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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

    Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced

    By Geoff Kimmerly
    MHSAA.com senior editor

    January 25, 2013

    The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2012-13 school year have been announced.

    The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 576 scholarships have been awarded.

    Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, there also will be two at-large honorees which also are part of the general judging process, may come from any classification, and are designated by their school at the time of entry.

    Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Saline has five finalists this year, while Kalamazoo Hackett and Muskegon Mona Shores have three.  Eleven schools each had two finalists: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Comstock Park, Grosse Ile, Hillsdale Academy, Macomb Dakota, Okemos, Oxford, Portland, Rock Mid-Peninsula and Sand Creek.  

    Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.48, while the average of the application pool was 2.16 – both within a tenth of last year’s rates in those categories. There are 59 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.

    Of 409 schools which submitted applicants, 54 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,675 applications were received. All will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement.  Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.

    The applications were judged by a 66-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced on February 5; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on February 12, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on February 19. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.


    To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 23, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.

    To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and submit a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

    Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.              
     
    2012-13 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists

    BOYS CLASS A
    Marcus William Barnett, St Clair Shores Lake Shore
    Connor James Bos, Holland
    Andrew Camp, Midland Dow
    Bryan Condra, Hartland
    Jarrod Eaton, St. Johns
    Tristan Eggenberger, Okemos
    Alex Fauer, Macomb Dakota
    Thomas Greidanus, Grand Rapids Christian
    Kalvis Hornburg, Traverse City Central
    Reed Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
    Austin Jones, Bay City Central
    Tyler Scott Kemerer, Saginaw Heritage
    Anthony Lamus, Saline
    Jacob J. Presto, Orchard Lake St Mary's
    Charles Robert Proctor, Bay City Western
    David Read, Midland Dow
    Harrison Schurr, Jenison
    Jeremy Simon, Richland Gull Lake
    Jonathan Sollish, Berkley
    Thomas Spicuzza, Oxford
    Jason Vander Horst, Milford
    Kevin W. Walsh, Detroit Catholic Central
    Pierce Watson, Lowell
    Adam Whitener, Saline

    GIRLS CLASS A
    Kristy Allen, East Grand Rapids
    Casie Ammerman, Ann Arbor Huron
    Jacqueline Burke, Troy
    Francesca Ciaramitaro, Grosse Pointe North
    Lara Fawaz, Dearborn
    Kayla Giese, Macomb Dakota
    Morgan Alexandria Gilliam, North Farmington
    Kristin Nicole Green, Saline
    Sarah Gutknecht, Farmington
    Kelly Hall, Saline
    Hailey Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
    Jessica Kalbfleisch, Traverse City West
    Jillian Klein, Muskegon Mona Shores
    Brooke Kovacic, Oxford
    Teresa LaForest, St. Joseph
    Elizabeth Michno, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North
    Kelly Raterink, Zeeland East
    Roxanne Raven, Okemos
    Kerigan Riley, Livonia Churchill
    Haley Schaafsma, Riverview
    Carley Serowoky, Waterford Kettering
    Kendall Tamler, Birmingham Seaholm
    Reinie Thomas, Portage Central
    Lindsay Walter, Saline

    BOYS CLASS B
    Michael Azzopardi, Detroit Country Day
    Michael Broderick, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
    Brice Brown, Ionia
    Michael Chickeral, Flat Rock
    Thomas D. Finch, Otsego
    Alec Robert Fisher, Battle Creek Harper Creek
    Mark Gibson, Freeland
    Patrick Gifford, Haslett
    Andrew Hammond, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern
    Michael Heinrich, Ludington
    Luke James Hurst, Ovid-Elsie
    Matthew Liu, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
    Adam Olszewski, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
    Scott Parkinson, Grayling
    Keeton Thayer Ross, Grosse Ile
    Ryan Schall, Comstock Park

    GIRLS CLASS B
    Brittany Beeler, Spring Lake
    Ashley M. Carney, Jackson Northwest
    Kelsi Caywood, Sturgis
    Amanda Ciancio, Comstock Park
    Morgan Kathleen Cinader, Goodrich
    Mary Emington, Cadillac
    Hannah C. Engle, Adrian
    Nicole L. Green, Portland
    Haley June Obetts, Wayland Union
    Molly Oren, Hamilton
    Catherine Polgar, Grosse Ile
    Emily Quinn, Portland
    Florence Ann Sobell, Croswell-Lexington
    Anjali Sood, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
    Megan Taylor, Houghton Lake
    Shelby Walsh, Livonia Ladywood

    BOYS CLASS C
    Brian Christopher Aldrich, Kalamazoo Hackett
    Jesse Anderson, Union City
    Kenner Broullire, Manistique
    Jesse Corbat, Breckenridge
    Parker Eldred, Blanchard Montabella
    Ashwin Fujii, Ann Arbor Greenhills
    Zachary A. Kerr, Saugatuck
    Connor Lockman, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
    Mike O'Brien, Maple City-Glen Lake
    Elliott Rains, Sand Creek
    Quinton Rice, Marcellus
    Luke Schaffner, Clinton

    GIRLS CLASS C
    Alyssa R. Briolat, Ubly
    Kara Craig, Schoolcraft
    Lindsey Dopheide, Lawton
    Margaret Elizabeth Durbin, Boyne City
    Macayla Geiner, Hart
    Natalie Perry, Sand Creek
    Theresa Pickell, Reese
    Abigail Radomsky, Kalamazoo Hackett
    Kylei Ratkowski, Bronson
    Faith Schroeder, Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
    Grace Smith, Kalamazoo Hackett
    Nicole Winter, Watervliet

    BOYS CLASS D
    Charles Barchett, Watervliet Grace Christian
    Charles A. Blood, Hillsdale Academy
    Brett Branstrom, Rock-Mid Peninsula
    Matthew R. Katz, Tekonsha
    Alexander G. Knight, Lake Linden-Hubbell
    Francisco Jay Noyola, Lansing Christian
    Joseph Samuel Paquette, Munising
    Hunter Selby, Genesee Christian

    GIRLS CLASS D
    Anna Marie Couture, Posen
    Sarah Cullip, St. Ignace 
    Erica LeClaire, Dollar Bay
    Elyse Kathleen Lisznyai, Hillsdale Academy
    Elena Victoria Luce, Mason County Eastern
    Christina Smith, Gaylord St. Mary
    Kari L. Steenwyk, Ellsworth
    Krysta M. VanDamme, Rock-Mid Peninsula