Will Diving Be More Difficult or Easier to Call?

[CentreHice]

Against the Habs on Saturday, Tie Domi got called for diving and it led to the 3rd Montreal goal. Good, he got caught.

In the Ottawa game on Sunday, he skated in front of a Sens d-man and fell down, drawing a Sens penalty. Even the Leafs announcers (Bayak and Ralph) said Domi took a dive.

Now, Domi isn't the only one who will feign (and has feigned) interference and stick fouls.....but it raises the question of whether or not diving will be a more frequent call or not.

My logic says that since the refs are calling what seem like minimal stick infractions and clutch/grab as compared to years previous, it follows that it should be more difficult for today's "infractions" to bring a player down. In my thinking, diving will seem more than obvious, and the diver will (and should) get the only penalty.

Keeping an eye on the stand-alone dive stat will be interesting, as I feel it should be as easy to penalize as the hook, clutch, grab.

[seventeen]

It will probably depend on the degree of difficulty of the 'dive'.

[Polarice]

I hate to say it but I think it will depend on the player, with someone like Domi, it would take a little more than a little tug with a stick to pull him down, the refs know this so when he does go down from a little tug, they call a diving penalty.

[blny]

It's all dives when you think about it. Even a hard tug at the hip or elbow isn't going to make someones feet fall out from underneath them. I would be more inclined to call a hooking penalty in a situation where the person being hooked is actually trying to skate through it rather than fall down like they were shot.

[CentreHice]

blny said:

It's all dives when you think about it. Even a hard tug at the hip or elbow isn't going to make someones feet fall out from underneath them. I would be more inclined to call a hooking penalty in a situation where the person being hooked is actually trying to skate through it rather than fall down like they were shot.

I agree. But marginal talents like Domi will actually grab someone's stick and put it around themselves to make it look like they're being hooked.

I saw Shayne Corson do it several times as a Leaf. I understand, "do anything to get your team the edge"....but with several camera angles of it, it hurts the integrity of the game. Hopefully two referee angles will be enough and they'll call what should be more blatant dives without the coincidental minor.

[Andrew]

I don't want to see this game turn into soccer. I hope that they crack down on divers - even by throwing suspensions at repeat offenders.

[blny]

andrew said:

I don't want to see this game turn into soccer. I hope that they crack down on divers - even by throwing suspensions at repeat offenders.

I concur. Obvious dives should be given 10 min misconducts to weed them out.

[CentreHice]

After the Leafs took 12 penalties and played dismal hockey in losing 5-2 to Buffalo....are the excuses ever coming out of Toronto...biggest among them, can you believe it, is that their opponents are diving.

"Hello, is this the black kettle? Pot here."