Friday, March 4, 2011

Loose Ends

When was the last time you heard of a hockey player being tossed for a loose jersey? Same here. It hardly happens if it happens at all. Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins had it happen to him.

Letang received a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down. He didn't loop the belt through the tab on the back of his jersey which was caught while he was duking it out with Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils.

How about that? Getting kicked out for not tying up some loose ends and not for fighting. Well as they say rules are rules. But rules are made to be broken and this is one the NHL should've let go. At least let him go to the locker room and have the equipment manager hook him up.

Rule 46.13 states that jerseys not  “tied-down on”  on player who egnages in fisticuffs and that jersey become dislodged, a game misconduct must be called. A player doesn't receive the sanction if his jersey comes off even when its tied down due to equipment failure, although it does have to be reported to the NHL.  

I think this is a rule that sould be modified. 

4 comments:

schu said...

This rule is used to prevent injuries. Before it was introduced many players would simply let their jerseys be pulled off of them in a fight which would allow them to swing freely because the opponent would have nothing to hold on to. Also this article is extremely bias. If it was a flyers-penguins game and Mike Richards or Chris Pronger didn't tie down his jersey I'm sure you wouldn't want the referres to just "let it go"

Unknown said...

Schu, I'm not a big hockey fan, so I don't have a dog in this fight. I really don't care. I think it's rule that should be modified. Don't throw him out the game. Let him get it taken care of in the locker room.

Anonymous said...

The tie down rule is there for a reason. if the get ride of it guys will not tie down their jerseys let it get pulled off and hammer the other guy cause he would no longer have anything to hold onto. I agree with schu this is a bias article. If it was the other way you would have said nothing.

Unknown said...

Like I said, I'm no big on hockey, nor a memeber of the hockey elite so school me on the rules. Besides, I'm a Red Wings fan and not a big fan of Pittsburgh. So there is no bias.