The league has had enough – this rule is changing mid-season
The league is making a significant change to the rules regarding coach challenges during the season.
The league announces that from now on, a failed coach challenge will result in a two-minute team penalty for delaying the game, just as was done last season. This change will take effect on Monday, November 9, when the league resumes after the national team break.
This season, an exception rule was introduced whereby a team loses its timeout as a result of a failed challenge. This rule change was made at the request of the clubs, as teams do not have access to all the same camera angles as the league’s situation room.
However, the league’s board believes that the reform has not worked as intended. It has been observed that teams are using challenges even in situations where there was no real need for a video review.
– During the early part of the season, we have seen that teams are challenging even clear situations without a real purpose for the challenge and are using the time taken for video review as a timeout or to interrupt the flow of the game, says the chairman of the league’s board Jyrki Seppä in a statement.
The number of coach challenges has increased significantly. Last season, there were a total of 75 challenges in 480 regular season games, while this season there have already been 42 in the first 161 games.
At the same time, the success rate of challenges has dropped from last season’s 55 percent to 36 percent.
The league’s CEO Mikko Pulkkinen considers the rule change necessary for the smoothness of the game.
– We want to keep the game moving, not waste time on unnecessary video reviews. Coaches still have the full opportunity to challenge unclear situations, but according to IIHF rules, at the cost of a penalty. The change made now normalizes the situation, Pulkkinen states.
From now on, the first failed challenge will result in a two-minute penalty, and subsequent failed challenges will result in a 2+2 minute penalty.
Coaches can still challenge situations related to possible goaltender interference or offside.
If a video review fails due to a technical issue, the on-ice decision remains in effect, but the challenging team will not be penalized.
Muutos astuu voimaan tänään maanantaina 9. marraskuuta, kun Liiga
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