Image via WikipediaThis was tweeted over on twitter. The NCAA Ice Hockey Committee looked to clarify the rule regarding head shots. It’s good that the NCAA is going to look at this rule more closely. I do see one problem with this clarification though; it’s going to take more legal hitting out of the college hockey game. This could in essence take a lot of the open ice hits out of the game of college hockey, I would be willing to bet we will see shoulder to shoulder contact penalized. Ty Halpin; NCAA.org ---- The committee did approve several items of guidance for officials to build on the successful implementation of its rules for contact to the head.Also from the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Comittee, elbellishmet is also going to be another area of emphasis, I applaud that decision, “Diving and embellishment erode the integrity of our game and must be eliminated.” I say right on! Hockey in North America is starting to look like European Soccer with all of the diving, if you think I am off the mark, go back and re-watch the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs again, there was so much diving in the games that the refs got to a point where they couldn’t tell if a player was diving or not and many times failed to call a penalty. Also, not to points fingers but the players of Garrett Roe and Jacob Cepis' ilk, you're on notice, the refs are going to be watching you… Diving is ruining hockey of all levels. Seriously, real hockey players aren't frauds and they don't dive.
“Progress was certainly made this season,” said Ed McLaughlin, athletics director at Niagara University and chair of the committee. “We are adding some additional guidance to support what is already in our rules in the hope that players, coaches and officials can better understand expectations with this rule.”
In some cases, officials were hesitant to enforce the contact to the head because they were unsure if a player had clearly “targeted” an opponent. The committee reinforced that targeting is not a prerequisite for this rule to be used.
Added to the examples of the type of play the committee hopes to remove are players who are reckless, players who are about to receive a pass and direct contact to the head or neck area from any direction. This additional guidance joins several other bullet points already printed in the rules book.
The committee also points the hockey community to language that already appears in the rules book: “A player delivering a check to an unsuspecting and vulnerable player puts themselves in jeopardy of being penalized under this rule.”
“We believe our rule is the most robust and aggressive in ice hockey,” McLaughlin said. “What we saw this year was a good start. We’re trying to take any doubt out of this call and help officials who have only one game-speed view of a play to determine how to officiate this play. We realize this is a big penalty and a serious one, but this approach has worked with hitting from behind and we believe it will work here to adjust player behavior.”
Embellishment/divingIn case you’re one of the ten people that hasn’t seen it, here is the official press release from the NC$$ on the Fighting Sioux nickname. As you can see the NCAA is not budging and they will probably not change their mind.
In addition to the contact to the head and general emphasis on player safety, the committee received feedback from the coaching community that embellishment/diving seems to be a growing issue. The committee voted to make this a point of emphasis for the upcoming season and plans to include several video examples during preseason clinics.
“Diving and embellishment erode the integrity of our game and must be eliminated,” McLaughlin said. “Trying to deceive officials is unethical and unsporting. This has to be a collaborative effort to make progress.”
The committee decided to provide guidance regarding obstruction along the boards, where the defensive tactic of pressing and releasing an opponent should be allowed, but impeding is not. Again, additional video examples will be used to encourage consistent application of these rules.
Finally, the group points attention again to rules that deal with facewashing, which typically occurs after a stoppage in play. Continued and stringent enforcement of these rules is needed to improve the image of the game.
NCAA statement on North Dakota mascot issueThe NCAA’s Native American mascot policy remains in effect, and we stand ready to assist the University of North Dakota with its implementation of the policy.If you have read this blog for any length of time you will know that I am a big time supporter of the Fighting Sioux nickname. In the future, I plan on getting a Fighting Sioux logo permanently tattooed to my body… It’s the opinion of this writer that the University of North Dakota will never be able to replace this great logo with anything remotely cool. I also believe that we are destined to replace the Fighting Sioux logo with some stupid moniker that will be in essence a capitulation to the people that were offended by the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname.
The Big Sky Conference’s position related to the university's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo is consistent with the spirit and intent of the settlement agreement the NCAA reached with the university to retire the nickname and logo.
We have made clear to both the conference and the university that the NCAA has no intention of changing its position.
If the University of North Dakota continues to use the nickname and logo past the August 15 deadline due to state law, it will be subject to the parameters of the policy. This means the university could not host any championships or use the nickname and logo at any championship events.
Moving forward, I also don’t have any faith in the current president of the University of North Dakota, President Robert Kelley is part of the problem, he is a hand wringing liberal elite from the University of Berkley in California who wants to shove his political correctness and beliefs down our throat. That being said I do believe this is the end of the Fighting Sioux nickname, I see no way that it stays past this season.
