I commend Kenneth Baker on taking such a firm stand on "severe"
infractions. However, there's something here that I've heard -- also
mentioned by others -- that would only make the situation worse (in other
words, the NCAA will probably implement it next month).
 
>SIDENOTE:  College hockey also needs a match penalty for 10 minutes which
>would also carry an automatic ejection from the game giving the opposing
>team an extra man for 10 minutes.
 
IMHO, this would be just plain ridiculous. NO sport, college or
professional, carries such a devastating penalty, and with good reason. In
other college sports, there is no penalty which is as severe as a 5-minute
major. Likewise, no other college sport is as violent as hockey.
 
If a player is deliberately attempting to cause bodily harm to another (see
previous posts), then he's being a STUPID IDIOT. Maybe it's just my limited
brainpower, but I can't imagine college coaches sending goons out to "take
care of" certain players.
 
As it stands, the 5-minute major serves as the penalty to the *team* for
the altercation -- even though in such incidents neither the coaches nor
teammates would be able to prevent or control what happens. If a player
decides he wants to take the head off of his opponent (literally), that's a
*severe* problem that will not be solved by penalizing the team. A
10-minute major would simply make the penalized team angrier, and most
likely uglier.
 
As Kenneth (and others) have said, what needs to be done here is to
penalize the players directly. I've seen a few instances where a 1-year
suspension was definitely warranted, but the player only ended missing the
next game.
 
What good is that if the opposing player misses the rest of his career?
 
 
greenie
 
S P O O N ! !
(go BU)
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.