New Rules Aid Speed, Crimson Finesse

A couple of new twists have been added to the college hockey rulebook this year in order to make the game more exciting.

The first, and most significant, change is the institution of four-on-four hockey when teams take coincidental minors.

If a player on each team is given a minor penalty at the same time while the teams are at full strength, each team will then play a man short. In the past, the teams would continue to play at full strength.

"We lobbied for it," Harvard Coach Ronn Tomassoni says. "If a team has quickness ad skill, you would think that with less players on the ice it should play into that team's strength."

And quickness and skill are certainly two facets that the Crimson definitely isn't lacking.

Harvard's specially teams play last year was first-rate. So with fewer players on the ice, the Crimson should generate even more good scoring chances with the new rule.

"It will help our team since we work so quickly in open ice," senior Steve Martins says. "It should create more opportunities [for us]."

Another rule change, or rather a rule clarification, will be that the officials will call more interference penalties. When a player trips up or knocks another down away from the puck, an official has the right to call interference, and the referees have been instructed to enforce the rule this year.

"Unfortunately over the last five or six years, interference has become an accepted part of the game," Tomassoni says. "What it has done is taken the skill element out of the game and make hockey less exciting."

One rule change that the ECAC won't employ is that of the penalty shootout to settle ties after scoreless overtimes, a la the Olympics. Hockey East instituted the shootout this year, but the ECAC hasn't approved this "made-for-TV" format of deciding games.

"As coach, I probably would not want to see a shootout," Tomassoni says. "As a fan, probably yes."