The following rules were adopted during the meeting, and there is also one that still needs to be determined.
• A two-minute minor penalty will now be assessed to any player who removes his helmet prior to an altercation (fight). If the helmet comes off during the fight, or from actions of his opponent, the minor will not be assessed.
• The attainable-pass rule on icings has been removed and icing is now back to the "old" way of calling it, which means a player must touch the puck on the opponent’s side of the red line instead of just being in the area. I actually like this rule because if you can't make a tape to tape pass, why be rewarded!
• The mouth-guard rule now has been changed to any player participating in play without a mouth guard will be assessed a 10-minute misconduct instead of a two-minute minor.
• The ECHL has elected to not go with the four-inch smaller nets like the NHL. We have elected to take a wait-and-see approach to see if this helps in the offensive side of the game.
• As far as goalie equipment, the ECHL is still in the process of determining if, or when, we will adopt the new equipment regulations. This is a complicated matter as we have to look at it from the standpoint of whether or not it is possible to enforce with all the call-ups from leagues below that will not be using the new guidelines. We will get back to you on this in a later blog with any updates.
