National Hockey League Makes Rule Changes for New Season
It’s mid-September and hockey season is under a month away. With that being said, on Sept. 11 the NHL unveiled a few new rule changes for the upcoming season. The notable changes are as follows:
- Goaltender trapezoid: The area in which the goalie is allowed to play the puck behind the net has been expanded by two feet on each side of the goal posts. It will give goalies a bit more room to play the puck so they can better maneuver behind their own nets.
- “Spin-O-Rama” shootout move: Players will no longer be allowed to do a “spin-o-rama” on a penalty shot or a shootout attempt. Some fans disagree with the new rule as it can take away from the creativity of a shooter but this may be a small first step in the NHL getting rid of the shootout entirely. That’s a longshot as of now though.
- Overtime: During the regular season, overtime is usually started right after a TV timeout. Now, there will be a dry ice cut between the end of the third period and start of the overtime period. On top of this, teams will switch ends prior to overtime starting. Switching ends may prove to be tough for the home team as they will have to go further up the ice to change lines.
Those are just a few of the rule changes for the upcoming 2014-2015 season. They may not be significant to the fair weather hockey fan but for those who know the sport very well these new rules can change the game. For the complete list of rule changes, click here.
