In my just over fifty years of coaching, playing and watching hockey, I can
recall many of the rules that Sean mentioned. The no checking in the
offensive zone rule was in effect many years and it was explained that the
attacking player invariably, in racing for the puck, would hit the defender
from behind and the risk of injury was great. It also wasn't considered
"manly." Hitting from behind in the defensive zone was not believed to be as
dangerous because the assumption was that the speed of contact was far less
when the players didn't have a head of steam starting from skating backwards
and then checking an attacker. In most of the rinks in those days, the center
ice line was not solid red but rather checkered with alternating rectangles
of white. These checkered lines remained in many rinks long after the no
checking zone was moved up to the attacking blue line and then subsequently
eliminated. I know that I have seen a prep school rink with the checkered
line recently but I can't remember where. I guess, pushing seventy, that I
can have a little selective memory.

I do remember that into the 70's some high school leagues in Mass. retained
the rule but not all as a league rule only. It was believed that schools from
these leagues were at a disadvantage at state tournament time.

As for icing, I can recall a clinic explaining the rationale for the
automatic icing rule. One of those famous studies of a junior league in
Canada and some US High School leagues supposedly showed that the number of
injuries to a defender being crashed from behind by a forechecker was
extremely high. I think this was after the elimination, at least in the US of
the offensive zone checking rules. The intent with automatic icing was
explained this way and the effect seemed relatively okay because most of the
time the defender beat the attacker to the puck anyway.

My son was playing in high school hockey in 1973 and the league he was
playing in still had the "no checking in the offensive zone" rule although
most did not.

When I was ten (1942) an uncle took me to an NHL game. I think, repeat think,
that a special rule was made during the war years and a forward pass out of
the defensive zone could be made to one player designated as the "Rover."  I
don't recall whether or not this was an extra player. I can't find a
reference to the player on the Internet. Is there any one out there with some
hockey history available who can let me know whether or not there was a
"Rover" or is it a figment of my aging imagination?

Bob Saunders
NU Staff