Time to get your hockey on!

Outside In The Snow – (DCF) – Ah, hockey season.  Every year at this time (except last year, of course), warriors put on their armor, strap on their skates, and head out onto the ice to do battle.  Few things in this world are more exciting for me.  (This is either a statement about my intense loyalty to my team – the Detroit Red Wings – or a statement about just how empty and dull my life actually is.  Let’s go with the team loyalty thing.)

As mentioned above, there was no season last year, mostly because the players’ union (the NHLPA) fought to keep the league from instituting a salary cap (which is really the only thing the teams’ owners wanted).  It was a real disappointment not to have a season last year, but the player and owners reached a deal, and hockey’s back.

There are some new rules, and they are designed to improve game play and keep things moving.  Among the changes are:

• The “two-line pass” has all but been eliminated, allowing the puck to be passed from a team’s defensive zone to the opposing blue line, which cuts back on stoppages in play.

• An attacking player that goes into an opponent’s defensive zone before the puck no longer gets an offsides call if he goes back and crosses briefly to the neutral zone and back. This is called “tagging-up” and also allows for fewer stoppages.

• A new instigator rule for fighting has been implemented, which states that any player who starts a fight in the last five minutes of a game gets an automatic one-game suspension.  Also, the player’s head coach gets fined $10,000.  In both cases, the penalty is doubled for each additional offense.

• Goaltender pads have been made smaller, as has the area where the goalie can play the puck outside of the net.  There’s now a trapezoid behind the net that comes right up to the goal line.  The puck can only be played in that trapezoid behind the net.  In front of the goal line, however, it can still be played normally.  If the goaltender plays the puck behind the net, but outside of the trapezoid, that’s a two-minute penalty for delay of game.

• After a scoreless five-minute overtime, a shootout determines the winner of the game.  (This is only during the regular season.  Playoffs will still have consecutive overtime periods.)

So…what does all of this mean to hockey fans?  It means a faster game with more scoring chances, allowing skill players to use those skills, and putting more pressure on defenders.  So far, this has resulted in higher scoring games, and better action.  Unfortunately, there has also been an increase in the number of penalties called.  Hey, you can’t win ‘em all.

And what does it mean tot hose of you who aren’t hockey fans?  It means you just wasted more time than I’m sure you wanted to, reading about something that is of absolutely no interest to you.  Er…sorry.

All the best,
Derek
(DCF)