Strange, but it feels to me like that's what this blog is doing: languishing. ^^;; It's not that I've lost interest in hockey or anything, but I haven't watched a full game in a while, so I don't feel able to talk about them as mcuh.
Although, actually, Saturday's Toronto @ Edmonton (and yes, it is Edmonton this time =P) was very sad for me. Not only did Toronto lose in OT to Edmonton, but I also lost a possible win for my hockey pool!! I was SO sad! I mean, what are you supposed to do when you've got both Belfour (my very last day with him) and Salo on your team? Naturally you pick the goalie on the team you want to win, right? Geh. Well, at least I won't have to make choices anymore. The goalies I've got now are Salo and Luongo, so I'd have to be crazy to pick Luongo over Salo. =Þ I'd probably only play Luongo against Atlanta or Calgary or something, provided that Edmonton isn't also playing that night.
Oh, and speaking of goalie choices, I was utterly shocked tonight to find that the Oilers played Salo against the Coyotes tonight. Is Markkanen injured or something? The Oilers have a game against Dallas tomorrow, I thought they'd want to save Salo for that game? Then again, I just checked the score, and Salo actually let in a goal. D'oh. One out of only five shots too. Ouch.
Thank goodness my points production now has some possibility for life now that I've got Forsberg and Nolan (and lost Bonk), so I don't have to rely on my goaltending stats so much now! Forsberg scored a hat trick last night!! Yay Avs!
In other news, I picked up yet another hockey book today, "Centre Ice"! ^_^ It was a steal too--$7.99 plus 30% off, so total with tax was only $5.98!! I think it'll be interesting, it's about the Smythe family, the Maple Leaf Gardens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Of course I haven't a clue when I'll get the chance to read it. I still haven't even finished the Ron Ellis book, "Over the Boards"!
Talking about the Leafs (Ellis was a former Leaf), does anyone know if the Toronto Maple Leafs Superskills Competition would be worthwhile to watch? It's on Sunday, February 9, 2003 at 11:45am, for $15. I'd kind of like to check it out, but only if I can find someone else to go with me! Mostly I want to see Kaberle, Mogilny and Sundin closer up than I will be on the 18th, when I see the Carolina game. I'm sad though, because unless Weekes gets injured, I doubt that I'll get to see Irbe in action! =( Why is he having so many problems this year? It must be the new pads. =Þ Actually, I haven't even confirmed who I'm going with to that either! ^^;; I feel so unloved. ^_~
Whelp, I think that's enough rambling for today! If anyone's interested in the TML Superskills Competition, let me know!
Well, hopefully this will help boost my points production, I'm giving up Belfour and Bonk for Forsberg and Nolan. Apparently Forsberg isn't playing tonight because he's got the flu, but the trade doesn't take effect until Sunday, so it's all good. I just hope this isn't an omen of things to come--Forsberg being unable to play, I mean.
So far I haven't had the best of luck with the Avs players I've traded for; Sakic is on IR now with a sprained ankle. ::sniff sniff:: My poor Sakic! I hope he gets better soon!
Anyway, I'm going to miss Belfour, because having him on my team made it that much sweeter when the Leafs won, but I think I've built up a decent cushion in my SV%, and Salo's a solid goaltender, so I think it's the right move. Plus I feel kind of glad that I got the trade when two other people were also trying to make a deal with the same guy. =P It would've been nice if I'd been able to get Sundin, but Forsberg was the one I wanted first, so I'm glad I got him at least.
In other hockey news, tonight is the first game of the World Juniors!! Go Canada! It'd be awesome if we could take a gold, but as long as we get medals I'll be happy. I taped the 2hr special preview (for the World Juniors) last night, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
Speaking of things I haven't had a chance to watch, I got a tape of the Colorado @ VANCOUVER (edited) game in which Sakic scored his 500th as a Christmas present =D but I still haven't sat down to watch it yet!! Must do that soon....This was a great Christmas for hockey. ^_~ But I'll save that post for a later time since this is getting pretty long.
