tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I just came across this history of the rules on Google Books and had to share:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wY...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Fantastic anecdotes are sprinkled all through it, including some curiosities about why the rink and rules have developed to what we know today:
It's funny to think that every rink, even those which have no chance to ever be on television, has yellow kickplates because of this.
The author is a former curator of the HHoF.
http://books.google.com/books?id=wY...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Fantastic anecdotes are sprinkled all through it, including some curiosities about why the rink and rules have developed to what we know today:
The kick plate at the bottom of the boards is painted light blue or yellow for the benefit of television. This contrasting band of color serves to define the boundary of the ice surface for the TV viewer. Early in the color-TV era, an experiment was staged in Madison Square Garden that saw a broad band at the bottom of the boards painted fire-engine red. This red band proved to be too dark, however, making the puck difficult to follow. The light blue or yellow kick plate was reinstated.
It's funny to think that every rink, even those which have no chance to ever be on television, has yellow kickplates because of this.
In the early, six-team era of the NHL, a more relaxed approach to the bench and its occupants was taken... One of hockey's greatest feuds was between Toronto's Conn Smythe and Boston Bruin coach and general manager Art Ross. The bitter dispute, which was orchestrated for publicity as much as anything, came to a head in 1939. Smythe put an advertisement in the Boston Globe on December 19 stating that the Bruins played "sleep inducing" hockey and that if Boston fans wanted to see the classiest team in the league, they should make their way to Boston Garden to watch the Leafs that evening. Smythe appeared behind the Leafs' bench wearing a top hat and tails and badgered the Bruins most of the evening.
Madison Square Garden in New York didn't even have a penalty box. Penalized players sat in an aisle behind the Rangers' bench. Some chairs were set out in the aisle and, depending on how many players were occupying the "box", an appropriate number of New York's finest would surround the guilty parties to ensure that Garden fans seated nearby didn't interfere with justice.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs claimed Bill Berg on waivers from the New York Islanders on December 3, 1992, Maple Leaf coach Pat Burns responded to his newest charge by admitting, "I wouldn't know Bill Berg if I hit him with my car."
Tripping, holding, charging, interference, hooking, even a call known as "loafing offside" were major penalties in the first 10 to 15 years of the NHL's existence. For the first infraction, a player was sent off the ice for 5 minutes. For the second major foul in the same game, the player was penalized for 10 minutes. If the player committed a third major foul in the same game, he would be "ruled off for the remainder of the match".
The author is a former curator of the HHoF.
