Possible face-off changes

[Chousnake]

Maybe we should do away with goalies...no goalies allowed in basketball and goalies can have an outsized impact on the game...

Seriously, having a great face-off group, whether a win it to yourself guy or a battle it out group should matter...but we keep seeing contests where the initial face-off is won by the 'better' FOGO, and yet the possession is so contested, ride is so hard, that early turnovers end up resulting in similar actual offensive possessions.

Obviously dominating that battle is an advantage. Being dominated is a disadvantage.

But nevertheless, a hot goalie and stout defense can create the stops necessary to create enough O chances to win if the O is efficient...it's a team game.

Coaching the face-off unit is just as important as finding a good face-off man.

So is officiating the faceoff, which does not happen.

It's the most over officiated play in lax by a long shot. I am not a face off expert, but it appears that 30-50% of face offs result in a whistle at some point with some kind of violation. That is just too many stoppages and too much officiating. And when the knowledgeable fan can't tell why one player or another committed a violation, something is wrong. I don't want to eliminate the face off at all, nor do I want rule changes every two years as we have been seeing, but I sure would like something done about the way the face off is officiated. Something is causing the violations and some officials call more violations than others. It takes away from the sport when so many face offs are decided by the officials. What is the fix for that?

[youthathletics]

Maybe we should do away with goalies...no goalies allowed in basketball and goalies can have an outsized impact on the game...

Seriously, having a great face-off group, whether a win it to yourself guy or a battle it out group should matter...but we keep seeing contests where the initial face-off is won by the 'better' FOGO, and yet the possession is so contested, ride is so hard, that early turnovers end up resulting in similar actual offensive possessions.

Obviously dominating that battle is an advantage. Being dominated is a disadvantage.

But nevertheless, a hot goalie and stout defense can create the stops necessary to create enough O chances to win if the O is efficient...it's a team game.

Coaching the face-off unit is just as important as finding a good face-off man.

So is officiating the faceoff, which does not happen.

i'm with you on a lot of stuff, youth. but not this. guys make calls, and they miss calls occasionally. but not more frequently on faceoffs.. and it's a tough adjudication.

most coaches with or without a stud mail it in. period.

No doubt, calls are missed, I get that...but that does not discount we are missing an opportunity to clean it up without changing the rules. I just believe the officials need better positioning and mechanics for this event. With a 3 man team, after the ref sets the ball, maybe he does not back out behind players, but continues to straddle the midline with the another official working behind.....thinking line judge and back judge like football. Every game that has a camera view down the line, you clearly see players setting up in a 'leaning' (advantage) position.

rubbin's racin'.

One of my favorite movies.

[wgdsr]

Maybe we should do away with goalies...no goalies allowed in basketball and goalies can have an outsized impact on the game...

Seriously, having a great face-off group, whether a win it to yourself guy or a battle it out group should matter...but we keep seeing contests where the initial face-off is won by the 'better' FOGO, and yet the possession is so contested, ride is so hard, that early turnovers end up resulting in similar actual offensive possessions.

Obviously dominating that battle is an advantage. Being dominated is a disadvantage.

But nevertheless, a hot goalie and stout defense can create the stops necessary to create enough O chances to win if the O is efficient...it's a team game.

Coaching the face-off unit is just as important as finding a good face-off man.

So is officiating the faceoff, which does not happen.

It's the most over officiated play in lax by a long shot. I am not a face off expert, but it appears that 30-50% of face offs result in a whistle at some point with some kind of violation. That is just too many stoppages and too much officiating. And when the knowledgeable fan can't tell why one player or another committed a violation, something is wrong. I don't want to eliminate the face off at all, nor do I want rule changes every two years as we have been seeing, but I sure would like something done about the way the face off is officiated. Something is causing the violations and some officials call more violations than others. It takes away from the sport when so many face offs are decided by the officials. What is the fix for that?

those numbers aren't really close to how many violations there are, but regardless what we're looking at in proximate order of frequency:
- going early
- holding via pinning or check
- lining up incorrectly
- withholding via clamp
- > one step/ball not out
- pushing

guys are scrapping hard for possession, in the circle at least. a few violations to that end can be expected, for me at least.

[FMUBart]

Faceoff to start each quarter & overtime(but OT should be 4 min period, not sudden death), otherwise give the ball to goalie after a goal and make team clear it. Giving the ball, after a goal, at the midfield was a mistake, IMHO.

[SCLaxAttack]

Faceoff to start each quarter & overtime(but OT should be 4 min period, not sudden death), otherwise give the ball to goalie after a goal and make team clear it. Giving the ball, after a goal, at the midfield was a mistake, IMHO.

Not that I'm advocating for this, in fact I'm far from that, but following your logic why even start quarters with faceoffs? Just switch field sides and start possession time with what's left on the possession clock. To an even greater extreme if you want to take faceoff ability out of the game just start the game and OTs like football - with a coin toss for possession and field side.

[Pegasus6]

One of the best suggestions I ever heard to "fix" faceoffs is to move the sticks back off of the ball. When FOGOs get set their heads are 12 inches apart or more. Ball in the middle so they are 6 inches apart. Turns it into something that looks more like a ground ball and less of a technical move.

[SCLaxAttack]

For anyone with an opinion that face-offs do nothing for the game:

Siena down to Manhattan 7-10 with 48 seconds left, score at :47, :34, :24, and :03 for the win thanks to face offs. WOW! Cue up the lax trivia gurus to find that happening ever before.

[NYlax222]

We've all had frustration when our team faces disadvantage for possessions, but, regardless, the opportunity for 'make it, take it' late rallies is a great feature of the game. If need to clean up over-officiating, fine, but, strongly believe lax benefits from the opportunity for trailing teams to go on a run with FO wins.

[SCLaxAttack]

We've all had frustration when our team faces disadvantage for possessions, but, regardless, the opportunity for 'make it, take it' late rallies is a great feature of the game. If need to clean up over-officiating, fine, but, strongly believe lax benefits from the opportunity for trailing teams to go on a run with FO wins.

I know you didn't say it, but for clarification all four of the face offs in that last minute were clean. No face off violations.

[NYlax222]

SC: apologies if i was unclear - i was making general point about the sport, not at all regarding any particular game. - cheers,

[FOGO_Daze]

Not having faceoffs would make the game boring as hell.