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

    Participation Rises in 2015-16

    June 30, 2016

    By Geoff Kimmerly
    Second Half editor 

    Despite another slight decline in enrollment at Michigan High School Athletic Association member high schools for the 2015-16 school year, participation in sports rose for the first time since 2010-11 as a total of 284,227 participants took part in the 28 sports for which postseason tournaments are sponsored by the MHSAA.

    This year’s 0.71 percent dip in enrollment at member schools is the latest in a steady decrease that has seen enrollment fall nearly 12 percent total since 2006-07; however, participation in MHSAA-sponsored sports was up 0.57 percent over 2014-15. A total of 15 sports saw participation increases from the school year before, with boys and girls bowling, boys cross country and girls lacrosse setting records.

    Girls participation was up 1.7 percent to 119,281 participants, despite a fall in girls enrollment of sixth tenths of a percent. Boys participation did fall a slight two tenths of a percent, to 164,946 participants, but boys enrollment fell eighth tenths of a percent from the previous school year. The overall MHSAA totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once. 

    Girls lacrosse continued its streak of setting a participation record every season since becoming a sponsored tournament sport in 2005, this time with a 7.2 increase in participation to 2,775 athletes. Boys bowling saw a 3.7 percent increase this season to a record total of 3,860 athletes, while girls bowling was up 2.6 percent for a record total of 3,047. Boys cross country set a record for the second time in three seasons, this time up 5.3 percent with 9,254 runners.

    A number of sports experienced bounce-backs from decreases over recent years. Boys basketball (0.5 percent increase to 21,524 athletes) was up after two straight years of decreases, while girls softball (5.2 percent increase to 13,788 athletes) was up after four straight years of lowering numbers. Boys track & field had seen participation decrease six straight seasons before bouncing back 1.6 percent this spring with 22,803 athletes, and wrestling also came back from six straight seasons of decreases with a 1.3 percent increase to 9,601 athletes. Girls volleyball just edged girls lacrosse for the largest increase of any MHSAA-sponsored sport in 2015-16, jumping 7.8 percent with 19,395 athletes after three straight seasons of declining participation.

    Other sports with increased participation in 2015-16 were girls cross country (0.6 percent to 8,403 athletes), girls golf (3.8 percent to 3,460), girls gymnastics (3.2 percent to 638), boys soccer (1.0 percent to 14,574), girls soccer (0.3 percent to 13,367) and girls tennis (0.5 percent to 8,675).

    However, a few troubling trends did continue. Girls basketball participation fell for the 10th straight season, this time nearly a percent to 15,558 athletes, the sport’s lowest total since records first were kept in 1991-92. The latest decrease brings the total fall in participation to 18.7 percent in that sport since a U.S. District Court decision led to the switching of girls basketball season from fall to winter beginning in 2007-08. Comparatively, girls enrollment at MHSAA schools during that time has fallen 12.1 percent. Although volleyball, the sport that swapped seasons with girls basketball and moved to fall, saw a large increase in 2015-16, its total number of athletes still was the third-lowest for the sport since 1993-94 and its participation is still down 10 percent since the seasons changed.

    Also of note in this year’s survey:

    • The increase in participation for 15 sports with a decrease in 13 was compared to an increase for only eight and decrease for 20 in 2014-15. Those increases and decreases were split evenly across boys and girls sports last school year; this school year, six boys sports were up and eight were down in participation, while nine girls sports were up and only five saw decreases.

    •  For the second straight year, a slight decrease in football participation fell in line with the slight decrease in boys enrollment after larger drops previously. Football participation was down 1.4 percent for the second straight year (and slowed this time a few hundredths of a percent, from 1.44 in 2014-15 to 1.42). The drop in football participation from 2011-12 to 2012-13 was 3.7 percent, and the drop from 2012-13 to 2013-14 was two percent.

    •  Skiing saw the largest combined decrease among pairs of related sports, with boys participation down 7.2 percent to 719 and girls down 2.8 percent to 652 after both experienced increases a year ago. Swimming & diving experienced decreases for both girls and boys together for the second straight year, although this time the decreases were smaller than in 2014-15; girls were down 4.3 percent to 5,378 athletes and boys were down 4.2 percent to 4,732.

    •  Boys golf participation fell for the seventh straight season, four percent to 6,271 athletes, its lowest total on record. Boys tennis experienced its seventh straight decrease to 6,077 athletes, also the lowest total on record for that sport and a dip of 3.6 percent from 2014-15.

    •  Baseball, after three straight seasons of increases, was down just less than a percent this spring. Boys lacrosse, after setting a participation record in 2013-14, was down for the second straight year but this time by only six athletes, or one tenth of a percent. Girls track & field was down for the second straight year, by 1.5 percent, after three straight of increases.

    The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to submit to the National Federation of State High School Associations for compiling of its national participation survey. Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website.

    The following chart shows participation figures for the 2015-16 school year from MHSAA member schools for sports in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament:

    Boys

     

    Girls

     

    SPORT

    SCHOOLS (A)

    PARTICIPANTS

    SCHOOLS (A)

    PARTICIPANTS (B)

    Baseball

    635/654/5

    18,173

    -

    0/6

    Basketball

    728/735/4

    21,509

    653/722

    15,558/15

    Bowling

    369/382/4

    3,853

    350/374

    3,047/7

    Competitive Cheer

    -

    -

    336/350

    7,062

    Cross Country

    615/641/1

    9,252

    597/636

    8,403/2

    Football - 11 player

    595/627/81

    38,500

    -

    0/92

    8-player

    47/49/1

    927

    -

    1

    Golf

    497/532/42

    6,197

    334/340

    3,460/74

    Gymnastics

    -

    -

    67/76

    638

    Ice Hockey

    227/260/5

    3346

    -

    0/6

    Lacrosse

    137/143/4

    4,948

    97/99

    2,775/4

    Skiing-Alpine

    85/100/0

    719

    92/102

    652/0

    Soccer

    474/497/15

    14,526

    456/477

    13,367/48

    Softball-Fast Pitch

    -

    -

    612/639

    13,788

    Swimming & Diving

    238/271/0

    4,732

    253/281

    5,378/0

    Tennis

    293/309/3

    6,065

    331/344

    8,675/12

    Track & Field - Outdoor

    662/686/0

    22,803

    646/685

    16,611/0

    Volleyball

    -

    -

    708/719

    19,395

    Wrestling

    463/480/130

    9,396

    -

    0/205

    (A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey. The second number indicates schools sponsoring the sport including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 7, 2016. The third number indicates the number of schools that had girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys.

    (B)The second number indicates the number of additional girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys and entered in boys competition.

    The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.