PLAYER PROMPT:
Lias is not going to take a dive and do anything to draw attention to the fact that a stick that hit his chin would probably come up to somebody else's chest at most. He recognizes that due to his height, people are probably a little more likely to accidentally hit him in the face than they are other players. Unless he's actually bleeding or something, or he thinks it was done maliciously, he's going to just keep playing his game, he doesn't need to Plekanec his way through this. Lias is confident in his team's ability to win games without cheating, so he doesn't need to do any of that nonsense. However, if he is actually bleeding, he will spit the blood on the ice and act like he's going to start a fight (which is pretty laughable because, well, look at him, he would get demolished, but that won't stop him from pretending).
Hell no, there is absolutely no way in hell that I will try to sell a penalty that isn't one. First of all, because I hate when other people do it on my plays, and despite all the bullshit that comes along with religion if there's one good thing I learnt being forced to go to Sunday School is that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you (or don't do what you would not have them do). Second of all, a referee's job is hard enough and these kind of things are not helping them make the right calls when actual penalties happen. Finally, I am a dad of four children, one of which might well be on the opposing team and the other three just starting to play hockey and I want to lead by example, we are not liars on or off the ice, lying is bad, friends don't lie.
People faking penalties happens in every sport, some more than others (looking at you soccer and basketball) but it is still fairly common in hockey. Someone getting penalized for something for they did against you gives your team an immediate advantage which means people will try to abuse it. At least in hockey, that's where embellishment comes in, refs can penalize people for faking an injury or acting like whatever the opponent did was way worse than it actually was. It's not called very often in hockey but I still think it's a good thing, it prevents people from trying to cheat their way into a win, "sportsmanship" isn't enough to keep people from gaming the system. The main problem with it though is it's very subjective from a referee perspective, what is an embellishment? who can tell who is actually faking or not? it will drastically change from ref to ref (but I guess all penalties are kind of like that). Hopefully these calls can eradicate players trying to cheat all together and they won't need to be called anymore.
INTERVIEWER: Can you explain the situation that caused the skirmish between teams during the 3rd period of last night's victory against the Aurora?
DAVIES: Yeah, with 2 minutes to go the Aurora player, I don't remember which one since my brain is foggy from the hit, high-sticked me and I went down. This caused the Aurora bench, to come onto the Ican and attack our players. They got penalized and we got the Power play leading to the game-winner with 20 seconds left. It hurt but I think the surprise of the hit was bigger than the actual hit haha. I'll be ok for the next game.
INTERVIEWER: We have multiple far-away angles but no close ones can you please confirm if the hockey stick hit you in the chin, and don't lie because Head Office has extra angles that we don't even see.
DAVIES: Yeah I will say with 100% certainly still hit me though, Can I please leave now?
INTERVIEWER: Yes, that is all Greg. We will be in contact about a possible suspension or fine. But from what you've told me the league has seen this probably 1000 times before so you should be just fine. You and I know it's up to the Head Office.
Player Prompt- Makrus isn’t one to be real strict with rules. Things like showing up on time for practice or wearing pants in public. When it comes to playing hockey Makrus is fine with bending most rules. He is not above a cheat shot or sneaking a few insults in when helping another player up off the ice. However, Makrus draws the line at taking a dive. Its one thing to spit on players or goalies while trash talking in a big game. Its completely different to take a dive and try to win a game by drawing a penalty. That is no different than cheating. Makrus doesn’t even cheat at checkers despite never winning at checkers. If wining the game is only possible with a faked power play than Makrus doesn’t want to win. Makrus is confident his entire team and the league as a whole all feel the same way.
If that would ever happen to me, I would just start blasting. Diving has nothing to do with hockey, as it belongs to the football fields to gain tactics advantage over the enemy team, but not in hockey. Never in hockey. Regardless of the situation you sometimes have to think for your own honor and ass. As a matter of fact opposing to gain the advantage over the whole situation where I get violated with a hockey stick, I would give them the hardest cross check of their lives followed up by a good old brawl. Stuff like that does not get unpunished. Of course this would mean that we would probably end up going forward with the game as 4-on-4, or even end up shorthanded followed up by my idiocracy, but that does not matter. All of our guys are trained well for penalty killing, so we can manage it easily, or even end up getting the advantage ourselves when the guy who has been on a penalty ends up on a breakaway and ends the game there in our favor.
02-09-2023, 10:16 AM(This post was last modified: 02-09-2023, 10:21 AM by NYR73. Edited 1 time in total.)
I personally believing diving is a dirty and unfair way to play. It's one of the reasons I have a hard time watching other sports. However, I do believe that the amount of diving in the game is blown out of proportion simply due to the fact that the average person has no true understanding of how fast the game is played. It's easy for a trip or a slash to look like an embellishment when the players are moving at their speed. That being said, if it's a clear embellishment, it should be called as a penalty. But fans have to understand that there are going to be miscalls. It's very difficult for the refs to make these calls, again because of the pace of the game. I think it's hard to find a balance; if you're tripped and you get called for embellishment, or if someone embellishes a trip and you get called for it, it can be very frustrating. It's one of those things that's just an unfortunate part of the game, and there's not much we can really do about it.
