What Are the New Standards of Play Rules in Ice Hockey?

As the game of ice hockey progresses, new rules and changes are constantly being adapted for the sport. USA hockey has established their standards of play, which attempts to increase the amount of skill a player can have. Under these rules, emphasis is put on skating, puck possession, and proper body position to establish a competitive advantage.

The main purpose of these new rules is to help eliminate potential penalties and place all the emphasis on skill, so that better players will excel in the game. That way, a player who has better skills will not lose their advantage due to illegal penalties from other players. For example, under these rules, a player can only use his stick to play the puck and is not allowed to use it to interfere in any way with any other player. Additionally, a player may not use his or her stick to impede another player that is currently skating. A similar note, players are not allowed to use their hands in order to grab onto another player or in order to block an opponent. Finally, another key rule under the standards of play emphasizes the players are not allowed to intimidate other players or behave in any dangerous manner.

Some of the meantime was there focused on in the standards of play include hooking, holding, and interference. A player may not hook his or her opponent in an attempt to gain an advantage. Because of this, a player is not allowed to use his or her stick to pull on any part of the body of an opponent. Additionally, a player cannot put his or her stick in the skating lane of opponent in an attempt to slow them down. The holding penalties act in a similar manner in that a player cannot use his or her arms in any manner in which to slow down or impede another player's progress. It does not matter if the opponent has the puck or not, any action that slows the players down resulting from a hold will be called a penalty. Interference is another penalty is focused on in the standards of play and it states that player is not allowed to interfere or block any opponent. This means the player is not allowed to check or block any player that does not currently have the puck. Additionally, if a player purposely changes his or her speed or skating lane in attempts to set a pick against opponent, it will be ruled and interference penalty.

Source: USA Hockey Rules