My brother mentioned a couple of days ago that he wasn't entirely surprised when I starting going hockey mad because he knew I had liked it before. Well, that took me by surprise, and for the life of me I couldn't remember the hockey watching incident from a few years ago that he cited as evidence of my prior fondness for hockey.
But now that I've thought about it some more, I do sort of remember liking hockey way back in grade ten--not so much because I liked hockey, but because I liked what hockey represented as a Canadian sport. Yeah, for some reason I became really interested in Canadian history in grade ten, and I felt a strong desire to support Canadian media and whatnot, so I taped the first episode of Power Play, a Canadian television drama based on hockey. I think I even watched the show regularly for a while, but I had long fallen out of the habit of watching tv by then, so it was easy for me to eventually forget about the show. Hmm...I wonder if I still have that tape around somewhere? It'd be interesting to watch it now that I actually know something about hockey.
I'm thinking that I really got the better end of the deal in the trade I made with Ben. Sure Sakic injured his ankle and has been out a couple of games now, but two of the three players I traded to Ben are out injured. Modano's been moved to IR now, and Deadmarsh still hasn't recovered from his concussion or whatever. I feel kind of guilty for being so happy about the trade now. ^^;; At least Comrie's been giving Ben the PIM he wanted, or else I'd feel totally awful.
Anyway, I got another Kaberle card (which I bought off of eBay) today! ^_^ It's definitely the nicest looking one out of the three that I have now. Yay for Kaberle! I really hope he stays a Leaf for a good long time, if not for all of his career!
Oh boy is my back tired! I went to Square One to get not one but three books by Andrew Podnieks signed: "A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs", "Hockey's Greatest Teams: Teams, Players and Plays that Changed the Game", and "Kings of the Ice: A History of World Hockey." Yeah, remember that one? I described it yesterday as being the same size as an unabridged dictionary, so you can imagine how painful it was to lug that thing around the mall for an hour! At least I had my heavy-duty MEC backpack, otherwise I would've been even more dead!
Anyway, Mr. Podnieks complimented my new scarf (Roots red and white striped one, Christmas gift from my suitemate), which was nice. ^_^ He has the same one. I always feel bad for authors when I see them doing book signings. It's not like they're super stars or athletes or anything, so they never have lines of people waiting to get their autographs. I bet it's pretty boring. If I ran a bookstore and I held a signing, I think I would assign a staff member to either sit or stand and at least keep the author company! Then again, I don't know if that would scare people off or something if they thought that maybe the author was occupied? ::shrug:: I dunno.
Oh my goodness...Yay!! I was just flipping through the "Kings" book, and right on page 1002 is Tomas Kaberle, listed as a star of the 21st century!! ^_^ Kekeke. Now I'm convinced that this guy really knows his stuff! =Þ
Some other random stuff: my mom got me three hockey calendars today, the Leafs and Olympic wall calendars, and a Game On off the wall calendar!! Ah, the hockey obsession grows. Can you believe it's been eight months and I love hockey even more than I did when I first got hooked? Amazing. Some might even say scary.
Last thing: if anyone's getting the Toronto Star would you mind saving me the sports section? I set my res subscription to vacation, so unless I get the paper from other sources, I'm going to have a three week gap (except for weekends) in my scrapbook. Not that it's a big deal, particularly, I mean, I've got tons of stuff for my scrapbook already, so three weeks isn't going to kill me.
Okay, this one is another one I'm seriously split over. I do need more points, and the fact that Havlat's a winger is also helpful since I've got a glut of centers, but I need to make up for some missed winger games. BUT Belfour's SV% is really amazing right now. He's maye not getting all the wins he should be since the Leafs seem to be having scoring problems, but he's a very solid goalie. Ultimately I do think Salo will be the better goalie, but right now his SV% is going down again, even though he's getting wins. Geh.
Plus I really enjoy having Belfour because it makes watching the Leafs win that much sweeter. It's also a source of consolation when they lose; I'm sad that they lost, but glad because his SV% is still good. But yeah, goalies only count towards two categories while other players count for all the rest, so......
