David Parter asks:
* Do WCHA officials get a bonus for kicking players out of the
  faceoff circle? At games I've seen with non-WCHA linesmen and refs,
  faceoffs just happen. With WCHA officials, it seems like 25% of the
  time a ref blows the whistle and tosses a center for a player lining
  up illegally, and 25% of the time the linesman tosses a center for
  the way he lines up/places his stick. I understand that a fair
  faceoff is good, but what is going on?
 
I paraphrased this question to a WCHA referee tonight at the Mariucci
Classic, and here is his response:
 
If a player is lined up for a faceoff and his skate is on the circle, the
center gets tossed out and is replaced.  The referee is enforcing a rule
change which went into effect last year.  One of the reasons the rule was
put into place was to protect the linesman who is dropping the puck on the
faceoff.  In prior years, players would encroach on the faceoff circle and
it would be difficult for the linesman to get out of the way once play
started after the faceoff.
 
It sounds good to me.
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 [log in to unmask]         John J. Feigal           Go Gophers!