Hockey Penalties Toughened for 2014-15

MHSAA News

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

Week 6 Football Playoff Listing

September 26, 2012

Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the fifth 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 carrot (^) 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 Oct. 26-27. 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 Oct. 26-27.

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 at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.

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11-Player Playoff Listing

1.	Utica Eisenhower	2772	3-2	62.000
2.	Sterling Heights Stevenson	2766	4-1	75.800
3.	Clarkston ^	2721	5-0	94.400
4.	Grand Blanc	2644	3-2	57.600
5.	Macomb Dakota	2608	4-1	80.600
6.	Lake Orion ^	2565	5-0	96.000
7.	Rockford	2526	3-2	57.400
8.	Troy	2502	3-2	57.400
9.	Clinton Township Chippewa Valley	2462	4-1	77.000
10.	Dearborn Fordson	2442	4-1	83.400
11.	Holland West Ottawa	2262	4-1	71.000
12.	Northville	2220	3-2	60.400
13.	Detroit Cass Tech	2200	4-1	77.400
14.	Canton	2166	3-2	51.200
15.	Monroe ^	2154	5-0	83.200
16.	Detroit Catholic Central	2060	3-2	47.800
17.	Plymouth	2050	4-1	71.200
18.	Salem	2039	4-1	75.600
19.	Livonia Stevenson	2005	4-1	77.200
20.	Holt	1992	3-2	57.200
21.	Hartland ^	1932	5-0	91.200
22.	Warren Mott ^	1879	5-0	86.400
23.	Livonia Churchill ^	1877	5-0	100.800
24.	Walled Lake Central	1857	3-2	52.200
25.	Macomb L'Anse Creuse North	1853	3-2	58.400
26.	Saline	1849	4-1	72.400
27.	Grandville	1846	3-2	53.600
28.	Flint Carman-Ainsworth ^	1772	5-0	88.000
29.	Grand Ledge	1743	4-1	70.600
30.	Rochester	1725	4-1	72.800
31.	Traverse City West	1720	4-1	72.200
32.	White Lake Lakeland	1700	4-1	72.400
33.	Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse	1680	3-2

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