Argh! Definitely gonna need help for this one! Suggestions, please and thank you!!
Woohoo! My collection just keeps growing! I picked up "Heart of the Game" and "Kings of the Ice" today. I've been eyeing "The Heart of the Game" for a while because I love John Newby's prints of kids learning to play hockey and stuff, and this book is basically a collection of a lot of his prints. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have my favourite piece in it: "The Spoiler." ^^;; Ah well.
"Kings of the Ice" was a really great deal! It retails for $69.95, but I got it for only $29.99! The thing is huge though! It's almost an Oxford or Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary! Really, though, I think it's going to be cool to read because it doesn't just talk about NHL hockey, it also has stuff about international hockey. ^_^
Geh!! I was supposed to finish reading my "Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs" book before I go to get it signed (tomorrow at Square One Coles ~7pm)! D'oh...guess I'd better get started.
I also got the Leafs 2002-2003 Yearbook! Yay. more pictures of Kaberle (and Mogilny and Sundin too)!
Oh, and I've been updating the main RHF site fairly frequently of late, so you might want to check it out! =Þ Yes, more shameless self-promotion!
Since I've got the computer right here in front of the tv, I'm going to be updating on the game while I watch. Hopefully something interesting will happen...
YAY!!! Sundin scored!! That was a really pretty shot too! ^_^ None of that defenseman kicking it into his own net or anything (I've seen a lot of that recently--think Rob Blake Fri. night).
Hmm...That was a bit weird. Why was the play called? I don't think Belfour was interfered with, so maybe he did something to someone else? Maybe he'll get me some PIM? That would be cool... Whoops, PIM doesn't count for goalies. Too bad. Yup, slashing. ::shakes head:: Belfour's pretty vicious, I've seen him take slashes at people before. It's because of that tendency that I doubt that I'll ever actually like Belfour, even though I admire him as a goalie.
Whoa, what's going on with the penalty kill tonight? Belfour's taking a LOT of shots. Ah well, good for me! ^_^ As long as they don't go in, it can only help my SV%.
Aw, c'mon Kaberle!! I want him to SCORE!! Speaking of Kaberle, did I mention that I decided to buy one of the photos? I got it for only $6.99 (plus shipping and handling) too! ^_^ Oh, and even before I ordered the photo, I won some Kaberle cards! Kekeke... I love them!! ::huggles::
Woohoo!!! Was that Kaberle who assisted? Yes it was!! Awesome!! That was an awesome goal too--so smooth! Pass to Kaberle right off the draw and straight to Antropov! VERY pretty! I wonder if I should start taping games just so that I can keep footage of pretty or otherwise memorable goals? I mean, I could always tape the replays, but then goals that I like might not be considered worthy of a replay...
Whew! That was a nice stop by Belfour! BOOOO!!! That one went in. =( Aw! Kaberle couldn't stop Lindros from making the pass.
What on earth is Ron Maclean arguing about? I think the hit on Svehla doesn't deserve nearly as much publicity as it's getting. I mean, even Svehla says that it was a clean hit, and it sure looked that way to me too. Of course, what do I know...
Bah. All this fighting. You know how I feel about that. BORING. Ruins the whole game. ::sigh::
Yay Kaberle. ^_^ He came back to back check and possibly prevented a pass that could've led to a goal.
OHHH...Next Sat. at 5pm, a special on Yzerman!! Gotta tape that!! =Þ I'm going to have a huge collection of hockey tapes by the end of this year, I think!
Woohoo! Nice play by Sundin to get the puck to Renberg for a goal! Oh, and awesome!! Domi got a goal too! =Þ I still think its funny everytime I see Domi score!
HOORAY!! It's done, and Belfour has an awesome SV%! I love it when the opposing team takes a lot of shots but can't score. =3
I have decided that I should never play my goalies (in the hockey pool) against Colorado, because it's kind of a conflict of interest. I mean, I was watching the game, and I was hoping that Colorado would win, but at the same time, because I was playing Salo, I didn't want them to get too many goals--well, that or I wanted them to take lots of shots so that Salo could make enough saves to maintain a good SV%. Anyway, you can see how it makes things a bit weird in regards to cheering for a team.
