NLL Insider

Being a first year GM in the NLL, I attended the GM’s annual meeting in Denver at the beginning of July. I mainly sat back and tried to take it all in. I had watched games during last year’s NLL season and shook my head at some of the changes. No off-ball cross checking? What the? I thought this was box lacrosse. A sport where a player’s toughness is on display nightly. I couldn’t understand why you would want to take that out.

The rules in the NLL are agreed upon by the general managers of all the teams, but changes and alterations start at the sub-level called the Competition Committee. This appears to be quite an influential group to sit on, yet far from enviable due to the amount of time that goes into serving that position.

During the meeting the committee chair Steve Govett elicited my opinion on the off-ball cross checks. I think my response surprised Steve. From what I gathered, the rationale for the rule involves allowing more flow on the offense much like some of the recent changes in the NHL. The secondary intention was to encourage participation by more American field players who are not used to that sort of working over.

According to the 2008 NLL Rulebook:

Rule 65: ILLEGAL CROSS-CHECKING: A legal crosscheck shall be a check on the arms below the shoulders and above the waist rendered with both hands on the stick, on an opponent with possession of the ball. The extension of the arms while the check is being delivered is permissible.
An illegal cross check shall be a check on an opponent above the shoulders, below the waist or on the back. The League may at their discretion, review any penalty assessed under this rule.
A defender who cross-checks a player, who is in a stationary position and not in possession of the ball, shall be assessed a penalty.
A player who uses excessive unequal pressure and force to cross check a non-stationary opponent not in possession of the ball, shall be assessed a penalty.

65.1 MINOR PENALTY: The referee, at his discretion, may assess a minor penalty, based on the degree of violence of the check, to a player who illegally cross-checks an opponent.

65.2 MAJOR PENALTY: The referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the check, to a player who illegally cross-checks an opponent.

65.3 GAME MISCONDUCT: The referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty and game misconduct, based on the degree of violence of the check, to a player who illegally cross-checks an opponent.

65.4 MATCH PENALTY: The referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgement, the player or goalkeeper attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by illegal cross checking.

65.5 FINES AND SUSPENSIONS: Any player who incurs a total of two (2) game misconducts for illegal cross-checking or any combination of illegal cross checking and high sticking in either a regular season or playoff game shall be suspended automatically for the next game of his team. For each subsequent game misconduct penalty the automatic suspension shall be increased by one game.

The other issue that seems to be a focus call for both last year and this upcoming year is the hits to the head.

Jay Jalbert suffered serious head injury two seasons ago from head-shots that ultimately has lead to his retirement. I myself retired in 2003 due to repercussions from head injuries. I think the general managers are solidified in their desire to rid the NLL of cheap shots to the head. No one wants to see a player’s career cut short from this, much less a player having to live with head trauma.

I think the genuine concern on the part of the competition committees is commendable. The reality of putting that into practice isn’t quite so straight forward. The committee has gone as far to create a rule matrix chart to assist the referees in doling out the appropriate penalty for head shots. As you can see below they have gone as far as inserting a clause where even the head coach is fined for his player’s actions. That’s serious.

Rule 79: DANGEROUS CONTACT TO THE HEAD: The League may at their discretion, review the penalty assessed under this rule and is subject to further fine and/or suspension and subject to player’s discipline history.

79.1 GAME MISCONDUCT: A major penalty and a game misconduct shall be assessed to a player who with force, strikes another player in the head and/or neck.

79.2 FINES AND SUSPENSION: A minimum $1,000 (One thousand) fine and automatic one-game suspension shall be assessed to the offending player on the first offense.

79.3 COACH FINES AND SUSPENSION: The club’s Head Coach will receive a fine if the same player commits a second offense during the same season which includes pre-season, regular season and playoffs.

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