The CCHA became the first college hockey conference to officially announce that they will use an NHL-style shootout to decide tie games during league play.
This was almost a foregone conclusion after the NCAA rules committee approved shootouts to decide regular season games. Shootouts are a topic that has been beaten to death, but while they are gimmicky, this should make CCHA hockey even more exciting this year.
Showing posts with label rule changes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rule changes. Show all posts
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Goonery
It was another proud moment for the Philadelphia Flyers this past weekend. NHL discipline guy Colin Campbell, apparently playing the role of a parent who has given up, isn't handing out suspensions, but that doesn't mean there weren't plenty of opportunities.
Among them:
Derian Hatcher bit Travis Zajac. No, really, I'm not making that up.
Steve Downie, fresh off his most recent suspension, took a cheap shot at Andy Greene. Pay special attention to the "hit" Andy Greene dishes out to deserve said cheap shot.
After seeing the ante upped, Derian Hatcher tried to kill Alex Steen, and instead took out his own teammate. If you ignore the sad consequences for Lupul, it's actually quite funny that Steen knows that in order to protect himself, he has to get low, because Hatcher is going to try to hit him in the head.
And then Downie, in final attempt to show he's the most gutless player in the NHL, sucker-punched Jason Blake, while Blake was being restrained by an official. Sadly, as egregious as that is, it's actually a step up for Downie, who is at least now cheap-shotting opponents, rather than his own teammates.
What's funny is that any time you ever see a former NCAA player involved in one of these incidents, he's always on the receiving end. Furthermore, how many of these incidents do you see in NCAA hockey? Very few, if any. And ultimately, I believe that should cause the death of fighting in the NHL. There are referees out on the ice to hand out justice. Any time you allow a biased party to start handing out their own justice, you end up with gross over-reactions like the ones seen above. Take the guys who are just out on the ice to cause trouble off of the ice, and you'll end up with less trouble on the ice.
Among them:
Derian Hatcher bit Travis Zajac. No, really, I'm not making that up.
Steve Downie, fresh off his most recent suspension, took a cheap shot at Andy Greene. Pay special attention to the "hit" Andy Greene dishes out to deserve said cheap shot.
After seeing the ante upped, Derian Hatcher tried to kill Alex Steen, and instead took out his own teammate. If you ignore the sad consequences for Lupul, it's actually quite funny that Steen knows that in order to protect himself, he has to get low, because Hatcher is going to try to hit him in the head.
And then Downie, in final attempt to show he's the most gutless player in the NHL, sucker-punched Jason Blake, while Blake was being restrained by an official. Sadly, as egregious as that is, it's actually a step up for Downie, who is at least now cheap-shotting opponents, rather than his own teammates.
What's funny is that any time you ever see a former NCAA player involved in one of these incidents, he's always on the receiving end. Furthermore, how many of these incidents do you see in NCAA hockey? Very few, if any. And ultimately, I believe that should cause the death of fighting in the NHL. There are referees out on the ice to hand out justice. Any time you allow a biased party to start handing out their own justice, you end up with gross over-reactions like the ones seen above. Take the guys who are just out on the ice to cause trouble off of the ice, and you'll end up with less trouble on the ice.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Over the Line.....Mark it Zero
MGoBlog wrote a very fascinating article questioning the offsides rule in hockey. Brian argues that calling offsides hurts the flow of the game, by causing a lot of unnecessary face-offs, and hurts offense by making it too easy for the defensive team to clear the zone. The comments are just as good, with a lot of discussion about potential rule changes to improve the game.
I'm not necessarily sure I agree with Brian here. Taking away offsides would cut down on a couple whistles per game. But as was noted in the comments, it would also create a lot of icing calls as teams tried to get the puck out of their zone.
I also think it might even take away from the speed of the game a little bit. Without a blueline keeping all ten skaters in one section of the ice, it would spread everyone out more. There would be a lot more long passes instead of quick, sharp passing. Plus, defenseman wouldn't be forced to try and hold the blueline. They could play much more conservatively and the game would lose a lot of breakaways and odd-man rushes.
