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
MHSAA.tv Broadcast Schedule Includes Nearly 200 Week 1 Varsity Football Games
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 22, 2022
Nearly 200 varsity football games scheduled for this opening weekend of the Michigan high school season will be broadcast on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network or by Michigan High School Athletic Association partner Bally Sports Detroit – including all 16 games being played at the Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic, Battle at the Big House and Vehicle City Gridiron Classic.
Varsity football teams may kick off the season Thursday (Aug. 25), and BSD and NFHS Network will have broadcasts that first day from all three showcase events. Below are the schedules for all three:
Xenith Prep Kickoff Classic – Wayne State University – Tom Adams Field
Aug. 25, 4 p.m.: Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice vs. Macomb Dakota – Bally Sports Detroit
Aug. 25, 7 p.m.: Sterling Heights Stevenson vs. West Bloomfield – Bally Sports Detroit
Aug. 26, 4 p.m.: Allen Park vs. Wyandotte – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, 7 p.m.: Belleville vs. Novi – NFHS Network
Aug. 27, 1 p.m.: Dexter vs. Grosse Pointe South – NFHS Network
Aug. 27, 4 p.m.: Cedar Springs vs. River Rouge – NFHS Network
Battle at the Big House – University of Michigan – Michigan Stadium
Aug. 25, Noon: Brighton vs. Dearborn Fordson – NFHS Network
Aug. 25, 3:30 p.m.: DeWitt vs. Haslett – NFHS Network
Aug. 25, 7 p.m.: Clarkston vs. Davison – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, Noon: Livonia Churchill vs. Plymouth – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, 3:30 p.m.: Port Huron vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, 7 p.m.: Lapeer vs. Ann Arbor Huron – NFHS Network
Vehicle City Gridiron Classic – Kettering University – Atwood Stadium
Aug. 25, 4 p.m.: Grand Blanc vs. Grandville – NFHS Network
Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m.: Flint Kearsley vs. Flint Carman-Ainsworth – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, 4 p.m.: Flint Southwestern vs. Swartz Creek – NFHS Network
Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m.: Flint Beecher vs. Saginaw Nouvel – NFHS Network
The other nearly-200 varsity football games will be viewable on the NFHS Network via the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program. Several girls volleyball and boys soccer matches also are on this week’s schedule; see the link’s below for each sport:
Football | Girls Volleyball | Boys Soccer
NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $11.99 per month (or $79.99 annually). Subscribers have access to all live video across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.
More than 550 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 14th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website.
Additionally this season, Bally Sports Detroit will be broadcasting a game every week of the regular season followed on Friday nights by the hour-long highlight show “Football Fridays Overtimes powered by State Champs” – see the schedule below, with games for Weeks 6-9 to be released at a later date.
Aug. 25, 4 p.m.: Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice vs. Macomb Dakota at Wayne State
Aug. 25, 7 p.m.: Sterling Heights Stevenson vs. West Bloomfield at Wayne State
Sept. 2, 7 p.m.: Birmingham Groves at Oxford
Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m.: Clarkston at Rochester Adams
Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m.: Detroit Martin Luther King at Detroit Cass Tech
Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.: Detroit Catholic Central at Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice