3 Rules You Thought You Knew – Vol 2 Issue 5

by adminPosted on December 1, 2019 Posted in 3 Rules

** REMINDER ** You should have your 19/20 Crest on your sweater now! If you don’t have it, you can’t work! * *

*304 – Protective Equipment*
Must a request come from the Captain of the opposing team before the Referee may warn a team or assess a Misconduct Penalty to a player who does not wear a required mouthpiece?

No. Rule References 304(f) and 307(c).

Whenever a player is on the ice, he is deemed ready to play and the mouthpiece rule enforced.

*605 – Broken Stick*

A stick is thrown onto the ice from the players’ bench to a player who has broken his stick. What penalty is imposed if the stick is picked up by any player?
A bench minor penalty is assessed to the team for throwing articles onto the ice.

Rule References 605(b) and 601(b.4).

No penalty is assessed to the player receiving the stick under this rule as only one penalty should be assessed for the same infraction.

*SafeSport Locker Room Policy *
Officials locker rooms in hockey arenas are usually set apart from the team locker rooms. For a given game, there may be 2, 3 or 4 officials, and there may also be officials sharing the officials’ locker room that are present for the game prior or game following. There may be officials of different genders, or there may be Minor age officials working with adult officials. Additionally, officiating supervisors or assignors may be present in some or all of these situations. Officials should never assume that other officials are comfortable with the same locker room situation as they are. If separate dressing rooms are not available, then the following protocol shall be followed:
1. Prior to the game, officials of one gender enters the dressing room to get dressed while the other official(s) steps out. 2. Once dressed, the first official(s) steps out and allows the other official(s) to enter the dressing room to get dressed. 3. Once both dressed, both genders can be in the dressing room to conduct pre-game meeting. The same procedure must be followed after the game.
In situations with Minor officials working with or sharing locker rooms with adult officials, _*the adult officials*__*should take precautions*_ to minimize and avoid extended unobserved time alone with minors. This can be addressed by: A. Inviting the parent into the locker room; B. Asking another official to wait in the locker room before leaving; and/or C. Leaving the locker room door open.
Supervisors and assignors of officials must always avoid any one-on-one interactions with any official (regardless of age or gender) unless such interactions occur at an observable and interruptible distance by another adult.

*Your Turn*
Have you had an odd situation, or a question that you’d like answered? Click reply, and let us know.

*Points of Emphasis*
You’re either part of the change or part of the problem.
The full text and video can be found at: www.usahockey.com/declaration
However, the Michagan Amatuer Hockey Association <www.maha.org/> has put together a shorter version of the video that can be viewed below or via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifeJMApfQU

3 Rules vol 2, issue 2

by adminPosted on November 2, 2019 Posted in 3 Rules

610 – Delaying The Game

When a goal post has been displaced intentionally, does the Referee or Linesman stop the play?

Any of the On-Ice Officials may stop play, but only the Referee may assess the penalty. Rule Reference 610(e).

Regardless of the intent of the player, the play must be stopped immediately if the goal post is displaced.

615 – Fighting

Can a major penalty for roughing be assessed in order to avoid the automatic game misconduct penalty required when a fighting major penalty is assessed?

No. Rule References 615(a) and 640(a).

The Referee has a great variety of penalties to call to differentiate various degrees of participation in an altercation. However, a major penalty for roughing can only be assessed for body checking an opponent after the whistle has blown or for a late avoidable body check.

The Referee should not attempt to manipulate the rulebook. A game misconduct was added to the fighting major penalty for a specific reason and has been in effect for many years now. Regardless of a Referee’s personal opinion about a rule, he is expected to apply the rules within their spirit and intent.

Failure to do so results in the compromised integrity of the game and a loss of credibility for the officials.

304 – Protective Equipment

All players, including goalkeepers, in all age classifications below Adults, are required to wear a facemask certified by HECC, plus any chin protection that accompanies the facemask.

(Note) Any helmet or facemask that is altered except as permitted in Rule 304(c) shall be deemed to be illegal equipment and shall not be allowed to be used in a game. The player, or such equipment, shall be removed from the game until corrected. (This shall include helmets from which a part has been cut or removed, facemasks from which the chin-cup has been removed or any other such alterations from the original manufacturing specifications.)

Stronger Penalty For Hate Language

by adminPosted on October 31, 2019 Posted in 3 Rules

By now,  you should have received an email from USA Hockey entitled “Stronger Penalty For Hate Language”. If you can’t find it in your Inbox, check your Spam folder.
Hateful, discriminatory, and offensive language have no place in our sport (or any sport for that matter). Per the directive from Jim Smith, we are to swing the biggest hammer we have – the match penalty – when we hear such language. The goal is to eradicate such behavior. The best way to do so is by penalizing those actions aggressively and with zero tolerance.

