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
Girls Events Set Record in 2013-14
September 18, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan High School Athletic Association postseason tournaments drew more than 1.4 million fans in 2013-14 for the 15th straight school year, keyed in part by record attendance at girls events.
Total attendance for 2013-14 was 1,423,229 fans, with 988,669 at boys tournaments and 434,560 spectators at girls tournaments. Attendance is kept for all sports except golf, skiing and tennis, for which admission typically is not charged.
Total attendance did fall 10,127 fans, or 0.7 percent, from 2012-13. However, the girls tournament total broke a previous record set during the 2009-10 school year, with three girls sports setting overall attendance records: volleyball (101,654 fans), lacrosse (5,737) and competitive cheer (25,996). Boys and girls bowling tournaments, conducted simultaneously, also set an attendance record with 12,595 fans.
Cheer attendance increased for the 11th consecutive year and 2.8 percent from 2012-13; Cheer Finals attendance increased for the fifth straight year to a record 7,766 fans. The Boys Ice Hockey Finals also set a record with 14,595 fans, an increase of 1,690 over the previous year, while ice hockey’s total tournament attendance (60,778) was up 2.9 percent with increases at the Pre-Regional and Quarterfinal levels as well. Bowling, in addition to an overall attendance record, also saw a record for its Finals of 4,100 fans. The Baseball and Softball Finals, played at Michigan State University for the first time, did not set a record – but did draw 5,297 fans, a 29-percent increase from the previous season.
Attendance at boys tournament events fell to its lowest total since 1993-94, although the decrease from 2012-13 was less than one percent. However, football, despite a 1.5-percent decrease in attendance from the previous season, remained the highest MHSAA tournament draw for the seventh consecutive year with 392,069 fans. Football Finals attendance (52,409) rebounded 10.6 percent from 2012-13 after a similarly significant drop following 2011-12.
Boys Basketball Finals weekend attendance also bounced back significantly, with a 21.7-percent increase from the 2012-13 event to a three-day total of 42,373 fans at the Semifinals and Finals. Regional attendance also was up 4.8 percent, although overall boys basketball tournament attendance was down 3.2 percent to 308,205 fans. Girls basketball attendance was down 2.8 percent to 161,569 fans with Finals weekend attendance down 11.8 percent from 2012-13 – although the total Finals attendance of 16,763 fans in 2013-14 was the second-highest over the last four seasons, and attendance at Regionals and Quarterfinals increased from the previous girls basketball season.
Volleyball attendance increased 5.7 percent from 2012-13 while setting a District record of 68,447 fans, 16 percent more than the previous record set during 2011-12. Girls lacrosse bounced back from a slight drop in 2012-13 to set a record for overall attendance with 5,737 fans including a record for Semifinal attendance. Softball (3.7 percent to 42,242 fans), girls soccer (0.9 percent to 27,072) and girls swimming and diving (3.2 percent to 5,084) also saw attendance increases from 2012-13 – with girls soccer enjoying an 18-percent increase at the District level – while gymnastics (1,877) saw its lowest tournament attendance since 2007-08.
Five more sports saw attendance increases in 2013-14: Individual wrestling (49,037) was up 2.8 percent, boys lacrosse (7,726) was up 6.1 percent, baseball (47,540) was up 3.9 percent, boys and girls cross country (17,300) increased 1.9 percent and boys soccer (28,903) drew 35 more fans total than during 2012-13. Boys and girls cross country postseason events, like for bowling, are conducted simultaneously.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 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.