1.) First thing out of the gate, I would get rid of the mask or bird cage. In my opinion I believe the full cage is a reason there is so much stick work in NCAA Division one hockey. A couple times getting hit in the face might be what some of these kids need to clean up the game. There is way too much stick work in college hockey and I think the mask is the major reason for this. The players have no respect for their opponents and they feel invincible because of the mask.
2.) Put the 'Red Stop Sign' on the back of all jerseys in Division one hockey, still way too many checking from behind penalties in college hockey. If a player sees the 'Red Stop Sign' don't check the player in front of you.
3.) Get rid of the progressive game disqualification for fighting in college hockey. I think college hockey should be like junior hockey. Fighting is part of the game of hockey and if a player gets into a fight, both players should be out for the rest of that game. There is no need for additional punishment. I think the progressive DQ is too punitive, and is a cause of a lot of extra unnecessary after the whistle bravo sierra. Currently; college hockey players know that they don’t have to fight when they commit an egregious act or take a run at a team’s star players and from past years we know the refs don’t always catch these egregious acts or make the right call either. Because of the progressive DQ rule you get ugly incidents like the one that happened in Mankato last season. Players know that they can hide behind the officials and almost never pay for their miss deeds. In the NHL and junior hockey the players police the game themselves and it helps keep the players honest. Prediction: when the Gophers play the Mavericks this season Brian Schack and Channing Boe will meet on the ice this season and settle their score.
4.) All ties must be broken like the NHL. Over time should be a five minute period of four on four hockey and then a shoot out if there is still no winner. Award point points like the NHL 2 for a win and 1 point for an overtime loss and or for a shoot out loss.
5.) Call the game like they do in the NHL, obstruction in college hockey is still very much a part of the game no matter how many refs are on the ice. If the hand comes off of the stick to hold up a player it's a penalty, hooking is a penalty and not to be misconstrued as good defense. Skill and Speed should be rewarded. It doesn't take any skill to skate up and down the ice hacking and hooking their opponent. Over looking penalties by the refs is unacceptable.
6.) All arenas in college hockey should be required to have over head cameras and goal reviews so the right call can be made on all controversial goals. There also needs to be more than one angle to review these controversial goals, much like the NHL. The NCAA should require each conference to have a war room like the one in Toronto.
7.) I also like to see hockey go to a more durable stick, these carbon fiber stick suck. Sure they are awesome for shooting but I am sick and tired of seeing them break all of the time.
This article was posted at the [Illegal Curve].
Please tell me #2 is facetious.
ReplyDelete#3 contradicts #1 and #5. If fighting is part of the game, then hooking and obstruction are, too.
Um, Channing and Schack will not settle their score (or whatever you said), Channing will beat the tar out of that cheap ass hack. Well, that is if Schack is playing. Watch, Lucia won't have him play in the Kato games.
ReplyDeleteRunninwiththedogs said...
ReplyDelete'Please tell me #2 is facetious.'
No I think he's serious. And he forgot to mention his related idea: all shooters in his proposed tiebreaker will wear pink jerseys emblazoned with 'Ha Ha You Can't Touch Me' on the front.
Donna, I would have answer you question sooner but I was sitting by a bon fire without internet.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with a stop sign?
Hooking and obstruction have nothing to do with fighting. I have always liked that idea and so does Don Cherry and he is for rock em sock em hockey. The NHL has become more watchable because they now call the obstruction more closely, well except during the Stanley Cup Finals.
Amy, I think Schack the hack is going to get his due. I could see him not playing much this year though and possibly Lucia sitting him during the MSU-M series.
ReplyDeleteHooking, obstruction, and fighting are all penalties. Fighting is and has been considered a major penalty, which is by definition more severe than a minor penalty, like obstruction or hooking.
ReplyDeleteIf a major penalty is part of the game, so is a minor penalty.
What's wrong with a stop sign? Well, this isn't mini-mites. It would be a joke.
LGM is right about Schack not playing in Mankato... but I'd add "or anywhere else." He'll see the ice in maybe 2 games.
