Day 77, Rule 76 (Part 2) and 77

The games: Montreal vs. Vancouver. New Jersey vs. Toronto.

Why I chose them: Vancouver is in the middle of an historic road trip -- I wanted to see if they were still standing. JS Giguere and Dion Phaneuf debuted with Toronto -- I wanted to see if a new day dawns in Toronto.

Nice move: A new day indeed...Giguere debuted with a shut out. Vancouver's still standing, and they cut the lead to one goal late in the game.

The rules: Section 10, Game Flow. Rule 76, Face-offs. Rule 77, Game and Intermission Timing.

Number of sections in the rules: 8 (Rule 76). 3 (Rule 77).

Definitions/finally I get it: 76.4, Procedure - Centers. The puck shall be faced off by the Referee or Linesman dropping the puck on the ice between the sticks of the players facing-off. Players facing off will stand squarely facing their opponent's end of the rink approximately one stick length apart with the blade of their sticks on the ice. When the face-off takes place in any of the end face-off circles... the sticks of both players facing-off shall have the blade on the ice, within the designated white area. The visiting player shall place his stick within the designated area first followed immediately by the home player.

77.1, Game Timing. The time allowed for a game shall be three (3) twenty-minute periods of actual play with a rest intermission between periods.

77.2, Intermission Timing. Pay shall be resumed promptly following each intermission upon the expiration of seventeen (17) minutes or a length of time designated by League from the completion of play in the preceding period. Teams get a warning at 2 and 5 minutes prior to the resumption of play, to ensure it starts on time.

Favorite highlights/I always wondered about this one too: 76.4, Procedure - Centers. If the center attempts to arrive at the face-off spot just as the five seconds elapses in an attempt to gain an advantage to win the face-off, he is removed from the face-off and replaced, resulting in a face-off violation.

And, at last, I get the whole encroachment thing: 76.5, Procedure - Other Players. Players on the attacking team (exclusive of the center) must establish their position first and then the defending team may counter and hold its position until the puck is dropped. A violation of this procedure shall be treated as face-off encroachment and the Linesman shall order the center of the offending team replaced. Later, in 76.6, it states that "Face-off encroachment may be applied during face-offs at any of the nine (9) face-off spots on the playing surface."

The final scores: Toronto 3, New Jersey 0. Montreal 3, Vancouver 2.

Morals of the story:

The game: So, what if the one stick in the "one stick length" is illegal? Is that where they bust out the drawing of the imaginary line to measure the stick length? Also, I now see the connection to the refusing to start play rule. You get the five minute warning, you don't start play, you're toast. And what's with the coming into the face-off at the last minute to gain an advantage? How do you get away with that? Everyone's there, the Ref's there and they're waiting for you and you think you're going to just stroll on in at the last minute and say "sorry I'm late?" Good luck with that.

Life: I need my own personal Referee and/or Linesman to travel with me on the Light Rail, Bus and Streetcar, so that when smelly people who brought their pet elephant and three Macy's shopping bags on board get in my face, they can be waved out for encroaching on the personal space bubble. For violation of the personal space face-off, citizens without a shred of common sense about when close is too close shall be assessed a bench minor penalty. A bench minor will consist of being kicked off TriMet and forced to walk to work for a period of no fewer than 30 days, giving them plenty of time to walk in the great outdoors so that they can better acquaint themselves with the concept of open space.

Next up on 2/4: Section 10, Game Flow. Rule 78, Goals.