Hockey Coach Attacks Boarding; Weiland Offers New Proposal To Eliminate 'Checking' Injuries

Varsity hockey coach Cooney Weiland yesterday proposed that a curb be placed on board checking. He recommended that a line be painted around the ice surface three feet from the boards in order to clarify the existing rules.

Speaking at the weekly luncheon meeting of coaches and writers, Weiland explained that the line would help to enforce a present rule which prohibits a player from taking more than two steps to check an opponent on the boards. "If a player is allowed to take more than two steps and gain momentum before he body checks his opponent on the boards," the Coach said, "he can cause a serious injury and is guilty of 'charging.'"

Under present rules, a player is allowed to body check an opponent on the boards only if he is within three feet of the boards. "This rule," Weiland said, "is not enforced too much." He felt that his proposal would make the rules of the game easier to follow, and aid the officials in calling penalties.

Weiland, a former National Hockey League star with the Boston Bruins, asserted, "The game is starting to get too aggressive." He claimed his proposal would eliminate a lot of vicious board checking and cut down on the number of injuries.

The adoption of his recommendations, Weiland predicted, would make for "a more skillful game." He explained that it would enable a good skater to skate around his opponent without being forced into the boards. This, he said, would make the game more exciting and more interesting.

Protection From Injuries

"Americans are handicapped," the Coach observed, "by a lack of a good sense of balance." Most hockey players in this country, he said, are "fellows with out too much experience." He pointed out that Canadian hockey players, for instance, spend most of their lives perfecting their skill in the game. A proposal of this kind, he stated, would protect the less experienced players from serious falls and injuries.

After they had initially opposed a recommendation to ban boarding entirely, other college coaches in the area welcomed Weiland's modification of that idea. The Varsity coach said he had no intention of eliminating body checking altogether. "I definitely believe there is a place for body checking in the game of hockey, but I'd just like to see it out in the open."

There are no restrictions on the amount of body checking in the middle of the ice Weiland said, but, he added, this is a lot different from checking on the boards. "So long as a player is checked in the open, he has room to elude his opponent."

Coaches Approve

Weiland admitted he had not formally discussed his idea with any of the local coaches, but Coaches Harry Cleverly of Boston University, John Kelley of Boston College and Jim Bell of Northeastern all gave their approval to the proposed change in the rules at the luncheon.

The Varsity coach said it was just a "suggestion." He didn't know, he said, whether or not he would submit the recommendation for a three-foot line to the national coaches meeting in Minneapolis in March.