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The Stew: Offside Rule Change, There Used to Be an Ice Rink, and More |
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My Concern with the Offside Rule Change
Recently, the National Hockey League made a significant rule change for the 2020-21 season: for a play to be considered onside, a player's skate need not be in direct contact with the blue line as the puck completely crosses. Rather, there will be an imaginary upward plane for onside/offside rulings in similar fashion to the goal line for goal/no goal calls.
This proposal has come up a few times before but this time, it went through. Previously at least, Hockey Ops leaned one way, officials leaned another and Gary Bettman sat, hovering in the middle, waiting to see on which side the puck would ultimately drop.
Unfortunately, too often when it comes to rule changes, we only ask the question "Why should we change this rule?" and list the pros of the potential change. We don't ask "Why should we NOT change the rule?" and list the drawbacks and potential unintended consequences.
Plain and simple, there are two reasons why the blue line and the goal like were not treated the same from a Rule Book standpoint. Aerial skates, even ones only slightly off the ice, can be dangerous when players are jockeying for real estate. Strategically, defenders would no longer just have defend the blueline itself. On some plays, they'll now have to come up with an aerial defense a la the disputes over crossing the 38th parallel. Who owns the "air rights" to the blueline? Meanwhile, the dueling feet with a skate in the air (since it would be onside to hover it) could increase the risk of additional skate-cut accidents.
Skate cuts can be very, very serious injuries; season ending or even career-threatening in some cases. On a game-in and game-out basis, we don't see it happen frequently (thank goodness) but over a full seasons or a couple seasons, I fear that an accident is bound to happen on a close play that was preventable on the front end and have a serious consequence.
There is also another matter to consider: I do not think that extending the blueline up for offside purposes will create fewer disputes. I think it will create MORE. Adding parameters and potential permutations to what is/isn't offside is NOT going to alleviate the existing problems with the replay system as pertains to replay challenges for offside. It will simply complicate things even further.
Undoubtedly, we are in for some interesting replay debates should the rule about the actual position of aerial skates relative to the blueline and the position of the puck. We'll be in for some rather unique contortions from skaters trying to jump to get/stay onside. Debates are inevitable in trying to freeze frame on those little rink side Nintendo DS's whether a situation with both aerial/ batted puck and an aerial skate has gone offside.
Book it: there's going to be an offside-related challenge of a goal in a playoff game or other high-profile game, and it's going to come down to what I just described. The replay delay will be longer, not shorter. And it will spawn copycat challenges. Thankfully, the automatic delay of game penalty for an unsuccessful challenge will reduce the volume somewhat.
There Used to be an Ice Rink
I am the first to admit that I'm a sentimental type of guy. The old Frank Sinatra song, "There Used to Be a Ballpark," elicits a tear or two from me. I grew up around professional and collegiate sports -- hockey, baseball and football -- with my grandfather having his feet both in the world of pro hockey (as an NHL coach and NHL referee) and baseball (as a National League umpire, former minor league manager and longtime MLB scout).
I get wistful at that song and think about it whenever I pass by the former location of a since-demolished hockey rink, baseball park or football stadium that I knew from my youth and my playing and officiating careers. The cacophony of sound is gone. The skaters and players are now figments of the imagination.
In my last blog, I talked about the rink I built each winter at my house (which we sold this past year). I was thinking about it again the other day, too, as I watched the World Junior Championships. How many dreams were launched on frozen lakes and backyard rinks across Canada, Europe, and U.S. states in New England as well as Minnesota and parts of Michigan?
Every year, I looked forward to building our 85'X45' rink in the backyard; putting up the boards after the freeze. My boys and their friends would skate for hours on end, with Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman as spectators. We had a fire pit, and I loved to sit outside by it.
In the new year, the house's new owner will use the space for a swimming pool. As long as it gets enjoyed by people, I think that's great. As I wrote last week, a rink with no skaters is as sad as a big house with empty bedrooms where the kids used to sleep, perhaps even a little sadder because the upkeep effort is going to waste that way.
It's a Wonderful Life
My question is this: When you watch "It's a Wonderful Life," Mr. Potter finds the $8,000 that Uncle Billy left in the newspaper. As an officer of the Building and Loan, knowing that it was the Bailey Building and Loan Monies, would Mr. Potter face criminal charges for not turning the money in?
The other thought I had about this movie, when Jimmy Stewart, the former B-24 pilot who flew 20 missions, maybe more, over Germany and was elevated to a Group Commander before the war ended, when he came home in 1945 and made this Movie in 1946, were his emotional scenes a result of great acting or PTSD?
I am told that sending his crews on missions took its toll as The actor turned Commander feared making a mistake that might cost his group planes and pilots' lives.
We are all facing crazy times. Hearing from friends who have been diagnosed with Covid keeps me on edge a bit. Yet it's like going to war, as Jimmy Stewart did. We have to keep going and hope and pray that we survive. Like Jimmy Stewart, we have to climb out of bed and get into the fight to stay normal and to survive this war we are in.
Over Christmas, watching my family enjoy their presents, their meals and the day, I have never prayed so quietly and so urgently that we all stay healthy. Dickens wrote it best when Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, everyone."
Happy New Year and may 2021 be better for all.
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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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