Hybrid Icing? It means well. Its supposed to eliminate the rushes to the endboards caused by delayed icing calls, which can sometimes turn dangerous if one player catches an edge, or gets hit hard with his back turned. Enter hybrid icing. Now, if the defender is leading the race to the puck by the faceoff dot, then the whistle is blown and icing is called. This is good because it does help speed the game up from players who slow right down to kill the clock. And, if a slower player is leading but a faster player is catching up quick, then the play is blown dead to avoid a collision.
However, if the attacker is leading the race, or its very close, play continues. So effectively, the play will only be blown dead if there is a very LOW chance of a collision happening, but is allowed to play on when the play is most dangerous. Back to the drawing board, I'd say.
The Helmet Rule? This makes sense from a safety standpoint as well. Fighters cannot remove their own helmets during a fight, in hopes that players better protect their head. As a fighter, of course you'd want to protect your head, but fighting tends to be very difficult without a head to punch, and punching a helmet will only hurt the puncher more. The fighting regulars of the game have already started to take off each other's helmets before the fight, loopholing the rule and being able to put on a good fight. Again, the rulebook's heart is in the right place, but the reception from the players tell me that this rule isn't going to last.
The Jersey Tuck Rule? Poor Ovechkin, all he wants to do is tuck in his jersey, is that too much to ask? Apparently yes. The NHL made it illegal to tuck in your jersey or do anything to obstruct the view of the full jersey, and will give out a minor penalty to those who don't comply. I never thought that this was a huge problem in the NHL, given that jerseys have been around forever and such a rule has never come up. But during the games I've watched in the preseason, the penalty is rarely enforced. It just seems like more of a nag to look nice rather than a rule.
Leaving The Bench During A Fight? I'm not 100% that this wasn't a clear, suspend-able offence before now, but its come up twice in the last few days and its a hot topic in the NHL now. Right now, the first guy to leave the bench to get involved in an on-ice altercation will AUTOMATICALLY receive a 10-game suspension. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for trying to stop this action, and I think it should be suspend-able. But 10 games?? Come on, man. Most suspensions around 10 games usually involved hitting a player's head with a stick or a dirty hit, and causing serious injury. 10 seems a little much, especially if he is out there just to defend his teammate, and not cause injury.
So I propose an automatic 2 game suspension for leaving the bench and "dancing" OR delaying the game to do so, 4 games for being fully involved in a fight, and a MINIMUM 10 games for causing an injury OR showing overly-agressive behaviour OR instigating a fight.
So I did go back to 10 games, but I still think there should be judgment on how involved the player was. In my mind, I don't see why Clarkson got a 10 game suspension, when he should have been out 2-4 games MAX.
*********************************************************************************
Whats that? You live under a rock and didn't hear Clarkson was suspended? Then you must have totally missed the previous preseason game between Toronto and Buffalo.
Let's just say, it got kinda nasty.
(Video from YouTube, which was from HockeyFights.com)
That, my friends, is what I like to call a brouhaha.
To add some context, before this happened, there was another fight, which Buffalo felt Toronto sent a larger player to attack one of Buffalo's smaller guys. The Buffalo bench wasn't thrilled, and sent out their goon line on the next shift. Toronto, trying to cool the heat down, sent one of their top skilled lines to curb the aggression, but apparently John Scott didn't buy it.
Strike One: John Scott. I don't care how much of a fighter you are, you don't just drop the gloves and start swinging at a guy off the faceoff, regardless who it is. In this case, Scott practically attacked Phil Kessel, who probably is at least 1ft and 100lbs smaller. It wasn't a fight, it was an attack, and I don't know how he escaped unscathed and without suspension out of all this (however, I'd give it relatively small, probably just a game or 2).
Strike Two: Phil Kessel. Yes, he was attacked and had to defend himself. No, going Paul Bunyan style on Scott's ankles wasn't the best way to do it. That is an intent to injure penalty all day long, and I think even if he turtled, he'd leave the game with more class than what he did by axing Scott's ankles with his stick. And worse, once John Scott was held by the linesmen, Kessel went and speared him. Thats a little like poking the sleeping bear, no? He seems much tougher once Clarkson and the refs have a hold of him. He got suspended a few games for his actions, and it was rightfully deserved.
Strike Three: David Clarkson. Remember when nobody knew who David Clarkson was? He was a good, hard-nosed grinder for the Devils, and didn't receive much stardom for himself. The last few seasons, he's become on of the best and underrated power forwards in the league. I firmly believed his acquisition by Toronto was the final piece needed for Toronto to become a potential powerhouse team.
Well, I'm not giving him a strike for what he did, because essentially that is why they brought him there. But "when" he chose to jump off then bench was questionable. The situation was pretty much all handled before he got on the ice, and he should have known that he was getting the full 10-game treatment, since Paul Bissonnette got the same suspension the day before. Now, the Leafs are without Clarkson's services for 1/10th of the regular season. Was it worth it?
Overall, goalie fight included, it was a very entertaining game. It showed the best of hockey, the entertainment value and sticking up for your teammates. But because of these 3 people above, it might have also shown the worst of hockey.
If this kind of thing is happening during preseason, then I'm really getting excited for the regular season this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment