ICING - NEVER A GOOD THING

The debate over the physical risks of “touch icing” has been back on the table this past week.

It was once again moved to the top of the pile because of a horrific injury, this time defenseman Kurtis Foster of the Minnesota Wild was the victim of what many are trumpeting as a needless play in today’s NHL.

In case you’re not well versed in the rules governing icing here’s a brief primer: Should any player or goaltender of a team equal or superior in numerical strength (powerplay) to the opposing team, shoot, bat or deflect the puck from his own half of the ice beyond the goal line of the opposing team, play shall be stopped. This is completed the instant the puck is touched first by a defending player (other than the goaltender) after it has crossed the goal line. However, if a player of the side shooting the puck down the ice who is on-side and eligible to play the puck does so before it is touched by an opposing player, the play shall continue and it shall not be considered a violation of this rule.

Many pundits, powerbrokers and the players themselves are ramping up the rhetoric in an effort to rid the game of this dangerous event. Reportedly, in a poll of NHLPA members, the results were overwhelmingly in favor of abolishing “touch” icing in favor of “no touch”. No touch is just as it sounds – As soon as the puck crosses the goal line the play is whistled dead. No race, no crashes.

Of course there is also the devil’s advocate faction, many of them team managers who witnessed a no touch icing trial run in the AHL during the NHL’s Lockout. They hated it – felt it killed the flow. (But better the flow die than a player, right?)

So what to do with this issue, what to do?

I’ll tell you what I’d do. Instead of altering the rules that govern icing I’d just do away with icing all together.

Why do we still have it in our game? What purpose does it serve? Would the game suffer without it?

I don’t know. I’m not sure. And no it wouldn’t.

OK then, let’s envision this “Razorfied” NHL that is now sans icing. A puck is sent down the ice by a team that has been pinned in its own zone. Instead of a race, a whistle, and a faceoff back in the defensive zone of the team that “iced” the puck, the goaltender would simply be expected to play the puck. (Nowdays almost every goalie handles the puck as well as a player does) Yes, that’s it. It’s that simple. Oh, and an esthetic improvement would be the removal of the center redline that currently defaces every team’s logo at center ice.

This icing-free game would unfold exactly like it does today during powerplays. When the shorthanded team ices the puck the goalie wanders out of his crease and either sets the puck up for his teammate, or he relays the puck up the ice in an attempt to catch the penalty killers tired or in the midst of a line change.

I’ve always felt icing was dumb. It helps tired or inferior teams, and it stops the game for no real reason.

So instead of backing up the dumbulance to cart away another player who has attempted to chase down an icing call – and lost, Razor is calling for the Competition Committee to abolish the “Old NHL” rule altogether!