do centers generally try to stick to a certain area of the ice or is it more everyone just roams. Are centers generally your top assist men and have more assists than goals or is that just Vancouver where H. Sedin and Kesler both have more assists. It seems that the wingers, Burrows and Sammuelson for example, are more kind of goal poachers to use a soccer term.

Centers generally have more assists than do the wingers. They're usually the set-up men. Their role is also a lot more defensive than the other forwards. They have to come back and provide more coverage in deep in the defensive zone. Kesler is regarded as one of the best defensive forwards in the game. He's outstanding in his own zone.

And two what is the offside trap? I finally have figured out the offside rule pretty comprehensively but am still not sure about the trap.

Do you mean the neutral zone trap? As far as I know there is no such thing as the offside trap. Sometimes a commentator will say a player is trapped offside, but aside from that I have no idea. The neutral zone trap is a defensive (and yawn-inducing) style of play where only one (or no) fore-checkers are sent into the opponents zone when the other team has the puck. Instead, all the players clog up the neutral zone and tend to line up on their own blue-line in an attempt to prevent the other team from gaining the zone or generating any offense. It's obscene and I loathe any team that uses it regularly. It's usually used by teams without enough talent to win in any other fashion (see the 2007/2008 Vancouver Canucks or the Minnesota Wild under Jacques Lemaire (or any other Lemaire-coached teams like the 1990s New Jersey Devils - the team that almost single-handedly killed hockey in what is now known as the "Duck Puck Era")