Over the past few weeks, there have been some questions asked pertaining to some of the new rules.  In an effort to answer those questions consistently and to provide our membership with the most current rules information we have assembled a FAQ memo.
 
Please review this information and distribute it immediately to all of your seminar instructional staffs so they are able to correctly answer these questions.  Also, if you have other ways to distribute this information (i.e. newsletters, websites, etc.) please feel free to do so.
 
If you have any other related questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
 
Dave LaBuda
USA Hockey
​National Referee-in-Chief

Dear MIHOA Members:

MIHOA attended the USA Hockey Annual Congress this past week alongside Missouri Hockey and the Missouri Amateur Ice Hockey Youth division representatives. Being a rule change year, the various group discussions centered on the many proposals that were put in front of the membership for ratification. While I do not have the entire summary available, here are three prominent rules that the USA Hockey Board of Directors approved for implementation:
 

• At the Bantam (14U) and below age categories, a shorthanded team is no longer permitted to ice the puck without a consequence. The consequence is that such a situation will now result in an icing call by the officials and the resulting faceoff will occur in the offending team’s defensive zone similar to when both teams are at equal on-ice strength.

 
The key reasons discussed to approve this change focused on puck possession and the development aspect of making plays. Also, many felt that allowing a team to ice the puck rewarded a team that was just penalized for an infraction.
 

• All faceoffs will occur at one of the nine dots on the ice.

 
This rule received almost unanimous approval due to the simplicity of managing the game.
 

• Rule 601 now includes language for racial/ethnic slur to include any language that is “offensive, hateful or discriminatory in nature”.

 
This language change allows for a wider variety of poor behavior to be penalized with a game misconduct where racial/ethnic slur was more specific.
 
MIHOA seminar instructors will be working with USA Hockey to incorporate these and any other rule changes into the fall seminar curriculum. We will also be reaching out to the coaches to schedule time in their seminars to discuss our Zero Tolerance Initiative along with information regarding these new rules.
 
Lastly, due to the loss of Hardee’s Iceplex, we have been working diligently to establish our seminar dates and locations. Please visit the MIHOA website as this information has been posted and you are now able to plan ahead.
 
I sincerely hope your summer is an enjoyable one.
 
Sincerely,
 
Bob Howenstein
MIHOA President