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The rule change, which would be made in the name of promoting skill development, would prevent a shorthanded team from icing the puck. As with any icing infraction, a whistle and faceoff in the offending team’s zone would be the result.
Understandably, such a move could touch off a firestorm of debate across the country.
Last season, the rule change was taken for a test drive as Massachusetts conducted a pilot program. Alaska will follow suit this year.
The findings from both ends of the country will be closely analyzed when USA Hockey’s board of directors vote on any rules changes next June. The board of directors narrowly defeated the proposal at the 2007 Annual Congress.
As can be expected, officials who have been exposed to this proposed rule change are fairly well split on whether they like it or not.
“Many people are going to dislike a rule that adds the possibility of more whistles,” says Owen Thompson, Massachusetts referee-in-chief, as he reflected back on the experimental season. “But overall, after a brief learning period, it just became part of the game, similar to the new standard of enforcement.”
This observation has been confirmed nationally. USA Hockey has been using the “new icing” rule the past three years at all of its player development camps. Reports are that, over time, players adjusted smoothly and that now, few, if any, additional stoppages occur.
“Not everyone liked it at first, but I think it did what it was intended to do,” Thompson says. “Players stopped just firing the puck down the ice and attempted to make plays.”
And like others who are in favor of the proposed rule change, Thompson doesn’t understand why rules should cater to a team that breaks the rules to begin with.
“I am not involved in player development, but I don’t see why a team that just took a penalty should just be given a free pass [to ice the puck],” Thompson says. “The number of shorthanded goals I saw [last year] were incredible. Some teams were even running breakout plays while shorthanded.”
Of course, not everyone shares those sentiments.
“I don’t think [the rule] was a popular one,” says Billy Marcotte, a supervisor of officials with Mass Hockey. “Many [people] felt the game was being changed too much, that a needed opportunity for relief while shorthanded was being taken away.
“The pilot program may have good intentions, but it never garnered much positive feedback that I heard,” he continues. “I personally like the idea of being able to ice the puck while shorthanded.”
Look for this issue to be bantered about the rink in the coming months.
Matt Nilles is a registered official in Urbana, Ill.
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