 |
|
|
|
|
NHL News & Notes Wednesday, June 18, 2008 The NHL's board of governors approved three rules changes Wednesday - two involving faceoffs and one involving icing - and kept things moving forward on the goal of standardized and smaller goaltending equipment. The board, at its annual meeting in New York, made two moves that will lead to more faceoffs in the offensive zone. One change, which comes to Rule 76.2, "will place the first face-off of a power play in the defending zone of the team that committed the foul." The league also has altered Rule 85.5, calling for a change that "provides if a puck is shot off the goal frame, goal post or crossbar, the subsequent face-off will remain in the end zone where the puck went out of play." The board didn't institute no-touch icing, but it did take a step towards a new rule that it hopes will eliminate some of the plays that lead to injuries when players are chasing the puck in an icing situation. "Any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck," the league said in a statement about the change to rule 81.1. "Unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player." Said commissioner Gary Bettman: "We think that will go a long way to reducing the likelihood of any possible injuries." On the issue of goaltending equipment, the board gave the go ahead to the group working on standardizing goaltending equipment to move forward with its work. "Using the guiding principles that: (1) Goaltender equipment should not be any larger than it needs to be to provide adequate protection and (2) should be proportionate to the size of the goaltender, the [Goaltender Equipment] Working Group will work aggressively with the goalies and manufacturers toward developing standards for the maximum size of all equipment that each individual can wear," the league said. The board also approved the sale of the Edmonton Oilers to Daryl Katz and the Tampa Bay Lightning to a group of investors led by Oren Koules and Len Barrie. Key NHL Dates
|
|
Indicates Subscriber only
content