Hockey Penalties Toughened for 2014-15
December 4, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Seasons are underway for teams participating in 12 winter sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments, with stronger penalties for excessive contact in ice hockey highlighting rules changes taking effect with the beginning of competition.
Eight sports including ice hockey began play during the final two weeks of November, with the remaining four sports beginning competition over the next 10 days – Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming and Diving on Dec. 6, Boys Basketball on December 8 and Boys and Girls Skiing on Dec. 13. Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Bowling teams began competition on Nov. 29, and Lower Peninsula teams may begin Dec. 6.
Changes to ice hockey penalties resulting from opponents being forced into the boards continue a focus on improving safety by establishing different levels of severity based on the flagrance and violence of the offending act.
Any excessive contact – including checking, cross-checking, elbowing, charging or tripping – that causes an opponent to be thrown violently into the boards will receive a 5-minute major penalty; previously this boarding infraction resulted only in a 2-minute minor penalty unless the contact was flagrant. If the flagrant or violent check causes a player to crash headfirst into the boards, a 5-minute major will be assessed as well as either a 10-minute misconduct or game disqualification depending on the severity of the offending check. Players disqualified from ice hockey games are not allowed to play in the next two games as well.
A 5-minute major penalty also will be assessed to any player who pushes, charges, cross-checks or body-checks an opponent from behind in open ice. Previously, this excessive contact came with a 2-minute minor penalty and 10-minute misconduct.
A handful of notable rules changes also go into effect for girls and boys basketball:
Intentional fouls were redefined to include excessive contact with any opposing player – not just the shooter – while the ball is live or until an airborne shooter returns to the floor. All excessive contact committed by any player will be ruled intentional.
Also, additions to the definition of personal foul were added to eliminate excessive contact on ball handlers outside of the lane area. The following additions constitute a foul when committed against the ball handler/dribbler: placing two hands (fronts or backs of hands) on the player, placing an extended arm bar (forearm away from the body) on the player, placing and keeping a hand on the player, and contacting the player more than once with the same hand or alternating hands.
The rule for players releasing to the lane on a free throw attempt was changed to its previous version; a player occupying a marked lane space again may enter the lane on the release of the ball by the free throw shooter. Players behind the free throw line extended and 3-point arc behind the free throw line must wait until the free throw attempt touches the ring or backboard or has ended (touches the floor) before entering the lane. This was the rule prior to the 1994-95 season.
Players may wear arm sleeves, knee sleeves, lower leg sleeves and tights, but all sleeves and tights must be black, white, beige or the predominant color of the team’s uniform. All team members wearing sleeves or tights must wear the same color. Knee braces do not count as part of this uniform regulation.
A significant change for wrestling affects team tournaments stretching multiple days, including the MHSAA Finals, for which weigh-ins are conducted each day. An athlete must weigh in at the same weight both days in order to continue competing after the first day of the tournament. Previously, an athlete could compete at whatever weight he or she weighed in at on the first day and then the new weight, if different, on the second day. Beginning this season, that wrestler may not compete the subsequent days of the team event if he or she weighs in at a different weight after the first day.
The 2014-15 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 21, and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 28. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 9, 11 & 13
Regionals – March 16 & 18
Quarterfinals – March 24
Semifinals – March 26-27
Finals – March 28
Girls Basketball
Districts – March 2, 4 & 6
Regionals – March 10 & 12
Quarterfinals – March 17
Semifinals – March 19-20
Finals – March 21
Bowling
Team Regionals – Feb. 27
Singles Regionals – Feb. 28
Team Finals – March 6
Singles Finals – March 7
Girls Competitive Cheer
Districts – Feb. 20-21
Regionals – Feb. 28
Finals: March 6-7
Girls Gymnastics
Regionals – March 7
Team Finals – March 13
Individual Finals – March 14
Ice Hockey
Pre-Regionals – March 2-6
Regional Finals – March 7
Quarterfinals – March 10-11
Semifinals – March 12-13
Finals – March 14
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 9-13
Finals – Feb. 23
Swimming & Diving
U.P. Girls & Boys Finals – Feb. 21
L.P. Boys Diving Regionals – March 5
L.P. Boys Finals – March 13-14
Wrestling
Team Districts – Feb. 11-12
Individual Districts – Feb. 14
Team Regionals – Feb. 18
Individual Regionals – Feb. 21
Team Quarterfinals – Feb. 27
Team Semifinals & Finals – Feb. 28
Individual Finals – March 5-7
MI-based Addix Joins MHSAA Team
November 1, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
During its first decade in business, Lowell-based Addix has emerged as a major supplier of high school and youth sports uniforms and gear, while maintaining an emphasis on serving local communities – a value held in common with the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
As it looks to expand as a supplier to schools all over our state, Addix has signed on as the MHSAA’s official custom uniform and wrestling gear provider, extending a relationship that began in 2014 when Wrestling Addix became a sponsor of the association.
Addix was founded in 2006 and currently manufactures uniform products for football, volleyball, cross country, wrestling, basketball and track & field, with additional sport offerings planned for the near future.
“Addix has built a great reputation in the wrestling community and is moving to extend its standing in Michigan’s high school sports community by serving all school sports,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “We are proud to promote a Michigan-based company and impressed that Addix is committed to providing high school and younger levels of sports the beneficial service and pricing that larger athletic brands reserve for college and professional sports.”
All Addix products are designed and manufactured in Michigan. The company prides itself on using the best in sublimation technologies and following up production with controlled supply chain and superior customer service.
Addix supplies uniforms to teams at all levels of high school and junior high/middle school, as well as youth sports. The company aims to deliver orders in under three weeks.
"We owe tremendous thanks to the wrestling community in the state of Michigan, which has supported our business for the last 10 years,” Addix owner and CEO Ryan Henderson said. “With the expansion of our partnership, we will continue to utilize our in-state manufacturing facilities to service athletic programs at the highest level. For a company competing against the largest athletic brands in the world, this is a big win."
"We are thrilled to expand on our relationship with the MHSAA,” added John Kargbo, Addix’ vice president of sales & marketing. “It is one of, if not the best-run high school athletic association in the country, and we are excited to have the opportunity to grow our business alongside them."
Click for additional information on Addix.