Obstruction Revisited
League Promises Stricter Enforcement...Again
By Bob Grove

Ask any National Hockey League player and he'll tell you the rule book is an evolving document. It is entirely natural for a season to begin with the introduction of one or more new rules or new interpretations of existing rules.

What has been promised by the NHL this season, however, could have more far-reaching effects than any of its most recent initiatives. The league, simply put, will call interference—these days known as the dirtiest of words, obstruction—to the letter of the existing law.

Rule 67 (a) calls for a minor penalty to any player "who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck." Rule 67 (b) notes that a penalty will be given to "a player who restrains an opponent who is attempting to forecheck." In the neutral and offensive zones, players have become accustomed to opponents engaging in such interference on almost every shift. The initiative is designed to create more space for players and to encourage forechecking, perhaps indirectly weaning teams off forms of trapping.

"The focus is going to be on a player who no longer has body position using the stick, using his free hand, bumping in a way that gets him back into the play after he's been beaten," says NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Because the NHL endeavored to crack down on interference in 1995 and 1998 only to watch players and referees gradually revert to previous standards, players around the league are taking a wait-and-see attitude about this effort. But the NHL's very public communication of the initiative, and establishment of a hierarchy of league oversight of officials, underscores its seriousness.

"It's the way the game should be," Mario Lemieux says. "It got to the point where it was almost unplayable out there the last few years."

The recent proliferation of the trap and the tacit permission of clutching and grabbing has led to a decline in scoring, and that doesn't excite fans. "Everyone from the league on down to the managers felt that it was time to start calling the rules the way they are," says Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe, "and allow for talented players to do what they do best."