Oh, and speaking of that game, Sakic injured his ankle!! WAH!! I hope it's not serious. ::sniff sniff:: My poor Sakic!
What a blessing it was that I happened to go to the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) on Wednesday, because otherwise I wouldn't have found out about the book signing, and I wouldn't have met Ron Ellis! We spoke for probably less than two minutes, but the meeting left me very glad that he was my first face-to-face encounter with a professional hockey player.
I had purchased the book and was ready and waiting a full hour before the signing was supposed to begin. For forty minutes I sat at a table in the BCE foodcourt, nursing a hash brown and ice tea while I read the book, "Over the Boards: the Ron Ellis Story." At twenty minutes to twelve I moved to the entrance of the HHOF and sat on the floor, still reading. Just before twelve a table and chairs were brought out, so I stood up, still holding the book, and waited a couple of feet away.
Ron Ellis came out while they were still setting the books and stuff up--I recognized him from the picture on the back of the book--but I didn't want to go over until they were totally set up, so I stayed where I was, just waiting. I looked around at the group of kids sitting and eating at the entrance to the hall, and when I turned around, there was Ron Ellis, coming towards me!
He asked me if I wanted to get my book signed, and I blushed and sheepishly nodded. I hadn't approached him because I didn't want to be in the way while they were setting up, but he had noticed me and made the effort to come to me! When he asked me who it was for, I again felt a bit sheepish as I replied that it was for me. Are you a Leafs fan? he asked. Well, yeah, I hesitated and, embarrassed, added and an Avs fan. Ah he said, a hockey fan then. Probably beet red by then, I merely nodded. He finished writing a short message, signed with a flourish, and I said my thanks and left, with a silly grin on my face.
On the subway, all the way back to res, and even up to now that grin remains on my face, along with a little happy glow in my heart. I feel blessed to have been able to meet a man who I will always think of as great--not because of his hockey abilities, or even because of his strength of character and determination in overcoming physical handicaps and depression, but because he cared enough to notice a young girl standing off to the side waiting, and because he's the type of person who can leave a feeling of warmth even in the briefest of meetings. Another thing I'm grateful for is the blog, where I can record my feelings and preserve them as a happy memory.
Sidenote: You know, I've acquired an awful lot of hockey books since last summer--so many that I've started reading about five of them and haven't finished any yet--but I suspect that I'm going to cherish this one the most, partly because of my encounter with the author, and partly because of what he wrote in my book:
To Melissa: Glad to hear you are a fan. What's this about the "Avs." - Ron Ellis
Sakic has become the 31st player in the NHL to get 500 goals, and the 13th to do so for one team! Yay Sakic!! ^_^ He certainly deserved the standing ovation! I'm glad he got it in his home province too. =D So happy, can't think of anything to say...I've been waiting for this all year!!
Subtitle: Why I should never go anywhere near the Hockey Hall of Fame, especially when I have no money!
I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) today to pick up part of someone's Christmas present, and afterwards, on my way to Union Station, I saw an author doing a signing at the Coles bookstore. Guess what the book was called? "Deceptions and Doublecross: How the NHL conquered hockey" (emphases are mine). Well, you can guess what happened. Even though I would never consider buying a regular-priced book for $34.99, after at least ten to fifteen minutes of internal debate, I ended up buying the thing!! @_@ I'm hoping the book really is as interesting as it sounds.
Oh, and that's not all! While I was at the HHOF store, I saw a Sakic away jersey, size S!! I was SOOOO tempted to buy it, even though it was $170. Luckily I tried it on and realized that medium would be better. I mean, it fit fine over my sweatshirt, and today's shirt is about as thick as my winter garb (not including jacket) normally is, but there wasn't a lot of room to spare, so it wasn't all that comfortable.
