[Otto-matic]

Training camp will take on a little more importance than usual for most NHL goalies this September.

The NHL, with the approval of the National Hockey League Players' Association, has changed the rules governing the length of a goaltender's leg pads for the 2013-14 season, making them a bit shorter so that they don't block as much of the five hole between a goalie's legs.

The previous rule, instituted prior to the 2010-11 season, was that a goalie's leg pads could not go higher on his leg than 55 percent of the distance between the center of his knee and his pelvis. So if a goalie's upper-leg measurement was 20 inches, which is roughly the average number in the NHL, the pad could not go higher than 11 inches above the center of his knee.

That number will now be 45 percent, so the same goalie will be able to wear a pad that goes no higher than 9 inches above his knee.

http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=680860