Rob
Vanstone

SPORTS


Hall has mixed feelings over NHL game

Glenn Hall, goaltender, seldom missed an NHL game.
Now he rarely sees one.

"I don't watch hockey that much anymore," Hall says. "It bothers me. The rules need correcting."

The hockey legend known as Mr. Goalie questions the manner in which big-league games are played and officiated.

"In every other sport, they're trying to make the game better," observes Hall, who was in Regina for Saturday's Saskatchewan Sports Celebrities Festival Dinner and Auction -- which raised over $65,000 for Special Olympics. "Hockey is the only sport that's going in the opposite direction. Look at the replay rule. A nice goal will be scored, but somebody will have a skate lace in the crease so the goal won't count.

"You end up being all cheered out. You cheer for the goal. Then they go upstairs (to the replay booth) and wave off the goal. How do you take back the cheering?"

Hall is also rightfully perplexed over the issuance of delay-of-game penalties to netminders.

"I hate it when the goaltender shoots the puck, it goes over the boards, and they give him a penalty," Hall says. "He certainly didn't do that intentionally."

How could one tell if he did?

Goaltenders' blockers and trappers are not manufactured with shooting or stickhandling in mind. Neither is a cumbersome goalie stick.

Forwards and defencemen, by contrast, are able to control the puck with a much higher degree of facility.

Yet, a goaltender can be penalized for firing the puck into the 11th row. A skater can do so with impunity. Why single out the goaltender?

"Take that rule out," Hall states. "I haven't seen a goaltender intentionally shoot the puck into the stands in five years. The referee says it's intentional because the rule says it's intentional.

"Hockey games are being won or lost because of rules that shouldn't be there."

Although the NHL is cracking down on restraining fouls, there is still too much obstruction -- particularly in the neutral zone.

"People talk about the centre-ice trap and all the holding and interference," Hall says. "That's already written in the rules. It should be called.

"Is hockey different in the end zone than at centre ice? It's all a matter of interpretation."

Although Hall is critical of some aspects of the game, he is quick to emphasize its strengths.

He lauds the speed of contemporary players. He appreciates the skill level of elite performers such as Jaromir Jagr, Paul Kariya, Eric Lindros, Teemu Selanne, Wayne Gretzky and Peter Forsberg.

And he is especially impressed by the calibre of netminding.

Hall -- a 1975 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee -- is eminently qualified to discuss the state of goaltending.

He recorded 67 shutouts and a 2.51 goals-against average while excelling for the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues from 1952 to 1971.

Amazingly, he played in 502 consecutive regular-season games -- and 552 straight contests, playoffs included -- for Detroit and Chicago (1955-62).

"The level of (goaltending) talent is the highest it has ever been," says Hall, 67, who resides in Stony Plain, Alta.

Today's puck-stoppers benefit from improved protective gear.

"We didn't have any equipment, so the equipment didn't cost very much," remarks the Humboldt-born Hall, who played without a mask for most of his career.

"Our equipment was hand-me-downs. Today, kids are spoiled so badly that they have to have new stuff.

"There's the injury factor, too. The little guys are shooting so hard now that the chance of injury is so high. Parents don't want their kids to get injured because of equipment."

Exorbitant costs aren't restricted to equipment.

"The cost of tickets is ridiculous," Hall laments. "That's why junior hockey and the International Hockey League are attractive right now."

The NHL, meanwhile, could use some beautifying.

"I don't want it to come out that I'm down on hockey," Hall concludes. "It's a wonderful game. I just think it could be better."


From page B1 of The Leader-Post, Tuesday, February 9, 1999

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