The store also had these t-shirts with the Avalanche logo on the front, and Sakic written on the back! Again, I was able to overcome temptation only because of sizing issues. This time it was the opposite problem, though, the shirts were too big! They only had L and XL, so unless I decided to replace my Kenshin nightshirt by buying an XL, there wasn't much of a point in spending $28 on a t-shirt.
I did, however, end up buying a Mogilny 8x10. ^^;; Yeah, I know I shouldn't spend so much on photos, especially since I don't have any place to display them, but I just couldn't resist! At least I managed to talk myself down to only one photo, considering that they had nice Kaberle and Sundin photos as well!
And as if that wasn't bad enough, as I was paying I noticed a flyer advertising Ron Ellis' book signing, for his new book "Over the Boards." I've already made plans to go down there on Friday to buy the book and to get it signed. ^^;; Luckily this book isn't as expensive as the other one; it's only $23 this time.
Argh!! I have no self-control! But I'd rather spend a bit too much now, knowing that I will be able to pay for everything before my Visa bill is due, rather than forever regret missing the opportunity! Still, I must be a marketer's dream! Commercials, ads, special limited-time offers, I fall for everything!!
You're actually considering buying something like this when you have no money!! Actually, you're probably nuts to be thinking about it at all! (If you haven't clicked the link yet, here's a hint, it's Kaberle-related!)
Really, Lisa? There's a street in Burnaby named after Joe Sakic? That's so COOL!!! Now I definitely have to visit B.C.!! =3 Thanks for the info!!
Oh, and I want Sakic to score his 500th tomorrow too! The sooner, the better; but you're right, cykopaf, tomorrow would be perfect for Sakic since he'd be reaching such an important milestone in his home province. I'm just being selfish in wanting to be able to get it on tape!
Argh!! Why is TSN showing the 8pm Boston @ Ottawa game tomorrow and not the 10pm Colorado @ Vancouver game!! This could be the game when Sakic gets his 500th!!!! NOOOOOOOOO! I'm going to have to listen to it on the internet. =( I could always hope that he holds off on his 500th until Friday, when TSN is broadcasting the 9pm Colorado @ Edmonton game. If Sakic doesn't score on Wednesday, I'm going to ask my parents to tape the Friday game for me! I really want to get his 500th on tape, even if it isn't pretty!
Oh, in other news, when I came home (to Mississauga) on Saturday night, I found out that my TSN Team Canada Collector's Magazine had arrived, and, best of all, it had an article about Yzerman and Sakic, "mirror images." =Þ Guess that explains why they're my two favourite players. More specifically, it explains why Yzerman is still my second favourite player even though he hasn't been able to play so far this season, and I've been obsessing over Kaberle so much; you'd think Kaberle would've overtaken Yzerman as second favourite by now, wouldn't you?
Speaking of favourites, Mogilny's been moving pretty high up on my list too. Ever since my friend Alan told me to read the article on him in the Star, I've been noticing him more in games, and I'm pretty impressed. Even when he's not scoring, you can always hear his name in the commentary, so you know he's doing a lot of work out on the ice. Plus I watched the Hockey Central interview with Mogilny, so how could I not admire a guy who considers himself to be only a B+ player, and who says there are no downsides to playing hockey in Toronto (under the intense media scrutiny) because he gets paid to chase around a piece of black rubber on the ice, so how could there be a downside!
I'm liking Sundin a lot more too, especially after reading yesterday's article about how his speech to the team on defense might have been a turning point for the Leafs. As the season's gone on, I've been able to get a better idea of just how good a leader Sundin is.
Heh, all the media (newspaper and tv especially) that the Leafs get around here makes it more and more difficult to be a diehard Avs fan. I'd still say I'm more of an Avs than a Leaf fan, but the margin between the two has decreased a lot already this season. ::sigh:: I really wish I could watch more Avs games...
Hey! That gives me an idea...but no, March 24, 2003 is a Monday. Too bad. =( If the Avs were going to Buffalo on a weekend, I was thinking maybe I could still get tickets and go, considering how poorly ticket sales are going for the Sabres this year. Ah well, maybe next year.
