By Kostya Kennedy, SI.com
The NHL needs to get rid of its touch-up icing rule immediately.
Not next season. Not at the next Board of Governors meeting. Today
.
Ask Kurtis Foster, the 26-year-old Minnesota Wild defenseman who was skating toward his end boards to try to secure an icing call in the second period of Wednesday's game in San Jose. Foster was going all out to get to the puck. On his tail was Sharks rookie center Torrey Mitchell, trying to get there first. Foster slipped, Mitchell crashed into him. Foster went high-speed and headlong into the end boards.
Foster lay barely moving on the ice while the game was stopped for many minutes. Players from both teams skated over to give words of encouragement. Foster had his leg put in a splint. He was taken off on a stretcher.
The damage: A broken left femur. Foster will have a rod put into his leg. He's out for the year. And if you saw this play you know the injury could have been a lot worse.
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire seemed displeased that Mitchell got only a two-minute penalty on the play, but Mitchell was just doing what the rules called for. Beat the guy to the puck and you avoid a face-off in your end. (Mitchell felt awful about the crash, and put his hand on Foster's back right away in apology.) Imagine if Mitchell had given up on the play, and slacked off near the end. He would not, suffice it so say, have been greeted warmly on the bench.
Icing -- called when you send the puck from your half of the ice to beyond the other team's goal line -- is a smart concept that forces teams to keep possession longer and to bring the puck up ice. But then there's this: Icing is completed, the rulebook says, "the instant the puck is touched first by a defending player (other than the goalkeeper) after it has crossed the goal-line ...."
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Change the rule so that as soon as the puck goes past the goal-line, the icing whistle blows. No-touch icing. Simple.
The change would cost the game nothing and would save some serious pain. Touch-up icing, Sharks veteran Curtis Brown was saying last night, "is not really a play that affects the outcome of a game. Except when someone gets hurt."
Exactly.
Bruins forward Marco Sturm once broke his leg chasing after a puck on an icing play. Hall of Fame defenseman Al MacInnis almost had his career ended the same way. For icing!
"It's just one of those things that tell you that there should be automatic icing," Sharks coach Ron Wilson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the game. "I guess that's a play where the fans want to see a big car wreck like that."
No. Fans don't want that. Maybe many of them do want to see a heavyweight bout such as when Derek Boogaard and Jody Shelley traded haymakers in Wednesday's game, but what hockey fan wants to see someone go out on a stretcher? If you do, the NHL shouldn't want your money.
There's enough gratuitous violence in hockey. Just ask Steve Moore. Ask Paul Kariya. And there are enough accidents, too. But these icing injuries can be so easily avoided. Commissioner Gary Bettman or his whip-cracker Colin Campbell should get together with Players Association head Paul Kelly. Call a meeting. Get this rule passed. Today. Forget the usual protocol. Call it extenuating circumstances. Call it common sense.
.jpg)
Comments (12)
I agree wholeheartedly! You didn't mention that Marco Sturm was playing for the Sharks when he suffered that bad injury, and it occurred just about at this time of the season, taking him off the ice for the playoffs. If the NHL cares about the safety of its players, something that seems debatable at times, it should make the rule change immediately.
SanCubsFan | 03/20/08, 02:48 PM
Report Offensive CommentAbsolutely. College hockey is already played with no-touch icing, and the game doesn't suffer at all.
Lightweight | 03/20/08, 03:16 PM
Report Offensive CommentI agree as well. The rule is good, but you don't need guys getting hurt (which happens just about every season) for such a trivial call. The few times that players are able to hustle down and negate an icing call don't make up for the players that end up in the hospital because of it.
The Commenter | 03/20/08, 03:21 PM
Report Offensive CommentHaven't this been discussed for years and years, and nothing has happened? International games got no-touch, and every European league has no-touch. Why not the NHL? Why hasn't anything happened? I don't get it. There's no reason what-so-ever to keep this stupid rule. Someone HAS to put pressure on Bettman to get rid of this rule. All that's happened is lots of talk, but nothing gets done.
