College hockey games have been as short as two hours this season, thanks to the NCAA’s new 15-second faceoff rule.
The rule mandates that the visiting team puts its personnel on the ice no more than five seconds after a whistle. The home team then has five seconds to position its players, followed by five more seconds before the puck is dropped.
Both the NCAA and the NHL adopted the rule after it worked well in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The change hasn’t had a big impact in the pros because television timeouts negate the rule’s effect several times each period. But nontelevised college games have been about 30 minutes shorter than they were last year.
“We just needed a few games to get used to it,” MSU senior defenseman Brad Fast said. “But it’s been great for the tempo of the game, it keeps the play moving real quick.”
Basically, the rule forces players and coaches to plan their faceoff strategies ahead of time, and then hustle into position after a play stoppage. If a team is offsides when the puck is dropped, it gets a warning. A second violation constitutes a two-minute penalty.
While MSU hasn’t had much trouble adapting, some other teams have struggled to get ready in time. The Spartans won at least two uncontested faceoffs Friday because the Northern Michigan players weren’t lined up when the puck was dropped.
“We just have to adjust, as does everybody,” Northern head coach Walt Kyle said. “It’s a great rule. It’s going to really help our game at all levels.”
On the periphery, the rule complicates radio coverage because producers have to squeeze 30-second commercials into 15-second breaks in the action.
“I really like the fact that it quickens the game up,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “But the question is, does it quicken it too much?
“It’s almost like it’s a race to get out there after the whistle. Maybe that will smooth out over time, I don’t know.”
Hair we go
Apparently, Fast and sophomore forwards Mike Lalonde, Jim Slater and Ash Goldie, are part of a new subculture on the MSU team.
“We call ’em loafs,” senior defenseman John-Michael Liles said. “They just have these loafs on top of their heads.”
Liles, of course, is talking about his teammates’ moppy hair styles.
The four players are skating this season with much longer ’dos than they sported last year.
They decided to grow their locks independently of each other, not as a team-unity, national-championship-or-bust gimmick.
But now that they are all in the same situation, Lalonde said the barber’s scissors might not appear until Christmas.
“I’m going for however long I can handle it,” Lalonde said. “It’s getting pretty tough right now. Every week, me and Slater talk about cutting it, but it never really happens.”
Fast said he doesn’t mind the term “loaf,” but he still took a verbal jab at his blue-line buddy Liles.
“He’s definitely jealous of my hair because he still has his bad dye job from the summer,” Fast said.
“We have nice hair and Liles doesn’t.”
Migs playing big
Some say numbers don’t lie. Others say they don’t tell the whole story. But one thing is certain - sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio’s statistics sure look better than freshman goalie Justin Tobe’s through four games.
Migliaccio is 2-0-0 with a 1.71 goals against average and .930 saves percentage.
Tobe is 0-2-0 with a 7.80 goals against average and .803 saves percentage.
Injury report
Sophomore left wing Brock Radunske (bruised back) and freshman right wing Colton Fretter (mononucleosis) will both be ready to play against Lake Superior State at Munn Ice Arena on Thursday and Friday.
Fretter has yet to play this season. Radunske has missed the last three games.
Rank
After splitting a series at Northern Michigan last weekend, the Spartans (2-2-0 overall, 1-1-0 CCHA) fell two spots to No. 12 in the latest USCHO.com national poll and three spots to No. 13 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine ranking.
