NHL Hockey Rules

Last weekend Dennis and I were watching a few hockey games. For the unaware, this year the NHL introduced a bunch of new rules to help boost the popularity of hockey -- and overall, I really like the new rules. No more ties (I think I'd lengthen the OT period before going to a shootout, though), less restrictive 2 line passes, and less goalie gear means a faster/higher scoring game.

But something interesting happened in a game (I think it was the Colorado/LA game, I may be wrong) and I haven't heard anyone discuss it. The new icing rule states that the icing team cannot do a line change if they get called for icing (a common tactic to get a line change in). In this game, the Avs pulled their goalie at the last minute and they dump the puck to get into the offensive zone.

Only, they iced the puck in doing so. Since the faceoff occurs back in the Avs' zone, they naturally put the goalie back in the net. The refs allowed this to happen, even though the Kings questioned this because it's technically a player change. Interesting. An edge case for sure, but this rule is already under fire from an enforceability point of view and it seems a bit inconsistent to allow the goalies to change in this situation.