NCAA Rules

I went to check the NCAA +/- rules regarding the other thread and came across some other interesting stuff relating to recent discussion.

Rules clarifications:

Game disqualifications: 1st: that game + 1 more, 2nd: that game + 2 more, 3rd: that game + 3 more, etc. And you can get more than 1 in a game.

Butt-Ending: A player shall not butt-end or attempt to butt-end an opponent. A butt-end is when a player uses the shaft of the stick above the upper hand to jab an opponent. An attempt to butt-end includes all cases where a butt-end gesture is made regardless of whether contact is made. (Disqualification)

Spearing: Spearing shall mean stabbing an opponent with the point of the stick blade while the stick is being carried with one or both hands.

Taunting: A player shall not taunt an official or opponent.

Fighting or Punching: A player shall not fight an opponent or participate in a fight, on or off the playing surface (punching or attempting to punch is considered fighting). (Disqualification)

Interference by Spectators
- In the event that objects that interfere with the progress of the game are thrown onto the ice, the official shall blow the whistle and stop the play; and the puck shall be faced off at the spot where play is stopped.
- Fans are not permitted to throw objects on the ice. At the discretion
of the referee, a warning may be issued before the game.
- Spectators are not permitted to use artificial noisemakers, air horns or electronic amplifiers while the game is in progress.
- The band(s) shall not be allowed to play while the game is in progress.

Amusing stuff:

There's a specific penalty for headbutting.

Waving of arms in front of a goalkeeper by an opponent is interference.

Stuff that just never gets called:

Misconduct - A player, coach or non-playing person shall not bang the board with a stick or other instrument.

Game Misconduct - A player shall go directly and immediately to the penalty bench when assessed a penalty.

Offsides - A player in full control of the puck who crosses the blue line ahead of the puck shall not be considered offside.

Puck Must Be Kept in Motion
The puck must be kept in motion at all times.
Except to carry the puck behind its goal once, a team in possession of the puck in its own defending zone must advance the puck toward the opposing goal, unless it is prevented from so doing by players of the opposing team.

Interpretations

Interference by Spectators
Due to a previous incident at the Team A rink, the referee has the public-address announcer issue a warning before the game that a bench minor will be assessed to the offending team if any objects are thrown from the stands onto the ice. After a Team A goal is disallowed, the spectators throw debris on ice. RULING: Team A assessed a bench minor penalty.

And after all that neither the rule book nor the stat guide say anything about +/-. I'll keep looking...

Offsides - A player in full control of the puck who crosses the blue line ahead of the puck shall not be considered offside.

ECAC officials seem particularly ignorant about this one, and it happens at least once a season; a player skates backwards into the zone in full control of the puck, the puck crosses the line after him, and he gets called offsides. If I can keep most of the rules in my head, don't you think the asst. referees ought to be able to do so?!

Beeeej

Game Misconducts used to be called pretty regularly by Pierre Belanger when he was ruining the ECAC as senior official (at least the guy who did lots of finals). If any player would follow him to plead innocence, Pierre would send him off for the rest of the game.

> Offsides - A player in full control of the puck who crosses the blue line ahead of the puck shall not be considered offside.

What what WHAT?!

Are you being facetious or should we lump you with the ECAC linesmen? You can slide into the zone on your ass holding the wrong end of the stick ahead of the puck and as long as you have "control" of it, you should be onside. Guess the linesmen don't read the rulebook though. Oh, SORRY... assistant referrees...

> facetious

Nope, I learned something new (and for the record I think it's a dumb rule -- it's much cleaner for the linesman to simply say "both skates across before the puck? -- whistle".

I may have seen it called "correctly" and just assumed the linesman had blown the call, but I have a hard time seeing how the player could actually accomplish this, unless he was moving into the zone backwards.

Well, yeah, the common interpretation of the rule is skating in backwards with the puck on your stick. Which does happen occasionally. And is always called offsides. I don't care what's easier or cleaner for the linesmen. They don't have a lot to do, and adding one caveat to the rule shouldn't be a big deal. Saying that you have to skate into the O-zone facing forward is just as dumb.

I see your point, but I don't really see why this addition to the general rule is needed. Maybe the rules committee was just screwing with the linesman by throwing in some Fizbin rules.

Or what about going into the zone twisted so that your hips are facing forward but your shoulders are twisted more than 90 degrees such that you are cleanly controlling a puck that is behind the the plane of your hips.

Seems rather silly to me to call this offsides just so the rule is worded more easily.

The offsides rule worked to our benefit in the first game of the Badger Showdown in December 1998. Ryan Moynihan preceded the puck into the offensive zone, and Cornell ultimately scored. Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer wasn't happy with the non-call, but the assistant referee made the right call (as Mike Schafer pointed out in his postgame remarks).

It's easy to see how the backwards non-offsides could happen. Imagine a player without the puck is skating through the neutral zone with a head of steam. His teammate sees him and attempts to hit him with a pass. The puck gets to him just before he reaches the blueline. Ideally the pass will lead him and he skates into the zone with the puck onside. Suppose the pass is behind him. He turns around, catches the puck on the tape and his momentum carries him into the zone backwards. Again, onside.

Should this be legal? Well, the point of the offsides rule is to prevent players from loitering in the offensive zone wating for a scoring chance or a long up ice pass. This gives the defense a reasonable chance to defend their zone and goal. Does a player skating backwards into the zone with the puck give his team an unfair advantage? I don't think so. Coming into the zone backwadrs probably puts the puckhandler at a disadvantage in scoring (though not necessarily). It's certainly not the advantage that havnig a team already at the net when you enter the zone would be.

I don't really see why it's that much harder for a linesman to make the call using the correct rule. He has to be watching the puck to see when it crosses the line and can certainly decide whether the puck is in under control when it crosses. This adds a little more subjectivity to the offsides rul, but not much. I also don't think whether it's easy or hard to call should govern whether a rule is in place.

Craig Buckser '94 wrote:

The offsides rule worked to our benefit in the first game of the Badger Showdown in December 1998. Ryan Moynihan preceded the puck into the offensive zone, and Cornell ultimately scored. Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer wasn't happy with the non-call, but the assistant referee made the right call (as mike Schafer pointed out in his postgame remarks).

Thank you! I KNEW I recalled that happening to us at some point but I couldn't for the life of me remember when.