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March 14, 2012 at 3:45 pm #5821

Participant

GMs favouring hybrid icing

Postmedia News, March 13, 2012

After two days of National Hockey League general managers’ meetings, it has become clear that — of all the new rules up for discussion — hybrid icing has gained the most traction.

If adopted, the rule would see a change in how icing was called — an effort to protect the players from dangerous hits.

In its simplest form in the new rule, icing gets called if the first player to pass the faceoff dot is from the defending team. The defender would no longer need to touch the puck.

“I think what you’re doing is removing the dangerous portion of it,” said Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman to the NHL Network. “When guys are usually lunging for pucks, it’s when they are most likely to be off-balance and you can have a high rate of speed collisions happening. We’re trying to do our best to remove the dangerous plays.”

Among Calgary Flames players queried on the subject, there are those in favour of a change, and other who like the status quo.

Defenceman Jay Bouwmeester favours a switch.

“It’s probably been a long time coming,” Bouwmeester said. “There’s been some injuries and there’s been lots of talk about it for a few years now. If it will eliminate some of those dangerous collisions three or four feet from the boards, then that’s good.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Bouwmeester added of injuries, “but when it does, it’s big. If you can eliminate that, or try to eliminate that, it’s probably best for everyone.”

Veteran forward Tom Kostopoulos respectfully disagreed.

“Personally, I like the icing rule the way it is,” Kostopoulos said, knowing full well he is in the minority. “I’ve had conversations with a lot of guys on the team, and they don’t agree with me. I like the race. I think it’s an exciting part of the game. I know injuries do happen, and that’s unfortunate. But I kind of like it the way it is now.”

The league’s GMs wrap up their meetings on Wednesday.

Any rule changes proposed go to the NHL competition committee and then on to the board of governors for final approval.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
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