On Thu, 6 Feb 1997, Mike Machnik wrote:
 
>
> Rule 6-12 says that for a face-off at the center ice spot, i.e. at the
> beginning of periods and after goals, the player from the visiting team
> must place his/her stick first.  When the face-off occurs in "any of the
> end face-off circles", it is the player from the attacking team.
>
Mike always has the rule book at hand.  Which is great!  Don't get me
wrong.  If I had had to guess, I would have guessed that the home team
always gets the advantage.
 
Which brings me to my point.  Hockey is the only sport (at least the only
sport I follow) in which the home team has an advantage which goes beyond
what most people consider, such as the crowd for example.
 
I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but the home team has the
rights to last lineup change which permits a dictation of match-ups, as
well as the ability to place their bench and defend the goal during two
periods to make it easier to accomplish line-changes during play.  Are
there other, perhaps more subtle, advantages that the home team enjoys?
 
Jerry Stephens
LSSU 1986
 
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