10 college hockey rule changes you may notice this season
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 1—GRAND FORKS — More than 20 new rules are coming to college hockey this season.
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Most of them are designed to pull the Division-I men's hockey rulebook closer in line with the NHL rulebook.
Here are some you may notice:
1. There's a trapezoid behind the net, showing where goaltenders can play the puck and where they can't. Goalies can no longer touch the puck in the corners.
A key part of the rule: the puck is the determining factor. A goalie can stand in the forbidden area, but cannot touch the puck there. Otherwise, it's a minor penalty.
2. You can't use timeouts in no-line-change situations anymore. Coaches often use timeouts after an icing call when their players are tired. They can't do that anymore.
3. Tossing a stick into the crowd results in a game misconduct. In the past, there was no real punishment for doing it after an overtime winner. But three game misconducts result in an automatic one-game suspension, so if you do it, it brings you a step closer to an automatic suspension.
4. A player's feet can enter the offensive zone before the puck if he has puck control with his stick. The key point here is "control with the stick."
5. Matching penalties with differing times in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime will be implemented in a new way. If there's a two-minute minor assessed to Team A and a five-minute major assessed to Team B, usually there will be two minutes of 4-on-4, then Team A will have a three-minute power play. Now, if this happens in the last five minutes or overtime, the three-minute power-play portion begins immediately.
6. Hand passes are allowed in the defensive zone. Note: The hand pass has to be completed entirely in the defensive zone. If it starts in the defensive zone but is completed in the neutral zone, it's a whistle.
7. If a goaltender freezes a dump-in from the opposite side of the red line, it's a no-line-change situation.
8. Fighting disqualifications require "repeated punches or attempted punches." The Committee felt there were some incidents where players got disqualifications on what amounted to shoving matches.
9. Officials can no longer independently review for a major if they don't catch it on the ice in real time. If no penalty is called, teams will need to challenge to start a video review.
10. There are new timeout rules. You no longer get an extra timeout for overtime during the regular season. Teams also cannot call back-to-back timeouts on the same stoppage.
Fans in the West also may notice officials working games for multiple conferences.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference director of officiating Mike Schmitt, Central Collegiate Hockey Association director of officiating Marco Hunt and Big Ten director of officiating Steve Piotrowski are collaborating on schedules.
Hunt said part of it is an effort to make sure their best officials are working more games.
In home-and-home series — like North Dakota and Bemidji State on Oct. 9-10 — you may see the same officiating crew work both nights. One night, they'll be wearing CCHA jerseys (in Bemidji). The next night, they'll be wearing NCHC jerseys (in Grand Forks).
In the past, you'd often see different crews work each game.