To be fair, Brian is a bit more conservative in his suggestions, saying that the blueline should either be made wider, or that hockey should try the "Red Berenson Rule" where once a team crosses the opposing team's blueline, the opposing team must clear the red line in order to clear the zone. I'm not sure how the former would change things, though I think that the latter would be very interesting, especially on powerplays.
Another suggestion that got brought up a lot was making every rink Olympic-sized. I do like the wider ice, but an extra couple feet won't change a lot. The CCHA predominantly uses NHL size rinks, while the WCHA is predominantly Olympic-sized. Last year, the average CCHA team scored 6 more goals in league play than the average WCHA did.(Obviously there are other factors that go into those numbers, but I think you can see that there isn't a big difference in scoring between rink sizes).
Back in the early to mid 1930's, scoring dropped pretty significantly in the NHL. There was a lot of talk various rules playing in a big role of that, but Detroit's legendary coach Jack Adams once told the New York Times, "Talk about the rules keeping down the scoring; it's the goalies who keep it down." Adams also called the drop in scoring one of the "outstanding developments in modern hockey." Of course, two years later in the same paper, Adams was bemoaning the fact that teams got an early lead and played a tremendously boring-paced game to sit on the lead(while simultaneously being known as the greatest perpetrator of said tactics, according to the rest of league).
Anyway, I tend to believe Adams. It's the goalies, stupid. If hockey wants to increase scoring, they should make the nets a little bit bigger, and make goalie pads a lot smaller. We don't need soccer nets, just a couple inches on either side to give players a little more net to look at. Goalie pads have gotten way out of control too. Not only would shrinking them increase scoring, it would allow goalies to show off their athleticism by forcing them to make more acrobatic saves. I know I'd much rather say "Wow, he's quick" instead of, "Wow, he takes up a lot of space".
I know a lot of people cringe when it comes to changing rules to try to make the game "more exciting," but I think it's time for hockey to try something. There's a lot of great things about the game that I think just need a little help to be shown off a little more.
I'm not necessarily sure I agree with Brian here. Taking away offsides would cut down on a couple whistles per game. But as was noted in the comments, it would also create a lot of icing calls as teams tried to get the puck out of their zone.
I also think it might even take away from the speed of the game a little bit. Without a blueline keeping all ten skaters in one section of the ice, it would spread everyone out more. There would be a lot more long passes instead of quick, sharp passing. Plus, defenseman wouldn't be forced to try and hold the blueline. They could play much more conservatively and the game would lose a lot of breakaways and odd-man rushes.
To be fair, Brian is a bit more conservative in his suggestions, saying that the blueline should either be made wider, or that hockey should try the "Red Berenson Rule" where once a team crosses the opposing team's blueline, the opposing team must clear the red line in order to clear the zone. I'm not sure how the former would change things, though I think that the latter would be very interesting, especially on powerplays.
Another suggestion that got brought up a lot was making every rink Olympic-sized. I do like the wider ice, but an extra couple feet won't change a lot. The CCHA predominantly uses NHL size rinks, while the WCHA is predominantly Olympic-sized. Last year, the average CCHA team scored 6 more goals in league play than the average WCHA did.(Obviously there are other factors that go into those numbers, but I think you can see that there isn't a big difference in scoring between rink sizes).
Back in the early to mid 1930's, scoring dropped pretty significantly in the NHL. There was a lot of talk various rules playing in a big role of that, but Detroit's legendary coach Jack Adams once told the New York Times, "Talk about the rules keeping down the scoring; it's the goalies who keep it down." Adams also called the drop in scoring one of the "outstanding developments in modern hockey." Of course, two years later in the same paper, Adams was bemoaning the fact that teams got an early lead and played a tremendously boring-paced game to sit on the lead(while simultaneously being known as the greatest perpetrator of said tactics, according to the rest of league).
Anyway, I tend to believe Adams. It's the goalies, stupid. If hockey wants to increase scoring, they should make the nets a little bit bigger, and make goalie pads a lot smaller. We don't need soccer nets, just a couple inches on either side to give players a little more net to look at. Goalie pads have gotten way out of control too. Not only would shrinking them increase scoring, it would allow goalies to show off their athleticism by forcing them to make more acrobatic saves. I know I'd much rather say "Wow, he's quick" instead of, "Wow, he takes up a lot of space".
I know a lot of people cringe when it comes to changing rules to try to make the game "more exciting," but I think it's time for hockey to try something. There's a lot of great things about the game that I think just need a little help to be shown off a little more.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Coaches Convention
The NCAA's college hockey coaches are busy sunning themselves in beautiful Naples, Florida this weekend at the annual Coaches Convention. Of course, that pill is a little easier to swallow since it was mid-70's and sunny here in Minnesota today.
The convention isn't all awkward white guys in polo shirts, khaki shorts, and sandals playing golf, though. There's also a good deal of discussion about the game and whatnot. Obviously I'm not there, but I did receive a few notes on some of the things that were talked about.
The WCHA pushed for the last two weeks in May and first two weeks in August to be "quiet times" in the recruiting calendar, with no off campus recruiting, and that reportedly passed.
There was some discussion about getting rid of verbal commitments, but that didn't pass. I'm not surprised since I'm not sure how they'd regulate unofficial, non-binding agreements.
New legislation was passed allowing teams to call players once per month, and mail out recruiting material, starting June 15th after their sophomore year. Notre Dame was one of the driving forces behind this change, which isn't a huge surprise, given that Jeff Jackson has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA rules that prohibit contacting players at a young age.
The convention isn't all awkward white guys in polo shirts, khaki shorts, and sandals playing golf, though. There's also a good deal of discussion about the game and whatnot. Obviously I'm not there, but I did receive a few notes on some of the things that were talked about.
The WCHA pushed for the last two weeks in May and first two weeks in August to be "quiet times" in the recruiting calendar, with no off campus recruiting, and that reportedly passed.
There was some discussion about getting rid of verbal commitments, but that didn't pass. I'm not surprised since I'm not sure how they'd regulate unofficial, non-binding agreements.
New legislation was passed allowing teams to call players once per month, and mail out recruiting material, starting June 15th after their sophomore year. Notre Dame was one of the driving forces behind this change, which isn't a huge surprise, given that Jeff Jackson has been an outspoken critic of the NCAA rules that prohibit contacting players at a young age.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Linkorama
The Star Trib's Dean Spiros had an interesting article about players leaving early. There's some interesting quotes in there about possible rule changes.
Minnesota coach Don Lucia advocates a mid-July signing deadline for college players in the NHL. That's not a terrible idea since it would give time to teams that lose a player to get another player enrolled into school.
The other rule change that was mentioned is one I hate. It was proposed that any player that joins a college team wouldn't be able to sign a pro contract for two years. That move would hurt college hockey a lot more than it would help. A lot of top talent would end up just skipping college hockey instead of being forced to stay in college for two seasons. I'd rather watch kids like Cam Fowler, and Matt Duchene, and Kenny Ryan play at least one year of college hockey as opposed to just hearing about them in the OHL.
DJ Powers writes a feature on Dion Knelsen. It sounds like it was a nice recruiting job by the Alaska staff to get this kid away from the WHL.
Late January is also NCAA prospect update time at Hockey's Future. You can read prospect updates for New Jersey, New York Islanders, St. Louis, Boston, and Montreal
Elliot Olshansky posts his Hobey Watch ballot.
INCH's Hobey Tracker. I thought I was all cool because I put out some emails so I could write an article about Mike Santorelli since nobody else had, but wasn't able to get it done and now I'm way behind the curve. Such is life.
Dave Hakstol and Don Lucia were both reportedly at tonight's Roseau HS-Moorhead HS game. Moorhead won again quite easily and after winning both meetings, should be the big favorite heading into the Section 8AA tournament.
The Blake School took on Shattuck-St. Mary's tonight and lost 9-0, and Blake only reportedly had 6 shots on goal. Shattuck will face a much stiffer high school test on Saturday when they take on Holy Angels.
Brad Schlossman has an interesting take on what this weekend's series between Minnesota and North Dakota could have looked like. Apparently Brady Murray made a nice choice by moving on, since he would have been a third-liner at North Dakota this year.
