I guess if you can't win with skating, puck handling and team cohesiveness then you play physical? Well then.

Once again, more pressure on youth refs. Look people, a ref only calls a bad game if he/she is inconsistent. As a youth coach, that's the ONLY time I even remotely consider saying something to a ref. They have a tough job indeed and you (parents) won't always see it like they do. Cut them some slack until they become comfortable with the new rules.

You simply cannot put the onus on the Refs to change the game. change has to come from the coaches telling thier players that they simply will not tolerate these type of hits, that they will sit an entire period if it happens. And then stick to it, even if it is your best defensmen or forward. Kids will make the adjustment, and coaches will change if they are losing games becuase thier best plaeyrs are sitting. It is an enitre mind set change.

I knew the MSHL would have a knee jerk reaction to the unfortunate Jablonski incident. As was stated earlier this has to come from coaching from pee wees to high school if we want to eliminate it completely. I have been to 10 High School games this year prior to the Jablonski incident and all i saw were penaltys for head collisions, add these new penalties and refs will be determining outcomes of every game. I dont think that is what the MSHL's intentions were.

It's really unfortunate that it took a catastrophic incident to have the high school league take more onus with the officials. There are many, many coaches who teach players to play within the rules and there are few who teach otherwise. The problems have risen from the officials not penalizing those teams who play outside of the rule book. Hockey can still be a fast and physical game, but the hands, elbows and sticks to the head have to go away. These types of plays will ONLY end when the men in black and white call them consistently EVERY TIME FOR EVERY TEAM.

The game from the stands is quite different than the ice. Coaches need to tell the parents to sit down and shut up. The abuse refs take is terrible. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. A large number of young referees leave because of the verbal abuse. How would you like someone standing outside your cubicle yelling obscenities every time you did something the other guy didn't agree with?

Another knee jerk reaction..... Way to go MSHL.

I called a boarding on Monday, the Coach didn't appreciate me throwing out his captain after getting yelled at for 3 minutes the coach joined his captain. The coach got his pound of flesh for me following the updated MSHSL rules, but I won't take a second of getting berated over well you could have called it a cross-check. When the info we got states do not call it a minor for something else.

It all has to start in the youth programs in order for there to be a dramatic change in how players check. If you are taught nothing at the lower age groups about proper checking technique where usually a good check is simple skating hard to get in postion in front of an opponent to cut him off or slow him down rather than the glamour of trying to knock him off his feet. It will be difficult to change things over night. If the calls are and were made according to the rules then players would not be taking each other out from behind. This was and always will be the most dangerous hit in hockey whether it is at the boards or in open space. Call them and then penalize them with ejections period. One other thing we learned at an early age was you could protect your self by positioning your body tight to the boards which will take away most of the shock from a hit by a opponent, that way you can not be sent crashing into the boards head first or at bad angles if your body is up straight and tight against the boards it helps absorb the hit. Another thing was when we played there were no face mask or mouth guards which resulted in players keeping their sticks down. Most injuries at that time came from accidents. Its a shame we weren't more proactive instead of being reactive. Most cuts we usually received were from acidental high sticks or being hit in the mouth or face with the puck. Hockey is a game to be played for fun not for someone to be injured. My heart goes out to the kids that were severly injured.

Don't let the coaches have the ability to choose who will and won't ref their games. Years a go a coach would intentionally make the refs stay and wait for payment if he didn't like the calls.