American Hockey League News and Rule changes

“No-touch” icing - Automatic icing has been implemented, with icing infractions to be called and the play whistled dead when the puck crosses the goal line. Used in international, junior and college play, it should reduce serious injuries incurred during races for the puck. Tag-up offside - In a delayed offside situation, the offending player(s) will be permitted to negate the offside by "tagging up" with the blue line. This rule was in effect from 1986-96 and will enable more flow in the forechecking aspect of the game while reducing the number of stoppages. Larger neutral zone - The width of the blue lines and the center red line will be increased from 12 inches to 24 inches each, and passes will be permitted from the defensive edge of one blue line to the offensive edge of the other blue line, adding additional space to the neutral zone.

 Also, goal lines will be moved from 13 feet to 11 feet out from the end boards, and blue lines will be moved back accordingly to maintain a 60-foot attacking zone. This will increase the size of the neutral zone and reduce play behind the goals. Goalie restrictions - The AHL will implement, for the first seven weeks of the 2004-05 regular season, a limited test of a rule restricting the areas where goaltenders may play the puck.

This is a step designed to increase offensive opportunities without wholly eliminating a goaltender's ability to assist his defensemen. Following the completion of the test period, the AHL will evaluate the results and determine whether the rule's application will continue. Also, a recent decision to reduce the width of goaltenders’ pads from 12 to 10 inches has been delayed until the 2005-06 season, in deference to a request by the International Hockey Industry Association.

Two other significant announcements came out of the annual AHL meetings in Hilton Head, S.C. First, the AHL has reduced the number of qualifying teams for the Calder Cup playoffs to 16 (from 20) by eliminating the qualifying round. The format will still feature a divisional playoff, leading to conference finals and ultimately the Calder Cup final. The top four teams from each division will qualify for the postseason, and all rounds will feature best-of-seven series.

There are plenty of ice hockey camps held every year throughout the USA. Camps usually offer Intense training in power and speed skating, coaching in the fundamentals of defense-offense transition and development of skills in stick-handling, shooting and scoring and team play.

Junior College Ice Hockey Scholarships.

Ice hockey is also considered to be one of the fastest growing women's sports in the world. The main difference between men's and women's ice hockey is that body checking is against the rules in women's ice hockey, because women in many countries do not have the body mass or size seen in North American players.

Atlantic Hockey Association.  At the present time the Atlantic Hockey Association covers a total of five states, reaching from  the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.

The game is very popular in Canada and in some regions of the USA. Namely the Northeast, Alaska and the Northern Midwest. There are a total of sixty four members in the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Ice Hockey essays and stories from high school athletes.

The Central Collegiate Hockey Association, (CCHA), is a division I hockey only conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

A Game To Remember by Dennis Shiraev Three minutes into the second period I finally got onto the ice. The puck dropped and went back to one of our defenders, and we began a calculated break out from our end. I took off for the opposing zone. The numbers on my jersey must have started flying off as I accelerated past two defenders. I reached light speed just as I caught a juggernaut pass from my center man and started closing the forty-foot gap between the opposing goaltender and me.

“We are strengthening the sporting base of our country ( Barbados)by using the intervention in sports as a point of contact between the youth commissioners and the coaches and others as agents of the Government to make and maintain contact with those young people,” he explained.

Ice skating, is a sport in which participants wear steel-bladed skates and slide around on outdoor or indoor ice rinks. The sport of ice skating originated in the Netherlands and Scotland and was brought to the United states by Scottish immigrants in the1700s.

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