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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

    Second Half by MHSAA

    Week 9 Football Playoff Listing

    October 22, 2013

    By Geoff Kimmerly
    Second Half editor

    Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the eighth week of the season. Schools on this list are in enrollment order. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates that a team has eight or fewer games scheduled. A caret (^) beside a school’s name indicates that a team is one win away from playoff qualification.

    Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Nov. 1-2. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.

    Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each.

    Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoff in that division, which also begins Nov. 1-2.

    To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.

    The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place on Oct. 27 on the Selection Sunday Show at 7 p.m. on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    11-Player Playoff Listing

    1. Sterling Heights Stevenson, 2781, 4-4, 51.500                 
    2. Utica Eisenhower, 2772, 4-4, 53.750                                    
    3. Clarkston, 2737, 7-1, 95.500                                     
    4. Macomb Dakota, 2693, 8-0, 108.000                                    
    5. Howell ^, 2672, 5-3, 64.625                                      
    6. Grand Blanc, 2624, 6-2, 81.625                                               
    7. East Kentwood ^, 2612, 5-3, 66.750                                     
    8. Rockford, 2572, 7-1, 92.750                                     
    9. Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, 2506, 7-1, 95.875  
    10. Lake Orion, 2490, 6-2, 78.375                                                
    11. Dearborn Fordson ^, 2309, 5-3, 68.589                             
    12. Holland West Ottawa ^, 2293, 5-3, 66.000                       
    13. Northville, 2275, 7-1, 97.250                                 
    14. Detroit Cass Tech, 2262, 8-0, 107.000                                                
    15. Brighton ^, 2164, 5-3, 69.000                                                                
    16. Monroe ^, 2145, 5-3, 62.500                                 
    17. Detroit Catholic Central, 2132, 7-1, 94.161                      
    18. Plymouth ^, 2126, 5-3, 61.625                                              
    19. Canton, 2078, 7-1, 95.750                                       
    20. Novi, 1986, 4-4, 52.375                                                            
    21. Livonia Stevenson, 1983, 4-4, 49.000                                 
    22. Macomb L'Anse Creuse North, 1965, 7-1, 89.500         
    23. West Bloomfield ^, 1941, 5-3, 63.750                                                
    24. New Baltimore Anchor Bay, 1899, 4-4, 48.875                               
    25. Saline, 1897, 7-1, 94.275                                         
    26. Westland John Glenn ^, 1880, 5-3, 61.375                      
    27. Holt, 1866, 4-4, 53.250                                                             
    28. Warren Mott, 1796, 8-0, 99.000                                           
    29. Romeo, 1793, 4-4, 54.750                                                       
    30. Oxford, 1782, 4-4, 51.625                                                       
    31. Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, 1759, 6-2, 79.250           
    32. Hudsonville ^, 1736, 5-3, 70.875                                          
    33. Ann Arbor Skyline, 1715, 4-4, 49.250                                 
    34. Grand Ledge, 1715, 4-4, 51.250                                           
    35. Belleville ^, 1714, 5-3, 64.750                                                
    36. Davison, 1692, 4-4, 44.250                                                     
    37. Walled Lake Northern, 1688, 6-2, 80.125                         
    38. Traverse City West ^, 1653, 5-3, 66.500                            
    39. Rochester, 1615, 4-4, 52.125                                 
    40. Waterford Kettering ^, 1604, 5-3, 66.125                        
    41. Temperance Bedford, 1600, 8-0, 114.000                        
    42. Grosse Pointe South ^, 1598, 5-3, 62.500                        
    43. Rochester Adams ^, 1582, 5-3, 67.000                                              
    44. Saginaw Heritage ^, 1575, 5-3, 60.250                               
    45. Warren DeLaSalle ^, 1564, 5-3, 74.500                                              
