MavPuck wrote:
I'll also say that I'm not a fan of the change to the NCAA rule regarding faceoffs — specifically that a player who commits a violation in the faceoff circle will receive a warning, and if another violation is committed by that player during the same faceoff, it will result in a bench minor.
I preferred it before where a faceoff violation resulted in the player being removed from the faceoff.
The argument for the change (in the NCAA rules) was that it would speed up faceoffs. But it hasn't seemed to work.
Instead, it seems to take an inordinate amount of time for the linesman to drop the puck in the first place — frustrating fans and (one would presume) the players.
Pivonka getting whistled for the second violation at 3:42 in the 2nd (after Berg had just gone to the box to serve a 2 min minor) was not a great situation for the Mavs.
Some of these violations are not necessarily easy to see -- especially for fans. For once, the NCHC feed had a great angle. You can see Pivonka was trying to time the faceoff, and did the exact same thing twice.
Basically, he never set (got his stick down) for the faceoff. It was the right call.
But you're correct that faceoffs have gotten no better.
I like the rule the DOESN'T remove the center for a violation. And the intent was correct -- it was initiated by the NHL to prevent strategic stalling (usually with a winger lined up at center for an intentional violation) after icing calls, when you couldn't change players. You gain 10-15 seconds of rest. Now it's 3-5 seconds.
To be clear, the 'face-off violation' rule for Delay of Game has been on the books for a long time. It's always been two violations on the same team at the same faceoff would result in a minor penalty. (And I know Omaha got called for it at least once before the rule change.)
Sam Spomer used to note on twitter -- and I can back up as a former official -- that once you 'violate' a team on a faceoff, as an official you're advised to get the puck down as quick as possible to avoid the second violation.
I think the NCHC view on 'cleaning up faceoffs' a couple seasons ago, was to stop the rush. You can take advantage of relaxed enforcement, if you know the impetus is to get the puck down.
"If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying."
Bottom line: it's on the players -- not the officials -- to clean up the faceoffs. But a player who isn't trying to gain an advantage is going to draw the ire of their coach.
