Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 18:31
By Jack Blatherwick
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
We’ve all heard various opinions about the way the NHL is enforcing the rule book. Sadly, the same rumblings could be heard last winter when Minnesota Hockey took a leadership role in bringing youth hockey back toward compliance with the rules.
Stand by the exit at any game, and you’ll hear half the crowd muttering, “They’re calling it so close, the kids can’t play hockey.”
Truth is, the closer we get to the literal interpretation of the rules, the closer the game resembles hockey, of course. It’s just that some folks want it both ways — hockey and hockey without rules — depending upon which end of the stick their kid is holding.
I’ve never been against freedom of speech, of course. I exercise the right every time I’m in Washington D.C., telling occupants of those big buildings that they’re looking more like criminals than employees of the people.
So, I certainly believe anyone should say whatever they think regarding the enforcement of the rule book. However, the time and place to do it constructively is in a meeting about safety and development of skills.
I might be way off base, but it seems like a simple matter. If you want to play a sport, you agree to play by the rules. Otherwise, there really is no sport — no legitimate competition. If you think hooking should be allowed by defensemen who can’t skate, work to change the rule book.
Hockey is one of the only games where arguments are made all the time for relaxation of the rules. We don’t argue that the starter in track or swimming shouldn’t call it so close. We’d never know who is really the fastest.
We don’t argue that golfers should be allowed to kick their ball — just a little — for a more favorable lie, or that tennis players shouldn’t be required to get their serve into that little rectangle. We’d never know who is really the most skillful.
Other sports like basketball and soccer have the same problem as hockey — thousands of quick judgments in every game. But, they don’t have experts on TV complaining that the refs are taking the game away from the kids — that for the good of the sport, we should bend certain rules.
Even in a sport as tough as football, the coaches teach players every day how to compete legally, because penalties lead to losses. Actually, penalties are called MISTAKES in that sport.
In hockey we have ‘good’ penalties, ‘bad’ penalties, ‘unnecessary’ ones and we have those where ‘he did the right thing, retaliating, standing up and fighting back.’ We also have ‘stupid retaliation’ penalties, ones that are ‘uncalled for,’ and those that look exactly the same, but are ‘called for’ (I guess).
Hockey has pseudonyms for cheating, like: ‘finishing checks, good solid D, holding up your wing, intimidation, getting involved.’ We have goons who are ‘aggressive, a presence, enforcers,’ — and my personal favorite — ‘tough.’
‘Tough’ in other physical sports like football, means that a quarterback steps up into the pocket with tons of rushing linemen and throws the ball, even though he’s been violently sacked five times already that night. Offensive linemen show their toughness by taking abuse on every play, but they wouldn’t consider stopping a drive with a retaliatory penalty. In fact, TV commentators would zero in on the replay and single out the player for being selfish and dumb.
In hockey, ‘selfish’ and ‘dumb’ are irrelevant if you’re upset by the opponent’s slash. “He has to stand up,” the commentator would say. “He can’t take that, or the other team would do it all night.”
And these experts wear a suit and tie to prove they have class.
Free speech is a birthright in Canada and the United States. With all due respect, however, I’d say that if you truly have in your heart the best interests of the game and the young kids who play it, you have two intelligent options: (1) you can work to change the rules you don’t like, or (2) you can shut up and realize the officials have an incredibly hard time trying to decide which slash is a slash, which hook is a hook and which crosscheck is a crosscheck.
The development of future superstar talent suffers when the rules are ignored or bent to accommodate the billions of myopic interpretations that come up in a season — just like the talent of a Tiger Woods would be diminished if cheaters could compete on their own terms.
Read the rule book or work to change it. And this season, let’s try to help young officials out by letting them do the best job they can on behalf of your child and the game of hockey.
Jack Blatherwick, Ph.D., is a physiologist for the Washington Capitals.
