After watching Lowell effectively check B.U.'s Chris Drury on Friday night, I was
pleasantly surprised to read a somewhat in-depth report of the game in the next
day's Boston Herald. In it, was a quote from Drury that said "I haven't been
shadowed since high-school." Is that true? No one has applied a shadow to Drury
in any of his college games so far? I thought this was odd. Maybe, no one had
applied a shawdow that he had actually noticed would make more sense. ;) Just
kidding.
 
I didn't notice any particular line-matching strategy being implemented so I
don't think it was any particular Lowell player who had shadow-detail. I did
notice some peculiar line-ups on face-offs. Several times, one of the defensemen
on the ice would line up as a winger and the winger would subsequently take the
defenseman's position. What is this strategy all about? This is especially
curious when the face-off was in Lowell's zone. The winger would stand just
outside the crease ... making it incredibly hard for him to get out to the point
position quickly.
 
Also, the newspaper article mentioned that Lowell was stacking four men in the
nuetral zone. What's that all about? I had noticed that Lowell was attacking
B.U.'s rush at the blue line, which I always enjoy as a strategy. I like this
much better than allowing the opposition to gain the blue line. Of course, this
is a bit dangerous and also puts a lot on the goalie to handle "dump-ins". This
is the only thing I noticed that could be considered as stacking men ... that is
that Lowell placed several players, including the two defensemen, along the blue
line as B.U. would try to rush. Is this "stacking men in the nuetral zone"?
 
Did Maine apply any special tactics on Saturday night. Once again, Drury was kept
off the scoring board.
 
- Paul.
 
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