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. 

That being said, there are things you need to know before yelling at the stripes for the non-call. The key words in this rule are intentionally and recklessly. As you know by now there can be a huge height discrepancy in players especially at the high school level where you can have an 8th grader playing against a senior in some cases.So what does that mean?

If you have a 6 foot player chasing down a puck against a say a 5 foot player and the taller player keeps their hands and stick down and makes contact with the shorter player, there is not a penalty there as that is coincidental contact. Unfortunately in this case the shorter player is at a disadvantage although remember the key words, intentional and reckless because if the taller player uses his size to bully the shorter player than he will be assessed a minor for roughing or head contact and in some cases a major.

One other thing I want to touch on while we talk about height differences. I have noticed with the smaller players trying to check the bigger players, they are raising their hands and in some cases jumping into the bigger player. If you leave your feet to make contact on a player, that is a charging penalty. The other one I am seeing is the smaller player is crouching down while attempting  a hip check and making contact below the knee, that is a tripping penalty.

I hope this clarifies any confusion that you may have with this rule and although we don’t see everything, our number one concern is safety on the ice. So play safe and good luck in the rest of the season.

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.”

For all the youth players out there; I watch you kids do similar acts of banging sticks against the boards, over the net or on the ice and you look stupid. Parents pay a whole lot of money for hockey, never mind the $200.00 sticks you “have to have” and by breaking them in an act of frustration or poor sportsmanship is a total disrespect to your parents, teammates and coaches. Everyone makes mistakes on the ice, deal with it and move on. Unlike the NHL, there are penalties that go along with your broken stick and usually you will sit for a unsportsmanlike or a misconduct. Acting like a fool after a mistake doesn’t take it back, it only makes it worse. Play safe and stay positive.

32.2 Disputes - The Referees shall have general supervision of the game and shall have full control of all game officials and players during the game, including stoppages; and in case of any dispute, their decision shall be final.

As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the whistle actually being blown. The fact that the puck may come loose or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this happening.

In the event of any dispute regarding time or the expiration of penalties, the matter shall be referred to the Referee for adjustment and his decision shall be final. He may use the Video Goal Judge to assist in rendering the final decision. See Rule 39 – Video Goal Judge.

Being a referee as you know, I wanted to put my two cents in and try to explain the logic in the rule. Hockey is an extremely fast sport and things happen in a split second and that is what the rule is designed for. There are several reasons why you need this rule and I will give you a couple of examples. The whistle could of been defective, laugh all you want but that cork ball inside the whistle can freeze, preventing the whistle from working properly. The Referee could of gotten bumped or obstructed while lifting his arm to blow the whistle. Another thing that may of happened was that he was distracted by an altercation in front of the net. Amongst other things, those are some examples.

My only beef with the two situations is that they had different outcomes, making the rule inconsistent. In the Kings/Rangers game, the referee let the replay booth dictate the call when ultimately he has the final say. The crew on Wednesday night in the Detroit/Dallas game got it right, the replay booth told LaRue it was a goal and he explained that his intent was to blow the whistle. By LaRue stating his actions as he did, that voids the replay as his call was the play was dead before the puck crossed the line.

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.

The most notable new rule (6-12-1) this season follows the rule books of both the NHL and the NCAA as every face off will take place on one of the nice dots on the ice. Previously if the puck was dropped on a “last place played”, you would see a face off anywhere on the ice. This rule takes the guess work out of when the last place the puck was played. Another notable rule you will see on faceoffs is that a hand-pass will now take place in the end zone of the offending team just like if a puck is played with a high stick.

Also following the NHL and NCAA template, new rule 6-12 states that after a penalty is assessed, the ensuing faceoff will take place at the defensive zone faceoff spot of the offending team, except at the start of a period or after a goal is scored. Basically that means if your team is penalized, no matter where the infraction takes place, the faceoff is in your end.

The third new rule (3-4-8) is for safety on the bench which states that all players are required to wear helmets with face masks while in the players’ or penalty bench. Failure to follow this rule will buy you a misconduct.

rule 6-8   contact to the head is a stand alone penalty now and there is a zero tolerance policy with hits to the head and neck area….keep your hands, shoulders, elbows and sticks down

The following rules are reworded:

2-1-2b  It is required that the visiting team shall wear dark-colored jerseys; the home team shall wear white-/light colored- jerseys.

3-3-2    The goalkeeper’s leg pads shall not be wider than 11 inches(27.94 cm) each, nor longer than 38 inches (96.52 cm).**2012 season

3-3-3    Protective padding attached to the back or forming a part of the goalkeeper’s gloves shall not exceed 8 inches (20.32 cm) in width at any point, nor shall it exceed 15 inches (38.1 cm) in width. Protective padding attached to the back or forming part of the goalkeeper’s catching glove shall not exceed 8 inches(20.32 cm) in width at any point, nor shall it exceed 15 inches (38.1 cm). In addition, the catching glove shall have a maximum circumference or 45 inches (114.3cm). **2012 season

4-2-8    Add: When the rules indicate “Captains choice of players” for serving the penalty, the captain must select a player who was on the ice when the infraction occurred. This includes bench minors.

4-3-2    Replace: A player (captain’s choice of players)  with “An additional player”

Just a few very important reminders and I will go into more detail about player safety in future articles and post some videos that will hit home to you so I can make my point but for now use these guidelines.

Players will not be allowed on the ice with ripped, taped or unzipped pants. You do not look cool skating around like that. You’re coach requires you to come to the rink in a professional manner by wearing a tie, that doesn’t end when you take the tie off. Ripped and unzipped pants look stupid, period. Players must wear the equipment the way it was designed for your safety. Helmets must have the “J” clips that keep your cage from coming up into your chin. The helmet has to be HECC certified and by removing any part of the helmet voids the HECC certification so don’t do it. Mouth guards goes with out saying but yet players are still trying to play without them, the same goes for the goalies. Also for goalies, you are required to wear the “flapper” on your mask, you can not take the ice without this.

Have a safe and successful season…see you on the 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.

Coaches at all  youth levels, are now trying to take these rules and use them to their advantage with some creative things they are teaching their players. At the higher levels like the EHF, travel, select,metro leagues ect. I have over heard a few coaches telling their players to turn their backs on a hit around the boards to gain substantial power play and this disturbs me. This is not what the rules were intended to do, they are in place for the players safety. Any coach that puts their player in harms way for an advantage should have their head examined and for you players that may be playing for a coach like that, find another team.

The other issue I am seeing comes at the town hockey level where the coaches are mostly volunteers and hats off to you that do it, I have been there and it is a thankless job to say the least. That being said, you need to know the rules before you get behind that bench. I had a peewee B coach over the weekend that didn’t understand the interpretation of a high hit and a quality hit since every time his players got bumped, they fell hard. A “high hit” means in the neck and head area, not raising your hands slightly. The whole game I heard chirping from the bench every time his player got buried.  A few examples of hits that coaches interpret to be dirty are, a shoulder hit to the chest area which throws a player on their back is a clean hit. Another good example, a player who spins around and backs into another player and falls forward is not a “hit from behind” when the opposing player is just standing there or possibly raising their hands( not extending) to defend themselves.

With all this talk about these rules, it has taken a lot of the  contact out of hockey. Kids are afraid to take or give a hit because they are not educated on what is right and what is wrong. Coaches are not teaching their kids how to throw a proper body check and they need to. Checking is significant part of hockey and should be used properly to keep the kids on the ice and out of the hospital.

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!