In The Crease Vol #11 10/3/2006
By: Shaun V. Fadale

Hello again everyone. It's been awhile since the last column but things have been nuts here at the rink and beyond. This week's column is terrific. We have a local official that has probably officiated a game you have played in recently. He will be helping all of us understand this year's USA Hockey regulations. His name is Joe Gould, better known as “Joey” to his friends and fellow hockey players. I had the privilege of playing hockey with Joey in high school for the Steelers program in Fredonia/Dunkirk. Joey has been a good friend of mine for years, which is why I asked him for help on this touchy subject. Joe Gould isn't a local “small time” ref either. He has many qualifications and a huge resume of “big time” events he has been involved in. Joey has been a USA Hockey official since 1996, ECAC and CHA since 2004, OHA, and the Atlantic League since 2005. He is a level 4 official, which is the highest level in USA Hockey standards. Below are some of the major events he has officiated:

2006 ACHA Division II National Championships

2005 ACHA Division III National Championships

2004 USA Hockey Women's National Championships

2004 USA Hockey Girls National Championship

2006 (Women's Nationals) Linesman –

National championship gold medal Senior “A” game

  Semi-Final game – Senior Women's “A”

2006 ACHA Division II – Linesman

  Semi-Final game

2006 Girls Nationals – Linesman

  Under 19 Semi-final game

2004 Women's Nationals – Linesman

  National championship gold medal game – Senior women's “a”

  Semi-final game women's senior A

2004 Girls nationals – linesman

  Under 12 National gold medal championship game

To say the least Joey is well qualified as an official. In this column Joey has put together a report on the new standard USA Hockey wants to breed in today's hockey players. So please take a few minutes to read Joey's report below and soak up some opinions from the other side of the bench…..the way the stripes see it.

“The New Standard: Speed, Skills, Success”

By Joe Gould

USA Hockey Officiating Program

Starting this season, as many of you already know, USA Hockey has adopted a new standard of play and rules emphasis that will take the game of hockey to new heights. The new standard is not a change of the rules, but is more of an enforcement of the rules that have been in the rulebook for as long as we all have played the game. Through this new standard, the emphasis is now on skating, puck possession, and the proper use of the body to establish position and a competitive advantage. The goal of the enforcement standard is to reduce restraining infractions in the game and not to remove the act of a legal body checking or body contact.

The beginning of the 2004-05 season saw the NCAA take this initiative within its enforcement of the rules. It started off with many hitches, and penalties. But as with anything new, especially something that major in change, is going to take time before everyone adjusts properly. With the NCAA taking charge, the NHL and IIHF followed suit in the 2005-06 seasons. As we all have seen, especially with the excitement the NHL had last season, it was successful! It was only a matter of time before all amateur hockey associations in the world decided to follow. USA Hockey and Hockey Canada led this movement here in North America. This enforcement does just pertain to youth hockey, but it spans across all levels of hockey from Mites to Midgets to Adult to Juniors to NCAA to Amateur Pro to the NHL. It is now the only standard of play!

USA Hockey began their stride to this standard with the removal of the delayed offsides several seasons back. The emphasis of this was to make the defensemen more responsible for their actions by not being able to just dump the puck into the zone anymore. Now defensemen have to pick their head up and look to make a play. This will only increase skill level. A lot of players and coaches disagreed with this change. Some still do. But we all have to think about the development of the game for the future of hockey. If every other international ice hockey association is adhering to making their players faster and more skilled, then here in North America we have to take the correct strides to stay at the high level that we have, especially here in the United States, reached in recent years and continue to excel.

No new rules have been made; it is just the enforcement of the rules. A referee, before this season, had their own “standard” or way they called the game. The referee development guides had penalty criteria's that were a penalty every time, (black and white penalties) and penalties that lied in a “gray” area. Each referee basically had their own “standard” they were going to call each game. Some officials have always called a very strict game, while others called a loose, more lenient game. Now, there is no more of that. When you go to play, expect the new, stricter enforcement to be called every time. There is “very strict enforcement” on all stick infractions as well as all occasions where obstructing an opponent occurs.

There is now no leniency with hooking, tripping, and slashing. If you put a stick on a guy's body while he is skating, it will be called hooking. If you put your stick across a guys body, in a slashing manner, hitting the opponent's stick, that is slashing. Any manner in which you use you stick to impede or trip an opponent will be called tripping. Any use of the stick in any manner that is deemed to not be making an attempt to play the puck, will be called a penalty.

Holding and interference will also be call very strict. Any opponent that takes one hand off of their stick to impede, hold a jersey or stick or using one hand to pin an opponent against the boards will be called for holding. Interference will be strictly called on any opponents that attempt to “pick” or “block” an opponent. All contact to an opponent has to be made while the opponent is in possession of the puck.

Lastly, and this is nothing new in USA Hockey, but is worth mentioning, is that any contact to the head, checking from behind, cross checking, high sticking, and roughing (late avoidable checks) will, again, be called with strict enforcement.

In conclusion, the new standard is to improve the game of hockey. We all like a rough game once in a while, but this all can still be done. The new enforcement of the rules are not taking away body checking, they are taking away the clutching and grabbing that plagued our game for a long time. With the adjustment by everybody that is associated in the game, the game of hockey will take on new heights. The two teams that played in the last Olympic Gold Medal game were not from North America. They were from countries that have been playing this way for a long time. But then take a look at the 2006 World Junior Champions; they came from right here, the USA. The number one draft pick in the NHL this year, a defensemen, is from the USA. The changes that we have already made have impacted the game already and it makes sense to follow this new lead in the game of hockey. Remember all this information can be followed up at www.usahockey.com

Thanks again for reading and thanks to Joey Gould for all his help and insight, we need more guys to set-up and help out the column. Remember any questions can be e-mailed to me at: sfadale@netsync.net or check the web site for updates www.jsbia.com , I will also be taking questions for Joey if you want to ask about his report. Good luck in League this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See you out on the ice!

Shaun V. Fadale

Hockey Director JSBIA

(716) 484-2624 Ext. 217

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