> >I'd prefer to see offsides without exception -- the puck MUST be the first
> >thing to cross the blue line.  Originally, I liked the exception, but after
> >a long talk with an RPI hockey player yesterday (ironically), he convinced
> >me that the rule should not have the exception.  As a hockey official, I'd
> >rather just have straight off-sides anyway.  There's too many exceptions to
> >worry about as it is.  :-)                             -- kennyz
>
> I would be interested to hear what he had to say.  If you want, post it to
> the list since I am sure it will interest some other people as well.  Thanks.
 
I talked with my friend a bit more, and he rehashed some of his reasons for
not liking the rule as it stands.  He also asked why the exception was put
into the off-sides rule anyway, and I didn't know.  So if anyone knows why
it was added, please let me know.  OK, on with the reasoning:
 
Number one, "control of the puck" is very hard to determine.  If a player
is on a breakaway, with no one between him and the goalie, and in full
control of the puck, he would never cross the line before the puck.  And if
the player is forced to cross the line before the puck, "control" becomes
too questionable.  In fact, he doesn't know of any situations where a player
would cross the blue line ahead of the puck AND be in control of it, and he's
been playing hockey for 15 years.
 
Which brings us to the second reason, frequency.  It seems that this situation
does not occur often enough to justify having it in the rule book as an
exception.  And why force officials to think about another exception?  It's
something more that they have to commit to memory, and think about, yet it
almost never happens.
 
So that's it.  I'm gonna try and get Shawn (that's his name) on this list
eventually...  as soon as he learns to reply to mail, he might have something
to contribute.  :-)  You can encourage him by sending Email to
"[log in to unmask]".   Take care.               -- kennyz
 
---
Kenny Zalewski -- Information Technology Services at Rensselaer
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 83 Albright Court, Troy, NY, 12180
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