OK, this is it for me for the day. :-)  Believe it or not, I have really
been working. :-)
 
Kenny Z writes:
>The original icing rule stated that the center red line divides the ice
>into two halves, and that if a player "iced" the puck from his own half,
>then icing was called.  This meant that if the puck was touching any part
>of the red line, icing would be nullified.
 
Ah, see, this is where the confusion lies.  The rules do not state in which
half of the ice the red line lies!  If we are to take it literally,
dividing the ice into halves must mean half of the red line is in one half
of the ice and half of the line is in the other.  Therefore, it WOULD be okay
to have the puck touch "your half" of the red line.  It doesn't say
anything anywhere about the puck touching any part of the red line to
nullify icing, that's just how it was interpreted, that players were allowed
to have the puck touch (any part of) the red line when shooting it in.
 
>The redefinition of icing says that icing will be nullified if (among other
>possible criteria also) last contact with the puck is made completely over
>the red line.  This means that if the puck is touching any part of the red
>line, and the puck is "iced", then icing will be called (notwithstanding
>the other criteria in the rule).
>
>I'm not exactly sure how Hockey East's emphasis is different, but that's
>how the rule should be interpreted.
 
Right, the redefinition is really a clarification.  As you say, the red line
now is considered to be in the opponents' half/section of the ice.  Previously
it was treated as the blue line was for offsides.  HE's Hennigar stated
explicitly that this wasn't supposed to occur or at least wasn't going to
occur anymore.
 
Oh yes, my rule book also arrived last week.
 
 
- mike
 
p.s. on the dalmatian line, see, I CAN lighten up! :-)