Quote:
Originally Posted by Philly06Cup
Someone in a previous thread suggested banning all stick-on-body contact. Sticks are meant for playing the puck -- not to attack or obstruct the players. That would be an interesting experiment.
Any tap on a player's body -- slashing
Any horizontal stick *touching* a player -- hooking
Any horizontal stick used to push another player -- cross-checking.
Some might cry that is going too far, but I wouldn't mind seeing what that kind of hockey would look like. In theory.
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Might have been me. IMO the current "system" is impossible to referee probably. If we go with the idea that some hooking, some crosschecking and some slashing is okay, there's just no way a referee can probably assess which slashes, hooks and crosschecks are actually dangerous. This "system" has never worked, and will never work. There's just no way things can get better while the rules are treated "more like a guideline".
Temporary crackdowns might make things better for a while, but we've seen that those never last very long. They don't address the core problem.
I also think it would make the game more physical. Slashing is now pretty much the same as hooking used to be; the lazy solution for players who can't be arsed to position themselves properly, or who can't keep up. Taking away stick options would force players to use their bodies to stop the other sides forwards, and that would mean more hits and more battles for those positions.