Announcement

author

Notice of JAHA rule change

Posted by Juneau Adult Hockey Association on Oct 06 2021 at 05:36PM PDT in Fall 2021

Hello JAHA,

After last night’s board meeting, the board has voted unanimously to make a modification to JAHA’s rules to allow us to better enforce the mask mandate required by the rink. The text of the rule change is listed below. There will be a 10 day period where comments can be submitted regarding the rule change, after which the rule will go into effect if no changes are adopted. If changes are adopted, there will be another 10 day comment period. If you have any comments regarding this rule change, please submit them to juneauadulthockey@gmail.com


6. Equipment

In addition to all equipment required by USA hockey rules, JAHA will also require masks be correctly worn in any circumstances where city or rink policy dictates. On-ice violations of this requirement will be subject to the same penalties that USA hockey equipment violations receive; which includes one warning first to each team before issuing misconduct penalties to individual players. Players may be found in violation of this rule by an official at any time while they are on the ice, however warnings/penalties will only be issued during stoppages in play. Off-ice violations of this policy (benches, locker rooms, and common areas) will be addressed by the board on a case-by-case basis and players found repeatedly in violation of this policy will be subject to discipline by the JAHA board as outlined in rules B1 (Sportsmanship) and B4 (Facility Rules). Penalties for off ice violations may range from warnings up to suspensions or bans.


Thank you to all of you have made the effort to appropriately mask while on the ice! They haven’t gone unnoticed in all of this.

We look forward to your feedback and will see you on the ice!

-Andrew Dimond, JAHA president

Comments

2021-10-07T06:56:31.000-07:00October 07 2021, at 06:56 AM PDT, Ian Leary said:

To whom it may concern
As a former official, player and coach in many of Juneau’s hockey capacities I am concerned with your proposed rule change that will allow the game officials to penalize players for improper mask wearing. There are a multitude of reasons why this is not an idea that is in the best interest of Jaha and it’s members. Actually I’ll give two but the latter is the most compelling from a legal standpoint.
First, it is highly subjective from an officials point of view and can be used as punitive form of punishment.
Second, there is no standard for manufacturing masks that can or will be used while engaging in JAHA games. Not all masks fit the same. Not all faces are the same shape. Not all players exert the same energy while playing, some sweat more than others (perhaps masks slip down more easily).
Some where different helmets that can interfere in how masks stay in place, different face shields cages can pose issues with proper mask wearing as well.
All protective hockey gear designed for USA hockey play have certifications from testing bodies. (Helmets , mouth guards , visors, cups elbow pads etc.)
I am in no means arguing against the use of masks however it absolutely should be left out of the hands of game officials and left to administrative policing through policy.
Thank you for your time and effort continually striving to make Jaha a success.
Ian Leary