Despite a few concerns, the MIAA considers the first statewide hockey tournament a success

FRANKLIN – With the first winter of the MIAA’s new statewide tournament in the books, the ice hockey committee received overwhelmingly positive reviews during Wednesday’s in-person meeting.

“Obviously the tournament was very, very different this year,” said tournament director Scott Paine, the Athletic director at Scituate, “but I thought it was very, very successful.”

One major change under the new format was giving higher seeds the ability to host tournament games through the Round of 8. Paine and MIAA Assistant director Richard Pearson cited feedback that presented concerns with the lack of MIAA presence at some games and how they were run.

“We’ve said before, hockey is a little different,” said Pearson, noting that now Venues are not controlled by the schools.

After more than an hour of discussion, the committee voted unanimously to recommend to the tournament management committee that additional support staff can be sent to Round of 8 Venues, rather than having the MIAA assume management of that round – as it does now beginning with the state semifinals.

▪ The committee unanimously approved three rule change proposals regarding penalties and game disqualifications.

The first would remove the rule book modification that a player is given a game misconduct upon compiling eight or more penalty minutes in a single game. Doing so would default to the existing National Federation of State High School Associations rule of a game misconduct for 10 or more minutes.

The committee also voted to recommend reducing the penalty for a game disqualification (a more severe penalty than a misconduct) to a one-game suspension, rather than two. Ice hockey is currently one of three MIAA sports – along with baseball and soccer – that carry the stiffer penalty.

In voting to recommend the change to game disqualification, the committee also agreed to remove the rule that any disqualification during tournament play would render the individual ineligible for the rest of the tournament.

All three proposals will go through the MIAA rule change process next year for potential implementation during the 2023-25 ​​cycle.

▪ In approving the tournament format for 2023, the committee approved the addition of the NFHS rule that assesses a minor penalty to any team that has more than 22 players dressed on the bench. Also, the format clarifies the procedure that teams will continue with the long change for all overtime periods, rather than alternating ends of the ice.

▪ Committee members discussed the margin-of-Victory component of the MIAA power ratings, currently set to a maximum of three goals for a single game in ice hockey. While there were concerns about how the power ratings affected in-game strategy – playing time, pulling the goalie late, continuing to press for additional goals – there was no recommendation to ask for any change from the MIAA tournament management committee.

▪ Framingham AD Paul Spear, the Mass. State Hockey Coaches Representative, presented the idea of ​​awarding 1 point for a losing team in a regular-season overtime game (similar to the NHL system). But the committee concluded that under the new statewide format with less Reliance on winning percentage for qualification, a change wasn’t necessary.

Jim Clark can be reached at [email protected].