How could I almost forget?!? Sakic is now ONE GOAL away from his CAREER 500th!!! ^_^ HOORAY!! Oh, and the Colorado Avalanche website has a feature article on him! I'm such a nerd, I took screenshots of the article so I could keep a copy of it forever!
Whoa, I've got a lot of stuff to talk about tonight, so I'll do my best to be concise. Tonight's game would've been great to watch if it hadn't been for all the fights. Maybe I'm showing my gender here, but I find that fights take away from the game, not add to it. I don't understand why "guaranteed fight nights" would even be considered a way to promote hockey. Anyway, I loved all the pressure, speed and grit in tonight's game and I would've liked to have seen more of that rather than all those fights.
Well, at least I got some work on my hockey scrapbook done, albeit not much. I haven't been able to keep up with it regularly, so now I've got a stack of newspapers--mostly the Toronto Star, with some Toronto Sun and Metros thrown in--that comes about halfway up my calf. @_@ Tonight I managed to do do one week (Oct. 5-13) and five pages. I think that getting up to date with this thing is yet another goal I'm going to set for this Christmas break. Once I manage to catch up, I'm going to have make sure I keep up with it at least on a weekly basis, otherwise I'm going to be swamped again come summer--when I won't really have time to work on it.
Now the temptation part. After two months of abstinence, since November I've become reaquainted with eBay, and that's not a good thing. My income is practically non-existent, and Christmas is almost here, but I've got opportunities to buy two autographed Kaberle photos, and I'm extremely tempted. Kaberle photos are even more tempting than Sakic photos because he's not nearly as popular, so I can buy them for a lot less--but it doesn't really matter how much you save when you're spending more than you have. ^^;; Deep down I know that I shouldn't buy either photo, but I'm really wrestling with myself right now. I've always considered myself to be a spendthrift, but I've also always believed that I have enough common sense to not spend beyond my means. Now I'm not so sure. It's hard to pray about something when you're pretty sure you're not going to want to hear God's answer, but I guess that's what I'm going to do tonight.
Oh, and speaking of Kaberle, there was an interview/segment/thing on him aired tonight on Sportsnet, and I got my bro to tape it at home!! ^_^ Yay! I want to tape the thing tomorrow on Mogilny too!
Did anyone check out my webpage when I first posted the link? Well, I admit that it wasn't particularly well-developed at that time, but I've almost completely finished it now, so PLEASE go visit it! Please? I honestly think it's the best thing I've designed yet, so I actually want people to see it! Oh, and I also need to know whether or not it works properly for people who aren't using IE 6.0 with an 800x600 resolution, since it uses iframes and absolute positioning and stuff. ^^;; Anyway, when you do visit (c'mon, you know you want to!) try clicking the "home" button and see if you notice anything! ^_~
Who on earth would bid one hundred something dollars US for standing room only tickets?!? Even if they are for the Colorado @ Toronto game?!? Absolutely nuts! Unless, of course, the person is planning on being a non-paying bidder, or it's a friend of the person selling the tickets, trying to jack up the price. -_-;; I really wouldn't be able to understand it otherwise; for that kind of money you might as well buy from a scalper, at least you'd probably get a seat that way! ::rolls eyes:: There's obsessed or passionate, and then there's stupid about hockey.
::hits self with a fish:: Call me dumb, but I've been talking about buying an NHL rulebook all this time when the rules are available online at NHL.com. D'uh! =Þ
Since someone asked, here's what the official rule is on icing:
Rule 65 Icing the Puck
(a) For the purpose of this Rule, the center red line will divide the ice into halves. Should any player of a Team, equal or superior in numerical strength to the opposing Team, shoot, bat or deflect the puck from his own half of the ice beyond the goal line of the opposing Team, play shall be stopped and the puck faced-off at the end face-off spot of the offending Team, unless on the play, the puck shall have entered the net of the opposing Team, in which case the goal shall be allowed.
For the purpose of this Rule, the point of last contact with the puck by the Team in possession shall be used to determine whether icing has occurred or not.
