New Icing Crackdown

[interpathway 9]

its not the no-touch icing...yet...thankfully, but it looks as if the NHL is empowering the referees to make a more judgement call if a player is chasing down the defensemen in too dangerous a manner...here's more...

http://thehockeynews.com/articles/18040-TH...icing-rule.html

Mike Murphy, the NHL’s senior vice-president of hockey operations, said beginning this season, referees will be cracking down seriously on opposing forwards who make contact with defensemen near the boards while trying to negate an icing call.

“The referees are going to bang these guys with two minutes until it stops,” Murphy said. “And if the player is hurt, even if it’s a minor cut, the guy is going to get banged with five minutes.”

EDIT::

another interesting note from the article...

That won’t be the only change in the rules regarding icing, although the other one will be subtler. Until this season, the league had mandated television timeouts during the first stoppages in play following the six-, 10- and 14-minute marks. That meant when a team iced the puck and could not change its players, it got the benefit of resting during the TV timeout. That will no longer happen: TV timeouts will no longer occur after an icing, a goal or during power plays.

[Rustpot 1]

That won’t be the only change in the rules regarding icing, although the other one will be subtler. Until this season, the league had mandated television timeouts during the first stoppages in play following the six-, 10- and 14-minute marks. That meant when a team iced the puck and could not change its players, it got the benefit of resting during the TV timeout. That will no longer happen: TV timeouts will no longer occur after an icing, a goal or during power plays.

Makes you wonder if they'll pack them in somewhere else.

Good thing they're trying to crackdown on injuries from icing battles.

[chippa13 1844]

They'll just put the timeouts after the next whistle that isn't for an icing. The change to the viewer won't be noticeable.

[Chadd 916]

They'll just put the timeouts after the next whistle that isn't for an icing. The change to the viewer won't be noticeable.

There will be some announcer flubs early in the season as they get used to it, otherwise it will be pretty transparent to the viewer.

It's about time they finally start calling penalties on the guys who don't care about the puck and are just trying to put the other guy through the boards on icing calls.

[interpathway 9]

i think its a nice middle ground between whats going on now and where we might be going, no touch icing. its such a crucial part of the pro-level game and like the article says, if no touch icing became the norm then hard work, speed, and determination wouldnt be as valued, which it should. good moves Bettman (did I just say that?)

[Chadd 916]

good moves Bettman (did I just say that?)

Bettman had nothing to do with it, just as he has had nothing to do with a lot of the things credited to him. The other thing to keep in mind is that it will be a judgment call by the refs and they have a shown a stunning ability to not call things when given the option.

[mrusse01 0]

Nice changes, but not enough, no-touch icing should have been in the game years ago.

[Rustpot 1]

i think its a nice middle ground between whats going on now and where we might be going, no touch icing. its such a crucial part of the pro-level game and like the article says, if no touch icing became the norm then hard work, speed, and determination wouldnt be as valued, which it should. good moves Bettman (did I just say that?)

It takes more work to break out than it does to dump the length of the ice. If anything, no-touch along with no-change forces the defending team to work even harder.

[interpathway 9]

If anything, no-touch along with no-change forces the defending team to work even harder.

while that is definitely true, it doesn't go with what the NHL is trying to sell

goals, speed, finesse

i would think the NHL would want to keep the races to the goal line if just to save some of the "oooh" and "aahhh" factor

[chippa13 1844]

i think its a nice middle ground between whats going on now and where we might be going, no touch icing. its such a crucial part of the pro-level game and like the article says, if no touch icing became the norm then hard work, speed, and determination wouldnt be as valued, which it should. good moves Bettman (did I just say that?)

Right, no touch icing will put all those hard working players on the streets looking for work.

If anything, no-touch along with no-change forces the defending team to work even harder.

while that is definitely true, it doesn't go with what the NHL is trying to sell

goals, speed, finesse

i would think the NHL would want to keep the races to the goal line if just to save some of the "oooh" and "aahhh" factor

Considering the rarity with which a race to the goal line results in any kind of "oooh" and "aahhh" factor, no touch icing would be just fine.

[interpathway 9]

follow up article...

http://thehockeynews.com/articles/18095-TH...icing-rule.html

[mrusse01 0]

If anything, no-touch along with no-change forces the defending team to work even harder.

while that is definitely true, it doesn't go with what the NHL is trying to sell

goals, speed, finesse

i would think the NHL would want to keep the races to the goal line if just to save some of the "oooh" and "aahhh" factor

But isn't it a bit inconsistent with what the NHL is seemingly trying to do? I agree, goals, speed, finesse....but how is two guys racing towards a wall at full speed ''finesse'? Sure, it's face paced, but so is open ice body checks, and they are trying to get those out of the game.

The Downie hit last pre-season got a lot of 'oohs and aahhs' from the crowd, and 10 years ago he MIGHT have gotten a charging penalty. In 2008 the league suspends him for 25 games or whatever. More people stand and yell for a fight than they do a goal, but you can see the league working to get fighting out of the game.

It seems to me that the league throws up the front of 'player safety' when they want to push issues that fit into their agenda of how they want the league to be viewed by the (american) public, but they just ignore it when an issue doesn't fit their agenda or they don't think is relevent. Somebody in NHL head office thinks people find races for icings to be exciting, so they won't change the rule. Nobody has really complained about face/eye lacerations, so mandating visors isn't an issue. If the league really cared about player safety those two rule changes would be implemented tomorrow. Instead they are busy screwing around with trapezoids, 2 minute penalites for accidentally shooting the puck over the glass, phantom hooking calls, or whatever the hell else kind of bullshit they'll think of this year.

[lampliter87 8]

Being a defenseman, I really like the new crackdown. How many times have awkward hits/injuries resulted from players jostling for position to track down an icing? Too many, imo.