We are coming down the home stretch of the High School season and I just wanted to clarify a rule that seems to get a lot of grumbling from the stands. Although I took the rule out of the Federation book, this basically applies to every rule book in hockey. So lets get to it.

Rule 6-40 article 3 states that a penalty shall be assessed to a player who intentionally or recklessly contacts a player to the head, including with the stick or by an illegal body check. Penalty-minor or major if flagrant.  Continue reading »

Fast Tube by Casper

We see it time and time again on the ice, poor sportsmanship after giving up a goal. This time it proved to be costly for Florida Panther’s goaltender Thomas Vokoun. Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard pulled the dumbest stunt yet this season while attempting break his stick over the crossbar after Atlanta’s goal midway into the first period, struck his own goaltender in the head.

Vokoun suffered an ear laceration and was alert when taken off the ice on a stretcher. Although there is not a rule of high sticking your own player in the NHL, the Florida Panthers management needs to address this with either a fine or a suspension with out pay to Keith Ballard. This type of behavior should not be tolerated at any level of hockey period. Ballard is lucky that all Vokoun suffered was an ear laceration, this could of been a hell of  a lot worse. GROW UP.

Florida GM Randy Sexton said. ”There was no internal ear damage, just a laceration. They stitched him up, took a CAT scan and there’s no additional injuries.” Continue reading »

There has been a lot of buzzing in the hockey world about this rule in the NHL rule book. The first incident this season happened in the King/Rangers game on October 14th. The Referee apparently blew the whistle after the puck had crossed the goal line and waved the goal off. The play went to video review and the call was over turned. Naturally Kings fans were pretty pissed as the call went against them. The most recent occurrence happened Wednesday night when Brad May appeared to have tied the game for the Red Wings late in the third period when Dennis LaRue waived the goal off even though he had blown the whistle after the puck had crossed the goal line. In this situation, the play was reviewed but the Referee over ruled the replay. Okay your probably saying, what is the point of replay then. Two different outcomes on similar situations. Here is the NHL rule right out of the book. Continue reading »

With High School hockey approaching fast, I wanted to inform you of the rule changes for the up coming season for The National Federation of State High School Associations. Please note that it is unclear if every high school in the nation plays out of this rule book so check with your coach or athletic director to see what rules you are playing. Please note these rules apply to any level of high school hockey, freshman, JV and Varsity. Continue reading »

There has been a lot of talk about hits from behind, high hits and head contact this season in all levels of hockey and today I want to talk about the youth level. From a referee’s prospective on a hit from behind, it is cut and dry. You either did it or you didn’t and the only variable should be the severity of the hit and whether it takes place around the board or the open ice.

For those of you that don’t know, the penalty for a hit from behind can be a minor with a misconduct for the less severe hits like at open ice or a major plus a game misconduct and possibly a disqualification or match(USA Rules). Referee’s have to look at intent, injury and whether the offending player was trying to back off of the hit as well as the area of the ice on where the hit took place. Continue reading »

As most of you know, I am a hockey referee and from time to time we come across an unusual type of situation and I decided that when this comes up, I will give my readers the opportunity be the ref and make the call. So with that being said, I will start out with one that I thought was a no brainier but apparently it is not. Today we will use the NCAA rule book.

Picture this if you will, team “A” is being called for a delayed penalty for slashing…team “B” pulls the goalie and while attacking the net in team A’s zone, the play is blown dead for a hand pass by team B. Where should the face off be once play is resumed?

A. at the center ice  face off dot

B. in one of team A’s end zone dot

C. one of the face circles outside of team A’s blue line

D. the last placed played before the whistle

I want to hear your answers so don’t be shy, questions like this will educate all hockey personnel. Don’t guess, explain the reason for your answer. Next week’s is a good one, comeback and try again. Good Luck!