Why is fighting's role in hockey so hard for some people to understand?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the stick idea. I used wood and aluminum growing up and have since moved on to the new one piece composites. There is no comparison. Plus I have only broken one in 4 years and it was while blocking a shot. Granted I don't shoot like Kozek and only play twice a week.
In North America there is a population of hockey fans that would rather see a game filled with stick work and face washes opposed to two guys dropping the mitts and settling their differences, its part of the “CODE”.
ReplyDeleteI have observed that after a good fight the games USUALLY settles down and the players get back to playing hockey.
The MSU-M and UND game a few years back was a perfect example when Kaip and Bruess went after it they dropped the mitts and settled a score, that game did eventually settle down and the boys played hockey.
When I used to play in a city league hockey back in 1991 I had two aluminum sticks and they lasted me the whole year. I actually threw them out in the middle 1990's when I gave up hockey.
ReplyDeleteWhere to begin....
ReplyDelete1. Saying that the players 'disrespect each other' is a broad sweeping statement and lumps them all into one category. So, on its face, it is of no value. Regarding the facemask opinion: The NCAA should continue to protect the players as best as possible with masks and use progressive game disqualifications (as opposed to penalties which create man-advantages) to motivate players and coaches to curtail stick-related violence.
2. I do not think placing a different color patch and a particular word on the back of jerseys will create the desired outcome. Again, use progressive game disqualifications to motivate players and coaches.
3. Fighting does not need to be part of hockey nor any sport. Fighting is part of hockey because the repercussions for fighting make it worthwhile. Removing the progressive game disqualification will increase fighting and do more to encourage teams to place enforcers in their lineups. Because enforcers are not noted for their speed and skill, the game will suffer a bit for each enforcer that is in a lineup. Patently bad idea. Stick with the NHL if you care for that version of the sport.
4. Giving out 2 points in some games (non-overtime) and 3 points in others (overtime games) is intellectually flawed and leads to artificially tight races for playoff spots by rewarding the losing team with a point. If the game must include the spectacle of a shootout to increase attendance; give out 2 points to the winner so that it really means something. No need to always copy the NHL game (it might very well be a better game if it borrowed ideas from the college game.) ...Consider a second 5 minute overtime prior to the spectacle if ties are known to reduce attendance.
5. Skill and speed should indeed be rewarded. Referees should enforce the rules and eliminate as much fighting as possible to do just that.
7. Are you getting paid per word? :) ...Let the players continue to chose their own sticks. The players are capable of deciding which stick to use.
I think the game's better because of the full face mask. How many times do we see a player taken out of an NHL game because of either an intentional (or even unintentional) stick or puck to the face.
ReplyDeleteNeither of my comments stated a position on fighting. Just pointed out a flaw in the logic.
ReplyDeleteEliminating composite sticks will be the end of college hockey, or at least the end of competitive college hockey as feeder for the NHL. A lot of hockey players, especially good hockey players are incredibly vain and will not play in a league if they can't use the stick they like. Also, if GMs can pull kids out of a league claiming a coach isn't developing them right, I have a feeling someone would use the lack of similar equipment as an excuse to stay away. That said, getting rid of the full cage, or making half-shields optional for those who want to risk it might actually bring a player or two in.
ReplyDeleteAnd the stop sign would be a joke, these guys are supposed to be leaders and adults, and they should be treated like adults and expected to know the rules. And, as was mentioned, a patch isn't going to stop anyone.
Goon I agree that a fight more often than not will settle the game down. Its like a reset button. It relieves the built up tension and everyone refocuses on the game. I have experienced this both as a player and as a spectator.
ReplyDeleteHere is another take on full masks and fighting rules in college. Juniors for most players are the precursor to the college game. And after college you move on to a professional league of some type. So both the league before and after (providing you don't come directly out of high school) have similar rules regarding these issues. So in that regard college is actually a step backwards for these players.
Talk about a deterrent for top end talent. Why would you choose to play college when it forces you to conform to rules that will negatively impact the development of your game for the next level. Not to mention you have already adapted you game in juniors and now you have to return to a glorified version of high school.
