Flyers adjust to rule changes (Therien knows he is in trouble)

[swflyers25]

Thursday, September 15, 2005

By CHUCK GORMLEY
Courier-Post Staff

VOORHEES
The best way to describe the NHL's crackdown on hooking, holding and interference is to equate it to common traffic violations.

Drivers who don't come to a full stop at a stop sign and pause three seconds will be ticketed. Drivers who change lanes without using turn signals? Ticketed. Exceeding the speed limit by 1 mph? Ticketed.

In a video narrated by new NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom, players and coaches are being instructed as to what will be considered a penalty and are being warned that zero tolerance during the 2005-06 season will really mean zero tolerance.

Every hook, every sweater tug, every pin against the boards will be a penalty in the new NHL.

And while some may hate the new rules, especially in the first few weeks of the season when games are interrupted by incessant whistles, Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock is anxious to see how the sport will look once they are implemented.

"Will there be more scoring chances? Definitely," Hitchcock said Wednesday after showing members of the media the same instructional video he showed his players. "Will there be more stoppages? Initially, yes. Is it going to create more chaos? Yes.

"You're going to hear a lot of complaining. Fans are going to wonder what the heck's going on. But at the end of the day, this will eliminate people who are either lazy or don't have the proper technique."

Essentially, the video illustrates the plays that were once allowed in the old NHL that will now be considered illegal.

Forwards may no longer impede the forward progress of an opponent by corralling him with his stick or grabbing by his jersey.

Defensemen may no longer "hold up" forwards attempting to get in on the forecheck, and may no longer pin forwards against the boards. In front of the net, defensemen and forwards may joust for positioning, but may not crosscheck each other in the back to gain a positional advantage.

"It will expose people who are not committed to moving their feet," Hitchcock said. "If you're a grabber or a reacher or a guy who uses his stick to hook and hold, you're going to have a really difficult time playing in the National Hockey League."

Flyers defenseman Chris Therien could very well be one of those players. Limited in his mobility, he has made a career out of taking away the space of NHL forwards by upending them in the neutral zone and pinning them along the boards.

"Things we did in the past -- clutching and grabbing -- was efficient," Therien said. "It was a way out. But now they're getting rid of it and promoting hard work. There's definitely a learning curve, but it boils down to how much work you want to put out every shift.

"For the past 12 years we've been preached to pin the guy and hold him there. Get a guy, grab him and push the puck out. There will be no more of that."

Despite criticism to the contrary, Therien believes the league's officials will be diligent in their enforcement of the rules, especially in the first two months of the season. He said if there is some leniency, it could be in the defenseman's ability to hold up forechecking forwards as they approach the blue line.

"If not, I think guys will fly by and run defensemen right through the back wall," Therien said. "Hockey players are brave guys, but if they start getting hurt, I'm sure the referees will give us a little bit of a break."

The enforcement of the new interference rules should benefit the league's quicker, smaller players like Flyers forward Simon Gagne.

"I'm quick, so I think it will help me," Gagne said.

The new rules also should benefit the Flyers' beefy forwards because they will now have the ability to dump the puck and chase it down without losing momentum at the blue line.

"If you're a player with the puck, this has to feel like a great time," Hitchcock said. "If you're a defending player and you have to kind of cheat to play, this will be an "Oh, my God' time.

"Keith Primeau should have a field day with this."

And not just because he plays recklessly. Primeau is one of the Flyers' better positional players and rarely carries his stick above his waist. Which brings us to another rule enforcement. Players who check with their sticks held high -- Eric Lindros, for example -- will need to alter body checks if they want to stay on the ice.

"Basically, it's back to basics," Hitchcock said. "Check with your shoulders and keep your stick down."

Courier Post (http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/index.html)

[swflyers25]

Moran article:

Flyers learning how to play by the new rules

By ED MORAN

morane@phillynews.com

Hooking is out.

So is clutching, grabbing, shirt-holding, blocking, crosschecking from behind, and just about anything that hockey players have gotten accustomed to using to slow down or interfere with faster players or players in better offensive positions.

