New Refereeing Standards?

[shortcat1]

In this article on Kerry Fraser, promises have again been made by Fraser and Stephen Walkom (director of referees) that the new NHL will be maintained from the beginning of the game to the end of the game, from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. I'm sure that that means overtime and the playoffs too.

There's a training camp for refs and linesmen in Fort Erie at the moment to help them to get a better fix on what to look for and what to call.

All this points to a strong committment by the league (and players?) to make the game focussing more on offense, skill and spectacle.

I certainly hope so. (We've heard this story before, only to see the ideals thrown by the wayside.)

[TheAussiePosse]

Judging by the amount of penalties already, it seems like there is a change already, even after only 2 games.

Players will be forced to either not take penalties, or play better defensively when on the PK.

Interesting to see who will stop first - the players or the refs

[simonus]

well, even in the previous crackdowns, we've never seen this many penalites called. It becomes an issue where quantity becomes a change in quality. The game must change if this much is called, but how? Once the refs establish 7-8 penalties per team per game as the standard, what has been obvious for decades will become apparent to all - That not calling penalties interferes witht the game as much, if not more, than calling them.

Will this mean that finally, 70 years after the forward pass we finally reformat our understanding of the game? I think having so many players try out euro hockey for a year might actually be beneficial in giving the players, and vicariously the coaches, ideas for ways to adapt. Never to become swedish or russian hockey, but to take that which is relevant to the north american game and make it ours.

Or, as AussiePosse presaged, will players simply get better at the PK. Will we see 60 minutes of 3 on 3, 4 on 3. Certainly many teams will take this tack for at least some time. Hey, if the other team is certainly about to score, better that you spend another 2 minutes in the box than change the score... right? But as they face the more evolved teams, as 5 on 3 PPs and 3 on 1 breakaways embarras them and annoy their fans, these 'bully teams' will become irrelevant, slapstick comedy, and/or ready to change.

This is my pie-in-the-sky, ultimate optimist outlook, but wouldn't it be nice?

[shortcat1]

A poll was just conducted on RDS on the subject of the new rules, more specifically, will the refs consistently call the penalties throughout the season (from the beginning to the end)?

It was a fairly split decision. 44% said YES and 56% said NO. There's still a sense of distrust of the whole system that has made and broken that same promise a number of times in the past. Got to say, I'm about of the same feeling. I hope it will but wouldn't be surprised that it won't.

[Howie_Morenz]

We all know they will slow down calling penalties. The question is what penalties will they overlook?

The game last night when Bullis got a penalty behind the Leafs net for getting out of the way was ridiculous. Obviously in Leaf land penalties will always favor the Blue and White team until they can win without help from the pinstripes all by themselves!