I know it is hard for those to understand who have never played the game but no mask vs full cage is a completely different game. Plus when you know you may have to fight someone it completely changes things. You have more respect for your opponent, you don't shit talk as much, you have to consider the repercussions of making a big hit (even if it is clean) where my elbows down? did he see me coming? did I run him? was his back turned?
I mean can you imagine how much better Joe Finley would be if he played Canadian juniors. He was never forced to develop in college and now he will be stuck in the AHL for 2 years learning to play the Pro style.
And then there is the manliness factor. It takes balls to play with out a cage. or to fight your opponent. And that's what makes this game great. Its played by men. Guys who take a puck in the face and don't miss a shift. The problem with college is we have to many candy asses from southern Minn. running around being protected by the "rules"
Boosh good to see you back from Utah or Idaho or where ever you were. I believe I said, "Use/find more durable stick, these carbon fiber stick suck."
ReplyDeleteI think the stick companies need to improve their sticks because I am sick and tired of watching these sticks break in the NHL and the NCAA.
Chet I agree with you, former Fighting hockey player Perry Berazin (sp) once said that he thought the mask actually made the college game rougher because the player feel invinceable.
Just to add to that, my brother in law former golden rodent Andy Brink said, 'that he knew he could go up to the biggest guy on the ice and get in his face and talk a bunch of trash because he knew that he didn't have to pay for his deeds.'
ReplyDeleteThe assumption that fights are necessary in a sport is absurd. Period.
ReplyDeleteGoonster, if you can come up with an alternative to carbon fiber with the same strength, weight and flex properties, you're gonna be a rich man, and you'll be getting lots of phone calls from more than just hockey stick manufacturers ;) The only real problem with carbon fiber is that it fails catastrophically without warning. Other than that, it is a significantly superior material to any other being used for hockey sticks by performance, including wood. Having a stick break in your hands off a shot is just a risk a guy is going to have to take if he wants the added performance.
ReplyDeleteI think Boosh should create a new stick as his "senior project". Then he can become rich and buy us all adult beverages for this upcoming hockey season:)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Schack thing, I agree that he won't play much and if he's still on the team starting next month then I bet he won't play against MSU for sure. I don't see his situation being the same as the one with Bruess/Kaip. I think the MSU/Gophers series will be ugly and if Schack were to play, he would get his ass kicked up and down the ice all game long. Hell, I would say that ANY game he plays will be that way because I think every team and player in the WCHA took offense to his actions. He is a coward.
You had me all the way up to the "need" to settle ties.
ReplyDeleteShootouts are just a lame attempt to cheapen the sport for the benefit of morons who can't comprehend that sometimes, on a given night, two teams are equal to each other.
The kind of person who can't understand that isn't the kind of person you want to be courting. All you do is cheapen your product for the benefit of some ADD-rattled simpleton who's just going to abandon the game once another fad, niche sport or shiny object comes his way.
Even with a point structure that actually makes a lick of sense (like the IIHF system: 3-2-1-0), shootouts are little more than a gimmick aimed to court morons as your casual fans.
When the NHL first went to the Shoot-out after the lock out I was a little skeptical but after watching a few seasons of the shootout, I thought it was a great idea. I think you’re right though, the problem with the NHL is they are trying to make fans out of people that don’t understand hockey in non-hockey markets. Hockey is a niche sport, a few tweaks here is all the game needs.
ReplyDeleteOn the Shootout; I always hear a few fans pontificating on and on how they would hate it if the WCHA went to the shootout, and they would actually leave the game if it went to a shootout.
So when the CCHA went to the Shootout, I watched a few games naturally and of course a few of these games went to the shootout and I just didn't see a mass of fans get out of their seats and heading for the exits. Of course I think a lot of us are a little guarded when it comes to change but eventually I think the Shootouts grew on the fans.
Of course I am glad the NHL doesn't do the Shootout during the playoffs and neither should the NCAA but they can be pretty exciting.