I’m not a fan of diving in the NHL for the same reason I’m not a fan of diving in soccer or basketball. I think trying to bait calls has two bad outcomes. Either dives are called more often leading to more dives, or an overabundance of dives leads to legitimate penalties not being called in fear of it being a dive. I do think the NHL deals with them the best due to embellishment being a penalty, but I would still rather not see anyone take a dive at all. I’m not sure who currently has the biggest reputation as a diver, maybe someone like Crosby? While Crosby definitely had a big dive period nothing comes close to the early 2010’s Canucks in terms of dives. Kesler and the Sedin twins were the most egregious divers I’ve ever seen watching hockey and made it so the Canucks were my least favorite team in the league for quite some time. In conclusion, diving sucks and so do the Canucks.
hievements 5: Named Assistant Captain of Kelowna : Drafted 6 OA by Calgary : Named Captain of Kelowna
Diving to draw penalties is for cowards, a**holes, and cowardly a**holes. Taschen Messer doesn't take dives and anyone who does is immediately his enemy. Opponents who go to the ice a bit too easy can expect to go to the ice with considerable force the next time he encounters them. Teammates who dive should expect a glare of withering disapproval on the bench, and a rough time next practice. He hasn't really been with Tampa Bay long enough yet to have much influence in the locker room, but as a veteran leader in Great Falls during his later years in the J he certainly made clear to incoming players that such foolishness would not be tolerated. His code is to win with honor, lose with dignity, and never, but never, go down easy. If you have to cheat to gain an advantage then you don't have any business winning anyway. Come on now, you can do better than that. "Gamesmanship," please. Taschen has no time for that nonsense. Take a dive in his presence at your f**king peril.
Hockey Prompt: I think embellishment is definitely something that should be called more, but I don't think it's a huge deal. I think the most common thing I see that doesn't get called is high sticking penalties where the dude's stick barely touches anybody, if it does at all, and the guy just throws his head back like he got shot with a rifle. That's the most glaring example I see but it's really hard to crack down on that cause with the speed of the game it's almost impossible to tell if the stick smacked somebody really hard or just grazed his nose. There is occasionally dives and really bad embellishments with trips or cross checks but they're never entirely faked, usually there was something there but the player just really sold it and fell easy. I think calling both sides makes sense there because there was an infraction that gave the other player the opportunity to dive in the first place. There are obviously exceptions and I would like to see those exceptions called more, but as a whole I think embellishment is in a fine place. Puck over the glass penalties can go to hell though, just make it like an icing.
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I understand why some players would embellish certain actions on the ice. Getting a stick in the face should be a penalty whether it’s aggressive or not. If it touches your face you’re going to swing your head back, doesn’t matter the level of impact.
However, the ones where you twirl and slide from a pinky touching your jersey are egregious. You make yourself look like a fool. It’s just so over the top and makes a mockery of the game. There’s plenty of times where its legitimate obstruction that you don’t need to do an Olympic dive to get a call. You need to keep it somewhat honest out there, the refs have a hard enough job as is and they aren’t good enough at it.
I understand the competitive advantage you want to gain. It’s all about winning in the end and you should do whatever it takes to win, but come on. Find that line and stick to it, no need to go below the line.
Actually in a twisted turn of events, my player, who is a future Hall of Fame goalie by the way, will actually be the one to incite the violence. If I so much as feel air from a stick, I immediately high sticking the nearest winger with full force. My GMs Caleb and Toast condone this behavior, so perhaps this should be looked at more closely by the conduct review team within HO here. Wouldn't want another Piston's Bad Boys team to emerge into hockey. Being a goalie though, I get no penalty, as the referees and linemen will always take my side of things, and I'll have my own defensemen near me to start scrapping with me in case things get a tad TOO heated. I am entirely optimistic that I knock the enemy winger unconscious and out of the game so he will no longer be an issue to me for a few games.
Written Task: Do you do it? Would your player embellish the high stick? Take the dive? Try to get a call where there isn't one? Keep in mind a powerplay could win you the game here! These are important points in a playoff race! Would you take the opportunity, or is your player too hard-nosed for that? Are you a stick to the rules kind of player, or a take any chance you can get to win kind of player? (150+ words)
I don't think that BASE PACK would be above trying to sell a call to get a power play for the Philadelphia Forge. Sure it isn't "honorable" or anything like that but last time I checked they don't engrave your name on the cup because you were the most honorable player in the league or anything like that. And hey, we are trying to get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history so you have to get crafty. So if I felt a stick graze my head during a scrum in front of the net you bet I'm doing my best Mike Smith impression and acting like a sniper from the top row took me out. Hopefully the ref would buy it because I would be putting myself way out of position to make a save....but what else is new I guess right? At the very least if we go on a power play, that is less chance for the other team to score on me (hopefully) and I will take that every time.