It's all part of the postlockout NHL, an era where offense is the name of the game, the rules have all changed, and there is a real focus on making the game more entertaining for the fan.

And now the players have to learn to live without those techniques, starting right now in training camp.

"This is going to be a huge adjustment for everyone, all over the ice," Flyers captain Keith Primeau said. "It's a complete 180 from the norm and we're still trying to get used to it.

"Even during practice we have questions for the coaches, the coaches have questions. No one knows exactly what's a penalty and what isn't a penalty and we won't know until we get in a game situation."

Since Tuesday, when training camp opened, the Flyers have been running drills and scrimmages where a lot of the focus is on the new rules. The NHL distributed a video that demonstrated what is now a penalty and what isn't and the message was clear - hook, hold or interfere anywhere on the ice and it's a 2-minute penalty.

Most players and coaches think it's a good idea, but there are mixed opinions on what the result will be. Everyone agrees that it will take some getting used to and that teams will get a lot of penalty-killing practice until it's figured out.

Most of the emphasis is on players using sticks to hook and hold back players who don't have the puck from either forechecking into the offensive zone or going to the net.

But it doesn't stop there; using a hand to grab or hold also will be called, as will crosschecking from behind, in front of the net.

And the rules will apply all over the ice.

"There is a lot of judgment stuff all over the ice," said Primeau, who incidentally, was featured in the film crosschecking Toronto's Darcy Tucker from behind in front of the net to keep him from getting a scoring chance.

A penalty was not called in the game, but on the tape the word "penalty" appears under the image.

"There are so many questions," Primeau said. "What is too late to close a gap? What's a free hand? Is it a penalty when you wrap a guy up? Is it a free hand when you have body position? Is the stick anywhere on the body, even when you're on the defensive side, allowed? There are a thousand issues.

"I would not want to be a referee. Until they sort it out it's going to be a judgment call and I don't think there will be sustained offensive-zone play quite as much as people think. As soon as you lose body position and the puck, you've got to regain body position and you can't get a stick on a guy."

Sami Kapanen, a forward who has used his speed since he got into the league in 1995, is happy to see the change. He has been frustrated for years by beating defensemen with his feet only to be hooked from behind.

"If they're calling everything that they're talking about, I think that there are going to be more scoring chances," Kapanen said. "The defensemen are always using their sticks and slowing down the offense and now they can't do it.

"There'll either be more scoring chances or a lot more power plays. You have to look at the way the league has been going in the last few years, there's been a lot of hooking and grabbing. Now you've got to adjust and try to move your feet more quickly.

"Before, if I didn't get the first step [on defenders] it was hard for me because they would just hook me."

It's a good concept. But the problem is: Will it last?

Two seasons ago, the league announced it was going to crack down on interference and obstruction and called penalty after penalty for the first few months.

As the year progressed, fewer calls were made and enforcement was different from referee to referee. Defenseman Mike Rathje is in favor of the new rules but is worried about the issue of consistency.

"My feeling is, how are they going to call the stuff?" Rathje said. "What are you allowed to do and what are you not? It's going to be different for every referee. That's going to be the hardest part, who's refereeing tonight and what are they going to call.

"You go out there and you can't really touch anybody. You've got to protect your own ice and get in front of people. They want a speed game and that's fine. But there's going to be an adjustment period to know what's allowed and what's not.

"It's not going to change my game. I adjusted to the last time they did that with all the obstruction calls and stuff. It's still the same stuff - you pin a guy, you've got to let him go. If a guy beats you, you have to get back into position. But some guys are going to find it hard getting used to not using the stick.

"I hope it lasts," Rathje said. "With all these new changes, I'm sure they're going to keep it serious. I'm sure this will be an experimental year for everything. I just hope that all the referees are on the same page."

Daily News (http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/12650069.htm)

[charlio lemieux]

Man, Hitch is a great coach. He will have the Flyers well ahead of the curve on these new rules, which should result in fewer PK.