In our game last week, I took a penalty for hooking when I used my hockey stick to lift another player’s stick in front of their net, and I lifted it a little too high. This put us on a 4-on-4 situation, and then shorthanded 5-on-4 when the other team’s penalty expired before mine.
While I was in the box, my team scored twice. I asked the scorekeeper and the refs to give me a ten minute game misconduct, because me being off the ice clearly helps my team.
Singh10.
For the second week in a row, we played a team that had (what I’m going to call) an “illegal player” on their roster.
Two games ago, on Halloween night, we played the Pirates who had a very short bench. For this game, they had a player from another team in our league join them without notice to me or the hockey director. Then, last game, we played Norcal Crossover A, who used a player from another team in our league as well without providing any notice to anyone.
Both of these incidents are unrelated to each other, save for the fact that we were the opponents in consecutive incidences. During the Pirates game, I didn’t make an issue of the illegal player, considering that the Pirates were already so short on the bench. However, after the Pirates game, I sent a note to the Hockey Director just to let him know what had occured, and that perhaps a reminder about league rules pertaining to illegal players needed to be made. He did advise me that as long as he and the opposing team’s captain agreed, a team could “borrow” another team’s player if they were extremely short. While I don’t think the approvals were sought, since the Pirates did have a very short bench, I didn’t think it was a serious issue.
However, last week in our game against Norcal Crossover A, I noticed immediately that Norcal had a player from another team taking the warmups with the team, and I decided to let the officials know this time around. Norcal was not particularly short of players, and the player they had on the ice was a very talented one, so the presence of this player on their team did not make sense. The officials didn’t seem to know what to do with this information. So, the game continued and this illegal player (who was given kudos for his performance on the Norcal website) was allowed to play the entire game. I sent another note to the Hockey Director about this second consecutive occurence. These were not formal complaints on my part, but I thought the league should know that there is a violation of rules occuring.
Common sense would dictate that in a competitive league, players shouldn’t be able to play on multiple teams. But, it’s more than common sense, it’s also a Skatetown rule… and everyone knows how much of a stickler I am when it comes to following Skatetown’s rules (exhibit A and exhibit B). As team captains at Skatetown, part of the responsibility we’re to accept is that we make sure our teams are in compliance. I try to make sure I do this and as such, I expect other captains to do the same.
According to our Adult League Rule book:
Substitutions/Illegal Players:
Substitute players are NOT permitted, with the exception of goalies as noted below. Any player on the ice without the hockey director’s permission will be considered illegal and subsequent penalties/suspensions will be assessed. Any team using an illegal player will forfeit the game. The Captain/Alternate of the offending team will be given a minimum of a one game suspension. If a rostered goalie is unable to play, goalie substitutes are permitted. Substitute must be currently registered on a Skatetown Adult Hockey League team within 2 levels of play of the team that they are substituting for. Outside goalies will be considered illegal. Prior approval of the substitute goalie must be given by the Hockey Director in advance of the change so the change can be noted. If a game is declared a forfeit, the teams involved are allowed to stay and play during their designated ice time.
In my opinion, I don’t think in the Norcal game that the team should have been made to forfeit or that anyone should be suspended. Simply, the illegal player shouldn’t have been allowed to take the ice. I also don’t intend to imply that there were any malicious motives here. At the very worst, teams are trying to intentionally get away with such maneuvers, but at the very least teams may just simply be ignorant of what the rules are. Whatever the case, I think there needs to be a greater focus on making sure that teams and officials are following and applying all the rules that are laid out. We agree to these rules when we sign up and run our teams, so we should be held accountable when we break them.
Singh10.
Last Friday’s match was an interesting game, of sorts.
The game was our second against the Pints this season. We opened Summer 2008 against them about a month ago, and in that one the Pints scored three unanswered goals in the third period to overcome a 4-2 deficit and win the game. And, if you pay any attention to this blog, you’d also know there was some bad blood that came out of that game as well.
So, our rematch against the Pints had a bit of a compelling backstory to it. It was the late game and I think both teams came out a little sluggish. However, other than some silent treatment, the game was quite cleanly played by both teams, and this time it was our turn to score three unanswered goals in the third period to win the game. Somehow, we just came alive in the third. Personally, my game between the first two periods and the third period was like night and day. My legs (what little I have) showed up, and I was skating much better in the final period. Perhaps this happened to our entire team, because we blew open a fairly evenly matched game. In fact, to that point, the Pints carried much of play. Our goalie played an amazing game – he stopped all kinds of chances and left nary a rebound.
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