Former St. Cloud State Husky Joe Motzko scored his first NHL goal on January 16th for Columbus.(via the St. Cloud Times' Kevin Allenspach)
The USHL is doing something new where they profile individual colleges. Here's a profile of Ohio State. What I found interesting was that they failed to mention the whole "Literacy Optional" thing at OSU. They did mention that it's a myth that students will face crowded classrooms, especially if they sign up for classes with a lot of football players in it. They also included this:
Vermont's contains zero mentions of the word 'syrup'. I find that shocking.
Here's an article on prospects Bjorn Krupp and Michael Latta.
Here's an article on prospects Kyle Palmieri and Brett Cook. I've seen Palmieri play and was very impressed, but it sounds like he wants to stay in the east.
I should give USHL Central Scouting credit for at least being aggressive in trying to steer kids towards the USHL/NCAA route for development.
DU recruit Tyler Bozak has run away with the BCHL scoring race with 97 points so far this season. Second place is Michigan Tech recruit Casey Pierro-Zabotel with 78 points.
Minnesota coach Don Lucia advocates a mid-July signing deadline for college players in the NHL. That's not a terrible idea since it would give time to teams that lose a player to get another player enrolled into school.
The other rule change that was mentioned is one I hate. It was proposed that any player that joins a college team wouldn't be able to sign a pro contract for two years. That move would hurt college hockey a lot more than it would help. A lot of top talent would end up just skipping college hockey instead of being forced to stay in college for two seasons. I'd rather watch kids like Cam Fowler, and Matt Duchene, and Kenny Ryan play at least one year of college hockey as opposed to just hearing about them in the OHL.
DJ Powers writes a feature on Dion Knelsen. It sounds like it was a nice recruiting job by the Alaska staff to get this kid away from the WHL.
Late January is also NCAA prospect update time at Hockey's Future. You can read prospect updates for New Jersey, New York Islanders, St. Louis, Boston, and Montreal
Elliot Olshansky posts his Hobey Watch ballot.
INCH's Hobey Tracker. I thought I was all cool because I put out some emails so I could write an article about Mike Santorelli since nobody else had, but wasn't able to get it done and now I'm way behind the curve. Such is life.
Dave Hakstol and Don Lucia were both reportedly at tonight's Roseau HS-Moorhead HS game. Moorhead won again quite easily and after winning both meetings, should be the big favorite heading into the Section 8AA tournament.
The Blake School took on Shattuck-St. Mary's tonight and lost 9-0, and Blake only reportedly had 6 shots on goal. Shattuck will face a much stiffer high school test on Saturday when they take on Holy Angels.
Brad Schlossman has an interesting take on what this weekend's series between Minnesota and North Dakota could have looked like. Apparently Brady Murray made a nice choice by moving on, since he would have been a third-liner at North Dakota this year.
Former St. Cloud State Husky Joe Motzko scored his first NHL goal on January 16th for Columbus.(via the St. Cloud Times' Kevin Allenspach)
The USHL is doing something new where they profile individual colleges. Here's a profile of Ohio State. What I found interesting was that they failed to mention the whole "Literacy Optional" thing at OSU. They did mention that it's a myth that students will face crowded classrooms, especially if they sign up for classes with a lot of football players in it. They also included this:
Buildings on campus believed to be haunted are: Bricker, Drackett, Hopkins, Orton and Pomerene Halls.Are they trying to recruit hockey players or the Ghost Busters?
Vermont's contains zero mentions of the word 'syrup'. I find that shocking.
Here's an article on prospects Bjorn Krupp and Michael Latta.
Here's an article on prospects Kyle Palmieri and Brett Cook. I've seen Palmieri play and was very impressed, but it sounds like he wants to stay in the east.
I should give USHL Central Scouting credit for at least being aggressive in trying to steer kids towards the USHL/NCAA route for development.
DU recruit Tyler Bozak has run away with the BCHL scoring race with 97 points so far this season. Second place is Michigan Tech recruit Casey Pierro-Zabotel with 78 points.
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