Monday, April 14, 2008
The "Avery Rule"
This is the reason for the so called "Sean Avery Rule"
ESPN:
"Sean Avery found yet another way to annoy Martin Brodeur -- and forced the NHL to change a rule in his honor
The NHL moved quickly to eliminate this activity by making an on-the-fly rule interpretation.
"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Colin Campbell, the NHL director of hockey operations, said in a statement.
That is exactly what you get from Avery, a talented player always looking for ways to push the envelope. He rarely stops talking on the ice or the bench, whether it's to opponents, teammates, officials or anyone who will listen."
...That was too funny and as someone who hates Marty I loved every second of it. I think the other players are overreacting to it (they are probably just jealous they didn't think of it) Someone said they thought it would not help "selling" the game, but it does just the opposite by putting something entertaining from hockey in the news. It is also good to see that the NHL joined in with the other sports making a "Sean Avery Rule" to go along with the "Rasheed Wallace Rule" and "Roy Williams Rule".
