james mirtle: No-touch icing’s eternal advocate – A hockey journalist’s blog

james mirtle: No-touch icing’s eternal advocate – A hockey journalist’s blog:

“That’s what I’d like to know. Because to me it just makes sense that they would put no-touch icing in.”

Kehl, the Caps’ communications VP, and I offer a few words in agreement.

“They’ll put it in,” I say. “It’s already in junior hockey.”

I’ve long been a supporter of the no-touch icing rule.

Over the last few months, however, I’ve talked to a lot of people about it, listened to a large number of the “hockey experts” out there discuss it, and I have to admit, I’ve changed my mind.

Part of the reason I’ve changed my mind is that the situation where a player chases down and breaks an icing IS a very exciting one in hockey, and has the potential to generate a significant scoring chance. I don’t like to see that taken out of the game if there are alternatives.

Injuries in this situation are rare — but generally very serious. It seems all or nothing here. From my study of this, it seems that almost all of this injuries occur when the contending player fouls the player that ends up getting injured — a push causing a loss of balance, a stick into the feet, a trip, a hook. In other words, actions that, once it’s clear the icing isn’t going to be broken up, are unnecessary and avoidable.

In my mind, then, injuries during the icing chase-down occur because of this “lack of respect” issue that’s cropping up all over the game — a player who intentionally puts the other player at risk, because he’s basically doesn’t care what happens to the other player, and there’s nothing in the game (other than a player scrum) to force them to care. The vast majority of situations that I looked at where an injury happened in this situation there was also a callable-penalty, and at best a careless (or openly hostile) act by a player on the other team.

So, rather than take away this play from the game, I would suggest another tactic: give players a reason to worry about injuring someone in that situation. To me, the answer is fairly simple: take a very strict enforcement here, and set up the rules so that any penalty taken during an icing situation behind the goal line is an automatic 5 minute major and a game misconduct. It doesn’t matter if the icing is washed out or not — if a player does something that is a legal penalty, and most of these sitautions seem to occur when a stick gets in the feet of the player skating to make the icing, thereby it being a trip or a hook, the player who does it is gone for the game. That will cause players to be more cautious about their play in the risk zone.

It won’t prevent fights for the puck — if a player can get into a situation where they can wash out icing safely, they can still compete. What it will reduce is the likelihood of a guy who realizes he’s beaten, so he stuffs his stick into the other guy’s feet, just because he knows there’s really no risk in doing so.

That allows us to keep this play and the excitement it can generate, but still work to improve player safety in a situation where, ultimately, a selfish or uncaring or hostile play puts them at risk. Shift the risk back onto the chasing player; put his team at risk if they try such a dangerous play, and you’ll see players get more careful, and coaches MAKE their players get more careful, without taking another step towards making hockey a no-hit game.

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