NFHS Rules: injured player.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I officiate H.S. soccer and my question as to do with the goalie position. NFHS rules state that when an injured player requires the services of the coach or a trainer the player must be replaced until the next oppurtunity to substitute. This is consistent with the three other NFHS sports that I officiate (basketball, baseball, softball).

The goalie has an unique position in a soccer game and some officials think that the rule should be changed to allow goalies to stay in the game. This would bring NFHS rules in line with USSF and NCAA rules. It is my opinion that the goalie should not be treated any different that other players on the field especially since we are dealing with young athletes.

I would like the opinion of ice hockey officials on this matter and if ice hockey has this same feeling.

[RefWEB]

Mark -

The rule, generally, in hockey (there are many differences between International, USA and Canadian rules for example, its hard to generalize) that a goalie is allowed to stay in the game if he/she is attended to by a trainer on the ice.

Why? Probably the biggest reason, especially in youth hockey, is that many teams only carry one goalie! As you can appreciate, the position of ice hockey goalie is a bit more expensive than that of soccer goalie - so there are less kids who can actually afford to play that position. Because of the small confines of a hockey rink, a team without a goalie is at a very large disadvantage.

Back in the early days of hockey, it was a common practice to carry only one goalie, and that's where the rule came from. If you had to remove the goalie because he had to be attended to, you were toast.

And, with the reletive frequency of goaltender injuries in hockey (you stand in front of a hunk of rubber at 100mph while 5 rather large people buzz around your net and see how injury free you are ), its probably quicker to let the goalie stay in the game rather than have the backup (if there is one) come in each time the starting goalie is hurt.