In their discussion groups Tuesday morning, the GMs went over the language for boarding and charging penalties sentence by sentence. “Prior to today’s meeting,” said Yzerman, a Hall of Famer who played for more than two decades, “I had maybe read the rule before or maybe heard the rule before, but not specifically understood it.” Yzerman wasn’t the only one who learned something. “Especially with charging, everybody has this whole thing in mind that it’s three steps,” Shero said. “It’s not in the rule book. So people have that wrong.”
The general feeling is that the boarding and charging rules already in the book – maybe with some tweaking – could be enforced more strictly, the way the hooking, holding and obstruction rules were after the lockout. The general feeling is that the players would adjust, as they did after the lockout.
If you read the above post, it essentially highlights the same problem in youth ice hockey. The rules are not followed as written but more as - as believed and accepted. The NHL has time to figure this out. They have millions of dollars. THERE IS NO THREE STEPS grace in charging. Which is basically checking a player without the puck. Even Steve Yzerman got it wrong.
Youth ice hockey doesn't have this luxury and the longer we wait to implement better methods of enforcing rules as written, youth players get hurt.
Youth ice hockey must protect the players. YOU CAN NOT hit a player without the puck. This is not difficulty. YOU CAN NOT strike a player in the head, neck, or back. There is no room to interpret these rule with discretion. If you check a play who doesn't have the puck in their possession, well it's a penalty.
This isn't rocket science. Follow the rules and impose harsher penalties for the most damaging behaviors. Hockey is a physical sport. Hockey is not a reckless sport. These changes will not change the game, only save injury.
No comments:
Post a Comment