But look at the rules: if a player's stick is parallel to the ice and he barely touches another player, nine times out of ten it's going to be called a penalty, and nine times out of ten that hook had a negligible effect on the play. When little things like that are allowed, the other team will do the same and they will balance each other out. Blatant penalties, like I mentioned before, like hauling someone down with your stick, or hacking their legs out from under them, or smashing them face first into the boards should be called obviously, but little penalties that have little to no effect on the play or the motion of the game should be ignored. Those little penalties are like driving 2 miles an hour over the speed limit, it makes no difference and authorities should recognize it. Everyone does them, it's just a matter of who gets caught. Plus, those little hooks and holds are what causes tempers to rise, and we all know that makes for good, entertaining hockey. (admit it
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[I don't know if you've noticed, but the intensity of these playoffs (with a couple of exceptions) is much lower than usual and that's because players are more cautious about what they do because the referees won't lay off and let them play. Usually in hockey playoffs, things pick up, but so far players are playing at the same pace they did during the regular season. It's a little disappointing. But that's not a big issue, I'm sure things will gain momentum.]
Also, that delay of game penalty for hitting the puck directly over the boards is a bad rule, too. It should be automatic for the goalie only, and up to the ref's discretion whether or not a player intentionally did it. After all, almost every single time that occurs, it's an accident. A player can just as easily ice the puck if he wanted a faceoff. And if he is unable to ice the puck, then the ref should be watching out for players purposely hitting the puck over the glass. It's an issue of referee competence.
)[I don't know if you've noticed, but the intensity of these playoffs (with a couple of exceptions) is much lower than usual and that's because players are more cautious about what they do because the referees won't lay off and let them play. Usually in hockey playoffs, things pick up, but so far players are playing at the same pace they did during the regular season. It's a little disappointing. But that's not a big issue, I'm sure things will gain momentum.]
Also, that delay of game penalty for hitting the puck directly over the boards is a bad rule, too. It should be automatic for the goalie only, and up to the ref's discretion whether or not a player intentionally did it. After all, almost every single time that occurs, it's an accident. A player can just as easily ice the puck if he wanted a faceoff. And if he is unable to ice the puck, then the ref should be watching out for players purposely hitting the puck over the glass. It's an issue of referee competence.
