Speedy delivery

New rules changes make greatest game even better

The challenge in the television world has been capturing the on-ice essence of NHL action and transferring that to the small screen. And at first glance, the effect of the amendments to Rules 17 and 54 to speed up line changes and face-offs would make the task only more difficult. However, in the final analysis, the positive effect of the changes already seen on the ice also may help the television product.

True, with shorter stoppages between play, there is less time to tell ancillary stories and show extra replays. But if the goal is to bring the speed and energy of the sport to the medium, the current pace of play can’t help but come across better than ever.

The sizzle of the sport is the action, and that is certainly central to the early going of this 2002-03 season. With the league simultaneously eradicating interference by clarifying the standards for impeding player progress away from the puck, along with cutting out the downtime within game by allowing only 18-second stoppages for line changes and face-offs, the tempo has been breathtaking.

In an era when baseball games routinely run more than three hours and football is approaching a four-hour viewing window, the NHL is shortening its game, which is a significant and positive step. The lengthening of the games in football and baseball has much to do with the impact of television and advertising. There is no debating the role and necessity of those dollars to the economic viability of all sports, hockey included.

Yet while the stop-and-start nature of those other sports may lend itself to television production, added downtime in hockey hurts the product because hockey at its best has flow. In hockey, better television is possible in the form of more continuous activity -- the game alone has a chance to grab and hold the interest of the viewer.

Call it playing to your strength. Instead of compromising to accommodate the necessary element of television, the NHL's adopted on-ice adjustments only enhance the long-held view that hockey is the best live sports experience. Faster games, quicker pace of play and more open ice all augment that reputation. With the game action more energetic, television can adjust and find the benefits. After all, everyone else in the game is making adjustments: referees, linesmen, coaches and players. And everyone is enthused. Florida Panthers coach Mike Keenan -- the active dean among bench bosses -- commented that these modifications are the best he has seen since he came into the league. On the bench, everyone has to stay alert, and Keenan likes the fact that the shorter recovery time between shifts heightens the emphasis on fitness.

Carolina Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice was likewise enthused. He said that the days of teams resting their top players with in-game stall tactics are over. That means more minutes for the other lines. To illustrate, Maurice figured that his third line -- usually centered by Josef Vasicek, with Jaroslav Svoboda on the right side -- likely would see an increase in minutes from 12 or 13 per game to 15 or 16. Maurice also conjectured that a by-product of the hurry-up mandate might be that he will have a tougher time getting Ron Francis and Rod Brind'Amour on the ice together as often as in the past.

Regarding the play away from the puck and the emphasis on calling obstruction and interference infractions, Maurice said the biggest thing he noticed was that guys are getting to the net "intact" -- striding, instead of being forced off balance -- with sticks on the ice.

Ultimately, all of this should mean more scoring chances, more entertaining hockey and, by default, better television.

Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for CNNSI.com.

 

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