Yes, I understand this rule. As I understand it, in any rink where having one end for more 2 periods poses a "disadvantage" that team can request to the official that the goalies switch ends at the 10 minute mark of the third period. In the CONTE forum BOTH benches are skewed to the end of the rink where BC defends twice. IT is very hard to change the further away you are from your own net, thus BC gains an advantage twice and is at a disadvantage only once. AND actually, The benches aren't directly across from each other, the visiting team bench is further into the end-zone than is the BC bench making the first and third period for the visiting team even more difficut than the second period is for BC. This is when you consider there is a good 5 or 6 feet of bench which is "offsides" unless the puck is in the zone as compared to the 2 feet of BC bench which is "offsides" for only one period. In most arenas I believe that the benches are set up so that either both teams are close to their defending zone twice or both are centered around the red line -Ryan Stone Lawrence University (Appleton, WI) '93 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute '93 ----------------------- ------------------------ --------------------------- | 113 Hall Hall, R.P.I. | (518) 276-7598 | "Shoot the puck" // | | Troy, NY 12180-3590 | email: [log in to unmask] | o================/ * | ----------------------- ------------------------ ---------------------------