One guy mercilessly trolled the NHL into creating a better rule book | Weird Rules

Roger Neilson manipulated the NHL rulebook so much that he landed in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He changed the sport, not just through these three rule changes, but also by instituting offseason training as well as the idea of studying video to plan for opponents. Who’d have guessed that’d help?

Rules include…
1. You can’t put anyone in goal for a penalty shot, it must be the goaltender and they must stay in goal
2. The goalie cannot leave equipment, such as his stick or even a mound of ice, in front of the goal after he has been pulled
3. If you intentionally sub too many men onto the ice it results in a penalty shot

[strikerrey]

"They should put under every rule: And here's why!"

Yes, they should. They really, really should. Laws too.

[daxshell]

ahaha. what was practice like? it was a book club. they would all read a chapter from the rule book, sit in a circle, and pick holes at it.

[americanIDOLfan]

Roger Neilson: “Okay everyone, strip naked and put all your clothes in the goal”.

[mcj]

Two more Roger Neilson stories, though not really relating to weird rules:
-In 1978-79 he was fired as head coach by the Toronto Maple Leafs; after outrage across the team and fanbase he was reinstated without missing a game, but the Leafs' cantankerous owner Harold Ballard's original plan was to bring him back as a "mystery coach" with a _paper bag_ on his head, that he was supposed to take off to reveal himself at some point in his first game back. Roger refused, came back as normal, but was again fired at the end of the season.

-In the 1982 playoffs he was coaching the Vancouver Canucks, a job he took over from Harry Neale who was suspended late in the season for attacking a fan in Quebec City, and who were en route to their first of 3 trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. During game 2 of the Campbell (Western) Conference Finals against Chicago, he felt his Canucks were getting the short end of the stick regarding penalties, so he put a white towel on a hockey stick and waved it in mock-surrender. He and three players who copied him were ejected and fined, but at game 3 in Vancouver _thousands_ of fans brought their own towels to wave at the game, and "Towel Power" was born. Roger even has a statue outside Rogers Arena depicting him with the skate & towel raised.

[jordanmay]

Ain't no rule says a dog can't play basketball!

[buddyd]

Always wondered if you dressed one of those guys that weigh 1000 lbs as a goalie and sort of form fitted him into the net. He wouldn’t have to move, you could even just leave him there between periods.

[chimericalical]

Reminds me of this nice spot to skate in the town I went to high school.

Initially there was no sign. Then we came and started riding skateboards, so they came outside and told us we weren’t allowed and one of us said “there’s no sign saying we can’t.” And for some reason they let us skate but a sign was posted the next day that said “no skateboarding”.

So we rode BMX bikes... then the sign said “No skateboarding or biking”.

The last time I saw the sign it said “No skateboarding, biking, rollerblading, inline skating, soap shoes, heelies, parkour, razor scooters, quad skating, or choreographed fighting.”

Note: rollerblade is a brand of inline skates in the same way Nike is a brand of gym shoes. So when “no rollerblading was added to the sign only the ones wearing those particular brand of inline skates stopped skating, but the rest continued to skate.”

[midnight]

Someone has to be a villain so that the protagonist can evolve and improve himself.

[mwm]

Truly a legend of hockey history. He was also the first to analyze game footage and is credited with introducing the rally towel to the NHL when waved a white towel on a stick to mock surrender because felt the refs were being biased.

[michaelscott]

A example of a soccer loophole would be in 2002 Sheffield United vs West Brom. United were losing 3-0 had used all their substitutes and were reduced to 8 men due to 3 red cards. With a 3 man deficit for the final 15 minutes a severe beating was highly likely which would adversely affect their goal difference (a tie breaker in English Football). Subsequently 2 players left the field "injured" and with no replacements allowed the referee had no option to abandon the game as the minimum number of players allowed is 7.

[xeno-crisis]

Finding loophole in rule book is basically 80% of what Formula 1 is about (And other motorsport as well)

[mr.cactus]

“There are not one, BUT THREE rules at least, changed because of his tomfoolery” Tomfoolery is an amazing word

[EpicUnderscoreJdog]

Can't believe Barbados vs. Grenada in the 1994 Caribbean cup hasn't been done yet... its my single favourite sporting odyssey of all time!

In short...
- Overtime was sudden death/golden goal for this tourney but special rule was the golden goal counted double
- Barbados needed to beat Grenada by two goals to move on to the next round, otherwise Grenada would
- Barbados was ahead by only one nearing the end of regulation time... meaning they would get knocked out
- Near the end they score on themselves intentionally, to even the game and send it to overtime
- Grenada catches on, they realize that if they score on either goal, they move on! They either win or they lose by one, both acceptable
- So now Barbados has to defend BOTH nets until regulation runs out and Grenada has to play offense both ways... hilarity ensues

[miracumaht]

According to Bob Miller’s Autobiography about his time on the Kings, that rule about the goalie stick across the empty net was actually the idea of Roger’s wife.
So a wife of a coach is credited with a rule in the rule book.

[shizuokaBLUES]

As a kid I loved Roger Neilson because he had such character. I caught him once at an exhibition game and asked him for an autograph. He laughed and said “sure hold my coffee would you”, and at 11 years I was delighted. He gave the autograph and then bought me a hot chocolate from the machine in the rink.
He probably had some idea how much that meant to me at that age

[kos]

I love to imagine everytime Roger found a loophole I can see an old hockey official yelling "ROGER!" while shaking his hand

[markdaniel]

That is not cheating or playing dirty. He was playing by the rules. Exploiting a loophole is still playing by the rules. He was apparently the only one smart enough to know the rules.

[BenjaminKassel]

Another idea for a hockey-based video: You could talk about the Brodeur rule, implemented first in the NHL and AHL solely because the greatest goalie of all time was too good at handling the puck.

[jaxon]

Why not pull a player for an extra goalie??

[tiger]

Marc-Andre Fleury tried the pile of snow in front of an empty net. He got caught.