June 15--Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville couldn't believe what he had just done.
In Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, the Ducks had just blistered the Hawks with back-to-back goals in the third period. Like any NHL coach would figure, this was an excellent time to call a timeout.
Fourteen seconds later, the Ducks scored a third goal in a 37-second span.
"It was the worst timeout I ever called," Quenneville said afterward. "I'm going, 'Oh, my God, we don't have a timeout, down a goal, 10 minutes to go in the game.'"
The timeout is a precious token that hockey coaches savor for the right moment.
Unlike the NFL or NBA, the NHL allows only one 30-second timeout per game. And you better not blow it.
Some coaches hang on tight to the timeout. Some don't mind if it's ever used. And some are liberal enough to use it in the first period.
"It's almost like a safety in your back pocket sometimes," Quenneville said.
Since the timeout was introduced to the game in 1983, coaches have used it for their own purposes rather than its design.
Originally, according to former players and coaches, the timeout was implemented to allow a team to pull its goaltender near the end of a game and dole out some last-minute strategy.
Now, coaches use the timeout for other purposes.
Mainly it's seen during an icing call in the third period, when a team is not allowed to change its lineup and the coach wants to provide his players with a breather. The timeout allows a coach to keep a top line on the ice for a double shift with the advantage of a rest.
Other times, it's used to stifle an opponent's momentum, which was Quenneville's intention in the Ducks' three-goal scenario. Sometimes, it's used to allow a penalty-kill unit to stay on the ice longer.
"It's funny how the timeout has evolved," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who will be guiding his team against the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final's Game 6 on Monday night. "The timeout was probably never instituted to become something used to rest players."
A new icing rule before the 2005-06 season changed the importance of the timeout. The change was made to speed up the game and the rule keeps the offending team from substituting players after an icing call.
"When I played, if you were tired, you did just ice it," said Troy Murray, a former Hawks player and the color analyst for WGN-AM broadcasts of Blackhawks games. "You could ice the puck and get a line change. Now when you look at key moments of the hockey game, (coaches) have to pick and choose (when to give players a break)."
Players also used to break their sticks to get a rest, which isn't allowed anymore.
There could be another rule change on the way that would affect the timeout.
The NHL and the NHLPA last week recommended allowing a coaches' challenge that would allow coaches to call for a replay of specific controversial calls. The rule was not defined clearly but presumably the loss of a timeout would be on the line if the original call stood.
"In a way the league is trying to take it out of your hands a little bit to say, a player has been caught out in a long shift, there's an icing, I'm sure (fans and viewers) don't want the players to get the rest," Cooper said. "They want to see what happens after that. The timeout affords you to give the players that break."
During a timeout, coaches sometimes try a variety of tactics.
"When your team is flat all you're trying to do is shake it up," said Barry Melrose, a former player, coach and current ESPN hockey analyst. "You just grab them and make eye contact. You're kicking them in the butt. Or sometimes you have to settle them down."
Coaches often ponder when is the best time to use the timeout.
"It's all feel," said Eddie Olczyk, a former Blackhawks player, Penguins coach and current analyst for the Hawks and selected national games.
He notices some coaches never -- or rarely -- use a timeout. For instance, neither the Lightning nor the Blackhawks used a timeout in the 2-1 Hawks victory in Game 4.
"You can't take it home with you," Olczyk said.
Coaches are less opposed to calling a timeout early in a game than they were in the past, many hockey experts said.
"You'd like to keep it as long as you can but there might be a turning point (early) in the game," Melrose said. "If it's two great teams playing each other, one goal might be a difference. Using it right off the bat sometimes can be the best thing you do."
After Quenneville kicked himself for calling a timeout that turned out ineffective, the Blackhawks went on to win 5-4 in double overtime.
"A lot of teams save it for that icing," he said. "I don't think it was intended for that purpose, but it has been applied that way. I think on a need basis, it's useful."
sryan@tribpub.com
