Fighting is slowly becoming less of a thing at the NHL level but it’s still relevant and it’s kind of crazy to think it hasn’t had its own penalty signal. Refs have historically used the classic roughing (fist out) call but those days are over people. Fighting now has one of its own and it could not be more fitting. According to the NHL rule book, refs will now clench their fists side-by-side in front of their chest when announcing the penalty.
Unreal.
Anyone else fired up to see Wes McCauley pull this one off?
There a few other notable rules changes to be mindful of. According to scoutingtherefs.com, offsides will now work as follows:
A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with the blue line, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line.
On his own side of the line shall be defined by a “plane” of the blue line which shall extend from the leading edge of the blue line upwards. If a player’s skate has yet to break the “plane” prior to the puck completely crossing the leading edge, he is deemed to be on-side for the purpose of the off-side rule.
A player actually controlling the puck who shall cross the line ahead of the puck shall not be considered “off-side,” provided he had possession and control of the puck prior to his skates crossing the leading edge of the blue line.
Timeouts will now work differently, too:
No time-out shall be granted following a face-off violation.
No time-out shall be granted to the defensive team following an icing, following the goalkeeper causing a stoppage of play from a shoot-in from beyond the center red line, or when a defending player accidentally dislodges the net causing a stoppage of play
That should help with flow!
Keep an eye out for these ones when the season kicks off on January 13. Who else is fired up?!
(H/T Scouting The Refs)
