the new '05 rules

[Weberlax12]

I was wondering how everyone thought the new rules went for the college game with the 20 seconds clears instead of the 10/10 rule, new Face-off rules, etc. ?

[Troy Hood]

I liked the 20 second clear to half-field. It definitely benefits the team clearing the ball.

The face off rules will take a while for everyone to get used to. I felt like the rule was enforced reasonably well by our officials. One thing I did notice in the Division I games that I saw over championship weekend was, what seemed to me to be, "equal cheating". Both face-off men were too close to the ball, had the head of the stick past vertical and the thumb on the plastic. So, they just let it go at that level.

How ever we decide to do it, there needs to be consistency. I'm anxious to see if the rules committee has any thoughts about implementing the "slow whistle" change which was tried in fall '04.

Regards,

[onpoint]

One thing I also noticed about face-offs thanks to ESPN's "ref-mic" was how quick they blew their whistle. Instead of, "down . . . set . . . (whistle)", it was more like, "down..set(whistle)". Presumably this was to make for less illegal procedure calls, but also so that guys wouldn't be able to look up and the ref and jump his whistle when his hands started to come down. Seems like at our level and high school, the whistle is a lot slower.

[laxfan25]

I've heard two viewpoints on the new faceoff mechanics. First of all, in the games in my area (HS and MDIA) we enforced the rules as written and would make sure both teams were legal before whistling. If someone was violating, it would be called.
In a D3 game I did, the referee said that what he had been instructed is that if both teams are in violation, pick one and bang 'em, or if one was leaning in a little further, pick him.
In a recent HS playoff game, the referee said, "if they're both legal we're going. If they're both leaning in, we're going, since there is no advantage". While it certainly allowed for faceoffs without procedure calls (I think there were two in the game), on most of the faceoffs I administered both players were in illegal setups.
I also saw the same thing in the championships. The head of officials mentioned several times this year that we need to enforce the faceoff mechanics. It doesn't appear to be happening consistently, and will likely need to be addressed this off-season. It can be painful process, either standing both players up and resetting them, or calling numerous violations, which eliminates the challenge of the faceoff.

[mholtz]

I have always been tought by everyone that ever taught me faceoffs that you "cheat" as much as the refferee will allow. Basically, if the ref is allowing the other team to lean, then you better not be the "better man" and not lean over or you will loose more often than not. I teach that if they are allowing it, you have to do it, but I don't allow it when I am teaching in practice so that they are ready to compete without having to cheat.

[Dan Wishengrad]

I didn't feel that the new faceoff rule or the 20-second clear impacted our game much at all.

But I think we got banged two or three times during the season for calling a timeout when we weren't in the attack area. That one bit us!

[laxfan25]

I have always been tought by everyone that ever taught me faceoffs that you "cheat" as much as the refferee will allow. Basically, if the ref is allowing the other team to lean, then you better not be the "better man" and not lean over or you will loose more often than not. I teach that if they are allowing it, you have to do it, but I don't allow it when I am teaching in practice so that they are ready to compete without having to cheat.

I would still encourage you to teach the players to be legal. One of the calls last weekend was where one player was leaning into the neutral zone and the other player was set right. After overcoming my surprise, I stood them up and awarded the ball to the good guy. So you may actually win more faceoffs that way, just having the ref hand you the ball.

[mholtz]

I have always been tought by everyone that ever taught me faceoffs that you "cheat" as much as the refferee will allow. Basically, if the ref is allowing the other team to lean, then you better not be the "better man" and not lean over or you will loose more often than not. I teach that if they are allowing it, you have to do it, but I don't allow it when I am teaching in practice so that they are ready to compete without having to cheat.

I would still encourage you to teach the players to be legal. One of the calls last weekend was where one player was leaning into the neutral zone and the other player was set right. After overcoming my surprise, I stood them up and awarded the ball to the good guy. So you may actually win more faceoffs that way, justing having the ref hand you the ball.

Yeah... they always have to be "as legal as the other guy".

I know you call a tight game, and my guys know that too, but in other locales, in other states, they have to be prepaired for every possibility.

If the refs in X state are going to allow leaning, they have to be ready for that.

[Jay Wisnieski]

I thought I read something last fall that on a "flag-down" situation, the refs wouldn't blow the whistle unless the penalized team got control of the ball (like hockey) or when the ball went out-of-bounds. Was I imagining that, or did I actually read that and it was just never enforced?

[laxfan25]

I thought I read something last fall that on a "flag-down" situation, the refs wouldn't blow the whistle unless the penalized team got control of the ball (like hockey) or when the ball went out-of-bounds. Was I imagining that, or did I actually read that and it was just never enforced?

That was an experimental rule for the fall that was not implemented for the actual season.

[TexOle]

I liked that experimental rule.