Maybe you could have a two-zone area.
The outer part is if you step into this and don’t immediately step out within 2 seconds, it’s a penalty while the inner part is immediate penalty.
The outer part is if you step into this and don’t immediately step out within 2 seconds, it’s a penalty while the inner part is immediate penalty.
There's a much simpler answer: increase the size of the net. Hockey sticks are pretty incredible these days, and the torque generated from flexing the stick is pretty unbelievable. Playing in net in hockey is mostly about setting up at the right angles and blocking the highest percentage of the net that you can, combined with athleticism and instinct.
But a bigger goal would lead to more goals, if that's the end goal for the NHL.
Maybe it’s my goalie experience speaking, but the highlight of hockey to me was always the direct confrontation between a shooter and the goalie. The more chaotic the goals, the less interesting the sport is.
Just as the viability of 3-point shooters opened up the floor in the NBA, making it viable to score from the blue line in the NHL would open the ice as well.
When I was a kid in the 80s players would score from the blue line all of the time.
They were still relatively low percentage shots but a guy could absolutely score with a slapper from the blue line. Enough that you had to respect the threat. Not unheard of for a d-man to score 20 or 30 in a year.
As a fan that was fun too! Not as fun as a magical "sexy" Gretzky goal. But you could hear the anticipation in the building when the puck went back to some guy who had a cannon from the blue line. Al Iafrate, etc.
Today, if a defensemen actually scored from the blue line, the team would probably immediately release the goalie and fire the goaltending coach lol. Only reason to shoot from long range is so you can get the puck into the scrum in the slot and hope some something happens from there.
[1] https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/chara-levels-slapshot-blu...
Kids are also often playing with 1 goal and 1 goalkeeper and 2 teams trying to score (you have to move past half the pitch after regaining possession before shooting)- that way on 1 field you can have 2 games going on at once and only 1 person has to be the goalie in each of these games.
And we've played soccer on random backyards - you just put 2 backpacks as the goalposts and you're ready to go. I think the focus on rules and dimensions is very american, kids just want to dribble and shoot, the score and the minute details aren't important :).
As for replay they were introduced in high-level football last few years. It's called VAR and most fans hate it because it spoils the celebrations after a goal is scored and you have to wait to know if it's really a goal or not.
> handball calls are still shambolic.
that's because handball calls are interpretation of intent and slow motion won't help you with that.
So then they changed the rules to ignore the intent and it became a valid strategy for a striker to try to shoot the ball at a defender arm for penalty.
Average semi-professional game ends something like 6-3.
Average kids on the backyard soccer game ends 10-5 or something like that :)
Compared to "real" players kids suck as goalkeepers but so what? They are still having fun. The score doesn't matter that much at that level anyway.
Kids also usually play on smaller fields with smaller goals but it's not mainly because of scoring chance - it's because schools don't have the space and kids don't have the stamina to run for 90 minutes on a full sized football pitch.
I don't think anybody minds weird scores in lower level games.
He is not talking about backyard kids. He is talking about teenagers and adults playing hockey in hobbyist amateur teams. These typically tend to be much better players then kids in backyard.
These are semi-professional adults playing on full sized football field with regular sized goals for full 90 minutes.
It's not unheard of to score or lose 20 goals at that level :)
Also, I am still not talking about "reserve team". I am talking about hobbyists who want to have some fun while exercising and socializing, who maybe used to play in some team as kids but dropped out never being close to be stars.
Some adults don't just watch sports, they do actively play them.
Keep in mind that the number of kids who can pick a corner and kick a ball into it consistently is pretty small too.
The skill level of the goalie and the skill level of the kickers will actually likely balance out.
I think it would be easier to somehow limit area blocked by goalie equipment together - so if the goalie is very tall, pads would need to be either narrower or not that high to keep some max blocking area. And this is only IF we really need to do some change at all.