    46. Walled Lake Western, 1556, 8-0, 108.000                        
    47. Flint Carman-Ainsworth, 1488, 7-1, 86.875                     
    48. Detroit U-D Jesuit, 1476, 4-4, 55.500                                 
    49. Midland, 1462, 7-1, 90.750                                     
    50. Ypsilanti Lincoln, 1460, 7-1, 85.875                                      
    51. Pinckney ^, 1452, 5-3, 65.625                                               
    52. Traverse City Central ^, 1448, 5-3, 60.571                        
    53. Oak Park ^, 1438, 5-3, 64.875                                                
    54. Detroit Martin Luther King *, 1432, 7-0, 103.571          
    55. Royal Oak, 1414, 4-4, 47.625                                 
    56. Southgate Anderson, 1409, 4-4, 48.500                           
    57. Ypsilanti Community, 1399, 4-4, 45.000                            
    58. Port Huron ^, 1398, 5-3, 63.107                                           
    59. Wyandotte Roosevelt, 1373, 8-0, 110.000                       
    60. Portage Central, 1372, 8-0, 108.000                                   
    61. Lansing Everett ^, 1369, 5-3, 58.625                                   
    62. Portage Northern, 1364, 6-2, 74.625                 
    63. Garden City, 1362, 4-4, 47.125                                             
    64. Southfield, 1356, 7-1, 95.875                                                
    65. North Farmington *, 1352, 5-3, 56.286                             
    66. Caledonia ^, 1350, 5-3, 60.000                                              
    67. Battle Creek Lakeview, 1348, 8-0, 90.000                        
    68. Birmingham Seaholm, 1337, 8-0, 103.000                        
    69. Birmingham Brother Rice, 1326, 8-0, 111.200                 
    70. Grosse Pointe North ^, 1323, 5-3, 65.375                        
    71. Muskegon Mona Shores, 1314, 6-2, 79.500                    
    72. Midland Dow, 1304, 7-1, 85.036                                          
    73. Farmington Hills Harrison, 1300, 7-1, 93.750                   
    74. South Lyon, 1277, 6-2, 82.250                                               
    75. Swartz Creek, 1277, 4-4, 52.768                                           
    76. Birmingham Groves, 1274, 7-1, 85.875                             
    77. Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills ^, 1231, 5-3, 52.500                              
    78. Fenton, 1188, 8-0, 101.000                                                    
    79. Grand Rapids Northview, 1182, 4-4, 49.750                    
    80. Mattawan, 1176, 4-4, 45.625                                                
    81. Warren Woods Tower, 1170, 6-2, 62.750                         
    82. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, 1151, 7-1, 92.500                  
    83. Lowell, 1146, 8-0, 118.000                                                      
    84. Taylor Truman, 1131, 6-2, 74.500                                        
    85. East Lansing, 1124, 4-4, 52.750                                             
    86. Holly, 1124, 4-4, 49.375                                                           
    87. Muskegon, 1118, 7-1, 97.875                                                
    88. Lapeer East, 1113, 4-4, 50.625                                              
    89. Marquette *, 1110, 5-2, 73.286                                           
    90. Detroit East English ^, 1109, 5-3, 59.750                           
    91. Detroit Cody ^, 1106, 5-3, 57.250                                        
    92. Allen Park, 1103, 6-2, 76.625                                 
    93. Detroit Renaissance ^, 1097, 5-3, 53.268                         
    94. Detroit Mumford, 1090, 6-2, 72.732                  
    95. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, 1079, 6-2, 71.250               
    96. St. Johns, 1079, 4-4, 47.625                                   
    97. Zeeland East ^, 1071, 5-3, 67.125                                        
    98. Lapeer West, 1063, 7-1, 91.375                                            
    99. Redford Thurston ^, 1063, 5-3, 65.375                              
    100. Auburn Hills Avondale, 1055, 4-4, 42.375                      
    101. Byron Center, 1039, 6-2, 68.750                                        
    102. Mt. Pleasant, 1033, 7-1, 92.875                                         
    103. Riverview, 993, 6-2, 66.625                                 
    104. St. Joseph, 986, 7-1, 88.875                                 
    105. Orchard Lake St. Mary's, 980, 4-4, 54.625                      
    106. Petoskey ^, 965, 5-3, 62.000           &a