If you do not hear such language, but it is reported to you, you must file a game report .Since a penalty was not assessed, use the “Other Incident Report” entry at the very bottom of the Rule Reference field in the form.When filing a game report for this kind of language, it will be important to communicate exactly  what was said. In your report, do not soften or censor the words that were spoken.

Be aware that when you issue a match penalty, the player is suspended from all USA Hockey activity, including practices and team functions until there is a hearing or until 30 days have elapsed. To that end, make sure you penalize appropriately for the language you hear.

Language that is clearly unacceptable in society, is particularly heinous, or is hateful and discriminatory should incur a match penalty.
Language that is abusive, but does not rise to the level of hateful, discriminatory, or heinous can still be penalized with a bench minor, misconduct, or game misconduct (continued conduct) per 601b2, 601b3, 601c1, 601c2, and 601e1.
From www.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1061121

*COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.*– USA Hockey announced today a presidential directive that changes the penalty for racial/derogatory slurs of any kind that fall under Rule 601 (e. 3) from a game misconduct to a match penalty.
“We continue to get reports of disturbing incidents of racial and other derogatory slurs, behavior which is reprehensible and has absolutely no place in our game, especially around our children,” said Jim Smith, president of USA Hockey. “For reasons I cannot explain or understand, the current penalty in place does not seem to be enough of a deterrent to stop this type of conduct.”
cdn3.sportngin.com/attachments/document/1d54-2015486/Jim_Smith_Letter.pdf

3 Rules – vol 2, issue 1

by adminPosted on October 20, 2019 Posted in 3 Rules

403 – Major Penalties

The Referee assesses a minor penalty to a player and it is announced as such. Before the ensuing face-off he decides that the situation warrants a major penalty to be called instead of the minor penalty. Should he change the minor penalty even though it has already been announced?

Yes. Rule Reference 403(a).

Even though this is a situation that the Referee must try to avoid, he is still required to change the call. The Referee has an obligation to get the call right, whenever possible, and take the time when making this type of decision to improve his chances of doing so. Potential criticism by the offending team for changing the call is not a valid reason not to do what is right.

612 – Face Off Locations

A stoppage of play in the Defending Zone was caused by a defending player and the Official assessed the defending team a penalty. Subsequently, during the same stoppage of play, an attacking player is assessed a penalty. Where is the ensuing face-off?

At the nearest Neutral Zone face-off spot. Rule Reference 612(c).

The stoppage of play was not caused by the actions of players from both teams for the purpose of establishing a last play face-off. The penalty by the attacking player causes the face- off to occur at the nearest Neutral Zone face-off spot.

108 – Timing and Signaling Devices

The horn sounds to end a period; however, the clock shows two seconds remaining. Is the period over?

Yes. Rule Reference 108(e).

Whenever the timing device is equipped with an automatic sounding alarm that signifies the end of a period, the “sound” shall be considered the end of the period, even though the clock may show minimal time remaining.

Declaration of Safety, Fair Play and Respect

by adminPosted on October 19, 2019 Posted in 3 Rules

There has been a little confusion and mis-application of these points of emphasis, and we wanted to take the opportunity to hopefully clarify a little and get these videos to you again for your review. This video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifeJMApfQU does a really good job of breaking it down, take 5 minutes out of your day to watch!

A body check must an attempt to win possession of the puck, and not an effort to punish, intimidate or take advantage of a vulnerable or unsuspecting opponent.

Finishing the check is no longer permitted, after the player has released the puck they are no longer ‘eligible’ to be hit.

The player delivering the body check must do so with their stick on the ice or below the knees and make an effort to play the puck (this does not mean that they have to play the puck first, just that they need to make an effort to play the puck before, during or after the check, they can’t “just hit the guy”)

USA Hockey is committed to creating a safe and fair environment for all participants. Respect for the game, opponents, coaches, and officials is a critical part of that environment and it covers several different aspects of sportsmanship and fair play. This Declaration of Safety, Fair Play and Respect will guide a change in culture as to what is considered to be acceptable/unacceptable body checking and competitive contact at all levels of play.

The Declaration clarifies and updates existing rules/definitions to emphasize the key points to more clearly outline what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Below is a video that shows examples of actions deemed “acceptable” and “unacceptable” to help illustrate expected behavior.

We would suggest that when you introduce yourself to the coach prior to the start of the game, that you take the opportunity to ask the coaches if they are familiar with the Points of Emphasis for this season.

A suggested script may look like:
Hello coach, my name is . Have you watched the video on the Points of Emphasis for this season?
YES – Great! Do you have any questions or concerns about what we will be looking at today?
NO?! – Well, you really should take a look it’s a pretty good video that describes what is acceptable and what is not. We’ll do our best to help your players through and explain calls as best we can, but we’re going to need your help here.

The full text and video can be found at: www.usahockey.com/declaration
However, the Michagan Amatuer Hockey Association <www.maha.org/> has put together a shorter version of the video that can be viewed below or via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JifeJMApfQU