Posted on 06/10/2005 7:49:11 AM PDT by airborne
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - The torrent of ideas and concepts continued to flow here on Day 3 of the National Hockey League's Research and Development Camp just outside Toronto.
Wednesday morning's session featured two more intriguing ideas that have NHL front office people starting the countdown to the demise of stagnant, defensive hockey.
The session tested two major rules. The first sounds more complicated than it is, but basically, when an attacking team crosses the blue line and enters an opponent's zone, the center red line becomes the line that the attacking team must hold. If the puck goes out, over the red line, the team must regroup and enter the attacking zone under the traditional method before the red line comes into play again. In effect, the blue lines would be "on" when a team is entering an attacking zone and "off" once it is established.
Camp planners decided to pair this rule with another twist -- restricting goaltenders from handling the puck outside the crease.
What we witnessed was an incredibly interesting twist on the game. Suddenly, without so much as painting a new line or moving any of the boards, the ice surface looked and felt much bigger. The over-age junior and college players participating in the experiment caught on easily, and it wasn't long before passes were flying back and forth between defensemen and a forward on the half boards.
Some NHL coaches and general manages quickly envisioned running set plays like a half-court offense in basketball, while others pondered the defensive aspects of such a game.
(Excerpt) Read more at nhl.com ...
HOCKEY PING!
Shot Clocks!
Blech, one of the worst ideras of basketball. The answer is simple: if your opponents is just passing the puck around killing clock you need to intercept a pass. Snagging a pass near the back of offensive ice frequently leads to odd man rushes and good scoring chances, press your D and get the puck back.
"Camp" planners is right. Hitting, good goaltending, and defense are the things that differentiate hockey from ice dancing. Why not just put the boys in sequined tights and have a real skating exhibition? These morons could screw up a one-car funeral.
Hitting, good goaltending, and defense are the things that differentiate hockey from ice dancing.
My suggestion is to let the goaltenders out of the crease all they want--but then they become fair game for hitting, checking, etc.
National Hockey League's Research and Development Camp just outside Toronto.
Why don't they try and get a season first.
Good question! They seem to be trying to destroy the NHL on purpose.
Some on here have speculated that Bettman is trying to ruin the NHL. So he can fire all the high paid skaters and replace them with low cost rookies to lower the cost of running the NHL.
This is a good observation, but I'd add a word of caution here. The ice surface "looked and felt much bigger" because the players haven't gotten used to these new rules. Once they are in place, it will only be a matter of time before teams start adopting defensive systems to work within them.
I think these rule changes would help, but the real problem with the NHL is a dearth of talent. Changing rules isn't going to fix that.
Shot clocks saved basketball before hip hop thugs killed it. College basketball would be one-tenth as popular without the three-point shot and the shot clock.
Are they trying to turn hockey into the arena football league? The appeal of hockey is the that it is so hard to score. When a great play results in a goal, the excitement comes from the fact that it is truly a game-changing moment. In basketball, Dwayne Wade can put a spin move on Jason Kidd and go in for the dunk and the play was worth two points out of the hundred his team would score in the game. Let's not reduce great plays to mediocrity like the NBA.
IIRC, that's the way the rules read now, i.e., anyone out of the crease is fair game. However, the unwritten rule (another thing I love about hockey - unwritten rules) is that molesting the goalie is a very unhealthy thing to do.
Perhaps, but I've seen refs calling goaltender interference when hitting the goalie outside of the crease. That needs to stop.
If the NHL gets serious and actually enforces its existing holding and interference rules, you'd see plenty of scoring opportunities. NHL goaltending coaches I've talked to say that making tenders' pads smaller will only hurt a couple of guys who depend on equipment. Many other goalies, particularly younger, more athletic guys, will actually benefit from the quickness and mobility afforded by smaller pads. The other rule stuff is, as you point out, at best a temporary fix until defenses adjust.
Of course, none of this matters a bit if the asshats don't eventually get a season together.
Go Phantoms!
I liked Olympic hockey.
It probably wouldn't be feasible for most arenas, but the larger Olympic ice surface that some college teams play on, really opens up the game. That and the elimination of the red line.
I can make a vague and non-convincing arguement for the existence of a shot clock in basketball, without body checks a team can hold the ball and kill the clock pretty much without risk in basketball just stand there and dribble. But in hockey you've got body checks, anybody just stands there with the puck is going to get creamed, to eat clock a hockey team MUST pass and that entails risk and gives the other team opportunities. But even still I don't like the rule as a concept even in basketball. And the 3 pointer might be OK for college ball but it's ruined the NBA, seem the only thing anybody does anymore that isn't a 3 point shot are dunks, and most of the guys have such poor fundamentals they suck from the 3 point line, lots of boring missed shots in the NBA now thanks to that line.
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