(NOTE 1) If during the period of a delayed whistle due to a foul by a player of the side NOT in possession, the side in possession "ices" the puck, then the face-off following the stoppage of play shall take place in the neutral zone near the defending blue line of the Team icing the puck.
(NOTE 2) When a Team is "short-handed" as the result of a penalty and the penalty is about to expire, the decision as to whether there has been an "icing" shall be determined at the instant the penalty expires. The action of the penalized player remaining in the penalty box will not alter the ruling.
(NOTE 3) For the purpose of interpretation of the Rule, "icing the puck" is completed the instant the puck is touched first by a defending player (other than the goalkeeper) after it has crossed the goal line and if in the action of so touching the puck, it is knocked or deflected into the net, it is NO goal.
(NOTE 4) When the puck is shot and rebounds from the body or stick of an opponent in his own half of the ice so as to cross the goal line of the player shooting, it shall not be considered as "icing."
(NOTE 5) Notwithstanding the provisions of the section concerning "batting" the puck in respect to the "icing the puck" rule, the provisions of the final paragraph of Rule 59(e) apply and NO goal can be scored by batting the puck with the hand into the opponent's goal whether intended or not.
(NOTE 6) If while the Linesman has signalled a slow whistle for a clean interception under Rule 77(c), the player intercepting shoots or bats the puck beyond the opponent's goal line in such a manner as to constitute "icing the puck," the Linesman's "slow whistle" shall be considered exhausted the instant the puck crosses the blue line and "icing" shall be called in the usual manner.
(b) If a player of the side shooting the puck down the ice who is on-side and eligible to play the puck does so before it is touched by an opposing player, the play shall continue and it shall not be considered a violation of this Rule.
(c) If the puck was so shot by a player of a side below the numerical strength of the opposing Team, play shall continue and the icing violation shall not be called.
(NOTE) If the Team returns to full strength following a shot by one of its players, play shall continue and the face-off shall not take place.
WASH-OUT
(d) If, however, the puck shall go beyond the goal line in the opposite half of the ice directly from either of the players while facing-off, it shall not be considered a violation of this Rule.
(e) If, in the opinion of the Linesman, any player of the opposing Team is able to play the puck before it passes his goal line, but has not done so, play shall continue and the icing violation shall not be called. If, in the opinion of the Referee, the defending side intentionally abstains from playing the puck promptly when they are in a position to do so, he shall stop the play and order the resulting face-off on the adjacent corner face-off spot nearest the goal of the Team at fault.
*NEW*
If, in the opinion of the Linesman, the goaltender leaves the crease on a potential icing and feigns playing the puck at any time, the potential icing shall not be called and play shall continue.
(NOTE) The purpose of this section is to enforce continuous action and both Referee and Linesmen should interpret and apply the Rule to produce this result.
(f) If the puck touches any part of a player of the opposing side, including his skates or his stick, or if it touches any part of the opposing Team's goalkeeper, including his skates or his stick, at any time before or after crossing the goal line, it shall not be considered icing.
(NOTE) If a goalkeeper takes any action to dislodge the puck from the back of the net, icing shall be washed out.
(g) If a goalkeeper has been removed from the playing surface for an extra player (Teams at equal or superior in numerical strength), the icing rule shall be in effect if the puck passes through or touches any part of the goal crease before it crosses the goal line.
(h) If the Linesman shall have erred in calling an "icing the puck" infraction (regardless of whether either Team is short-handed), the puck shall be faced-off on the center ice face-off spot.
Basically, if you send the puck from behind your blue line past the goal line (where the goalie is?) of your opponent's zone, if an opposing player touches the puck first, it's icing. Of course, if someone on your team manages to touch it first then it won't be icing, which is why people rush to get the puck. If a ref thinks that someone from the opposing team could have played the puck, then icing will be waived. It also gets waived if the goalie plays the puck, or it hits someone on the opposing team on it's way down the ice. I think that's basically it. ::shrug:: You know it when you see it: usually the puck will go sailing down from one end of the rink to the other and then players will rush back to touch the puck.