Dashiva | 03/20/08, 05:21 PM
Report Offensive Commentcome on guys!!!!! next thing you'll be making visors and masks manditory. Man up!!! the game has been played this way for a hundred years. Speeding in to get to the puck before the defenceman creates scoring chances, Isn't that what the NHL wants? I suspect whoever wrote this article never played a game in their life. A well timed icing with fast wingers equals surprise goals. Wahhhh. someone got hurt. Wahhh. no more hittiing... PLEASE.
steve Chase | 03/20/08, 10:39 PM
Report Offensive CommentThere are no legitimate scoring chances created by players skaking hell bent for leather to simply touch the puck. At best you get a scrum in the corner. No fan, new or die hard, cares about players streaking after a puck to simply touch it to get/avoid an icing. If they do then they are not paying attention to the parts of the game that matter
kmac32 | 03/20/08, 11:09 PM
Report Offensive Commentkmac32 obviously you haven't played at a high level, or you're just slow!!! If i
beat you to the puck, i now have possesion deep in your zone. if you beat me, i'm penalized with a face off in my end. if you have fast wingers, it is absolutely an offensive weapon. The woosey way is no touch. Play the game, don't change it for the wrong reasons. There are 20 to 30 such icing occurances in a game ( at the pro level) multiply that by games played in a season. That's a lot of instances with very few injuries. Maybe we should ban slapshots too. Far more players are injured by errant slap shots than icings. Stop crying!!!!
steve Chase | 03/20/08, 11:53 PM
Report Offensive CommentPersonally I like the rule as it stands. Certainly injuries that occur are unfortunate, but this is a rough sport filled with hard body checks and the occasionally errant puck. I like to see players going all out trying to recover the puck and prevent a face off in their zone all while attempting to set up a scoring chance. It is an exciting sprint that showcases a player's speed and effort.
TheDeity | 03/21/08, 01:13 AM
Report Offensive CommentMr. Kennedy...its a tough game...its a mans game...get over it....don't be such a damn wuss....
bluesman68 | 03/21/08, 09:28 AM
Report Offensive CommentMr. Kennedy...its a tough game...its a mans game...get over it....don't be such a damn wuss....
bluesman68 | 03/21/08, 09:30 AM
Report Offensive CommentThis is reactionarism at it's worst. There are over 1000 NHL games played per year and, let's say, 10 icing calls per game. That's over 10,000 icing calls per year. There have been 2 serious injuries due to races for the puck this year. 2 out 10,000 is statitically insignificant. Punish over zealous players that cause injuries in these plays - that's fine but to suggest a change to the game due to one player's poor decision is not only disrespectful to the sport but it shows your lack of hockey knowledge. How many times this season has a winger below the redline dumped the puck in on purpose so a speedy centerman can beat the shallow playing defense to the puck. It's one of the best ways to beat the trap or left wing lock and is done routinely without injury. You're turning an exception into a rule. Please come up with informed opinions before you poison the web with your ignorance.
CheaterMcGirlJeans | 03/21/08, 01:22 PM
Report Offensive CommentI agree with the last couple of people their is no need to change the rules of the game. There is already a rule in place to stop this kind of an incident its called checking from behind, boarding, crosschecking all of which the player did to Foster. Call those penalties and punish the player for them. I watched the game and saw the replay ten times and i still can't see what Mr. Kennedy saw, Foster did not slip he was checked from behind into the boards and since he was checked at the goal line its called boarding. The rule is fine no need to change it at all it does make the defense hustle. I also love the no changing after icing it stops are sport from becoming like "hand ball" basketball where it takes ten minutes for the last thirty seconds of the game.
MNWild | 03/21/08, 02:27 PM
Report Offensive CommentAdd a comment
Remember to keep it clean. Bad words will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed. More Guidelines