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
Skip the lines: Get Finals Tickets Here
February 28, 2012
Avoid lines at the ticket window by ordering and downloading your MHSAA Finals E-tickets for cheer, individual wrestling, girls and boys basketball from our partner vendor web sites.
Hockey, Cheer and Girls Basketball Finals are on sale now, with Boys Basketball Finals tickets going on sale at 10 a.m. March 5. See below on how to order each:
- Girls Basketball Finals tickets are on sale either online or via phone. Tickets can be ordered online by clicking this Breslin Center Box Office link or over the phone by calling (800) 968-2737. Tickets cost $8, with a $3 service charge applied to each order. All girls basketball seats are general admission. The Girls Basketball Semifinals are March 15-16, with all Four Finals on March 17.
- Boys Basketball Finals tickets go on sale via the Breslin Center Box Office on March 5. Tickets can be ordered online by clicking this Breslin Center Box Office link or over the phone by calling (800) 968-2737. As with girls basketball, tickets cost $8, with a $3 service charge applied to each order. However, Boys Basketball Semifinals and Finals seats are reserved in Breslin’s lower bowl, with general admission for the upper deck. The Boys Basketball Semifinals are March 22-23, with all four Finals on March 24.
- Cheer tickets are available via online vendor TicketLeap. They cost $7 – plus a 97-cent processing fee per ticket – for each of the four sessions, with a separate ticket required for entry to each. The Division 1 Final is 6 p.m. Friday at the Grand Rapids Delta Plex, with Division 2 at 10 a.m. Saturday and followed that day by Division 4 at 2 p.m. and Division 3 at 6 p.m. Cheer online ticket sales end at 4 p.m. Friday. The paper E-ticket must be presented at the gate.
- Hockey tickets are available via online vendor TicketLeap. They cost $6 per Semifinal session and $7 per Final session, plus the 97-cent processing fee per ticket. Each division’s Semifinals and each of the three Finals count as separate sessions. The Division 2 Semifinals begin at 5 p.m. March 8 at Plymouth’s Compuware Arena, with the Division 3 Semifinals at noon March 9 and Division 1 at 6 p.m. that day. The Division 2 Final is at 10 a.m. March 10, followed by Division 3 at 2 p.m. and Division 1 at 6 p.m. The paper E-ticket must be presented at the gate. Hockey online ticket sales end two hours before each session.