A Thought on the Minnesota Rule Changes

In fallout to the injuries suffered by Jack Jablonski, the MSHSL (the league governing the game where the incident occurred) made several rule changes - minors have become mandatory majors for boarding, checking from behind, and head contact.  Along with the changes, several parties involved with the change have called out USA Hockey and suggested the changes should be implemented on a national level.

Note: After more research than I'd honestly intended to put into an off-the-cuff thoughts post, I still am unable to determine whether MSHSL hockey games are run via the USA Hockey rulebook or have a completely separate set of legislation (or USA Hockey + Supplement, which is how many leagues handle these things).  Given the enforcement standards cited in news articles relating to the rule change, the implication is that they operate independently of USA Hockey while many of their players maintain dual-affiliation.  Under USA Hockey's current rulebook, Checking from Behind is EITHER a 2 & 10 (minor plus misconduct) or a 5 & Game (major + game misconduct).  A Match Penalty can also be assessed.  It is not "only" a 2 & 10.

The intention behind the changes is good, and it's exactly the kind of reactionary legislation one might expect in the current situation.  "Someone got hurt because we left this on the table as an optional minor, or we had a gap in our rules, so let's make it clear to coaches and players that the act isn't worth the risk.  If we change the cost/benefit ratio, players will stop doing it."

The problem is that it's not going to work, at least not the way it's intended to, and those making noises in USA Hockey's direction seem to be missing the point that the USA Hockey system is designed to allow referees discretionary authority while still building in the stronger punishments.

Getting Into the Spirit

Happy Hockey Season, Folks!  It's been (almost exactly) a month since my last post over here.

It's a really good thing that a solid portion of the content over here to date is just me thinking aloud and/or posting data for my own edification, or I might worry about my pageviews.  That will be changing a bit with this fall, regular posts and less abstract rambling, but I'll save the off-the-wall flash for Caps Outsider.

The Burden of Protection - Head Trauma from the Far Side

First, the prerequisite link:  New post over at Capitals Outsider today - The Lesser-Known Caps in the System [2/2].

Today's post was originally going to be on the topic of the NHL's summer R&D camp, but that's been pushed back a few days.  Instead, since a large portion of the hockey community is debating how soon is too soon to use Wade Belak's death as the launching point for a Fighting Discussion, I'll be touching on the last great source of public outcry: Head Trauma.  And because this blog looks at hockey with an emphasis on the officials involved, I'll be focusing on the role of on-ice officials in the rule changes that have been rolled out over the last year.

Fun Facts About USA Hockey - Paperwork Edition

Fun Fact: If you ever misplace your USA Hockey number, you can always go to the main website and request a duplicate confirmation.  All you need is your last name, DOB, and the zip code where you registered.

Less-Fun Fact: College team managers apparently tend to register their entire teams at once, and when a player then tries to pull up a duplicate confirmation they have no idea what zip code he or she is registered under.

Even Less-Fun Fact: USA Hockey is closed on Sundays.  This means, among other things, that they do not answer their phones.

Spent 20 minutes with a young woman today trying to track down her USA Hockey number so that she could sub for a short-benched women's team going into their last playoff game of the season.  No dice, of course.  Eventually, she opted to just re-register so that she could play today (most USA Hockey affiliated programs won't let you play without proof of membership, because members are covered under USAH's blanket catastrophe insurance, and it avoids all kinds of potential legal headaches).

Silver Lining of the Day: We were pleasantly surprised to learn that if you register with USAH today, it classifies you as registering in the 2011-2 season.  So instead of buying her 31 days of player eligibility, she's now covered through the end of August 2012.

In related news, ref registration goes live tomorrow for the 2011-2 season, as does seminar/camp enrollment.  I'm looking forward to seminar this year, because I'll actually know what I'm doing.  It's amazing how much stress that takes out of the training course!