Some lower levels of amateur hockey have adjusted their rules for this crazy year.
Although NHL hockey has resumed, youth, college, and amateur hockey has yet to start again. Should college sports restart in the United States is a current and contentious debate.
That debate is centered mostly on college football and its season. Meanwhile, college hockey season still has a few months to wait.
The hockey world might finally be starting to see what youth hockey looks like in this new normal. The Ontario Hockey Federation, the governing body for amateur hockey in Ontario, recently release its rules for the 2020-2021 season and changes that will be made. A tweet from CHCH News summed it up best.
The Ontario Hockey Federation has released its rules for the upcoming 2020-2021 hockey season: 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 only, no face-offs, no contact, & must remain stick length apart. Are you still putting your kids in organized hockey? Let us know here or by email at Tips@chch.com
— CHCH News (@CHCHNews) September 1, 2020
Four on four and three on three seem like nothing drastic, as the NHL has been using that for years in various types of overtime play and the All-Star Game format. Same with the no contact part, as we’ve all seen leagues or played in one that tries to limit contact. That move seemed almost expected.
The other rules could be a problem. Keeping players a stick length apart may be good in theory. No doubt it’s also easy to keep a stick length apart with less players on the ice. Does that mean there will only be stick checking? If players are all going to sit on the same bench what’s the point of keeping distance on the ice?
The most striking rule change is no face-offs. Instead the visiting tram will have first possession in the first period and in the home team will have first possession in the second period. Games are played in two periods.
After a goal is scored, the opposite teams gets possession. As for other times that would result in a face-off, the procedure is a little more complication, such as a crowd around the boards. According to Leaguelineup.com, the attacking team must retreat so the defending team can gain puck possession. Then the referee will allow play to continue.
Not everyone likes these new rules. Among their critics is New York Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo, who suggested parent hire skill coaches for their kids to work on certain skills.
What DeAngelo is proposing sounds like the move some major league baseball teams are making with their minor league farm systems, basing it off the European soccer model? That takes away invaluable game experience from developing players.
If this is what hockey looks like now, it’s better than nothing. Hopefully we can return to the game the way it’s always been player because it doesn’t seem like these rules make the game better. Sometimes rule changes are a good thing, but here they seem like purely a precautionary measure.