"Destruction of Obstruction Raises Host of New Questions"
- Hockey News headline, September, 2002

Yes, hockey has had these troubles for a long, long time. The tug of the jersey. The furtive hook. The bear hug. The not-quite-accidental collision. Obstruction, interference, clutch and grab, call it what you will. But don't call it new.

"Our main idea is to get rid of that wrestling and grappling type of play which slows up the game and spoils it as a fast, clean attraction for the fans," NHL Referee-in-Chief Carl Voss explained in 1951.

"If the officials are diligent, it will free up the ice to have more offense and let players with speed get to the pucks and make more plays through the neutral zone," declared NHL Director of Officiating Andy Van Hellemond in 2000.

"'It's going to help a skilled team. It'll become a skating game again," predicted Ottawa GM John Muckler last week, as the NHL announced yet another war on the slow-footed lugs who literally hang from the shirttails of the Paul Kariyas and Joe Sakics of the hockey world.

Interference - the unpunished variety - has always been with us. The sprightly, free-flowing hockey so many pine for has probably never existed. Yes, there were more goals scored in others eras, mostly notably the 1980s. But hockey players have been holding, hooking and pitch-forking each other since the first puck was dropped, and will continue to do so until the last Zamboni rolls into the sunset.

That's not to say the NHL should do nothing. Interference is a serious problem, no less so for having been around since King Clancy was a stick boy. So as the players packed their bags for training camp this month, the league drew a deep breath and declared that it will try one more time to slay the beast of obstruction. New standards of enforcement will unshackle the game's most talented players, especially when they are on the attack and especially when they don't have the puck.

Similar bold proclamations, buttressed by a dazzling flurry of memos and videos, were made in 1995, 1998 and 2000. But fans, coaches and players hated all the penalties; misunderstandings were common; standards were inconsistent; grey areas were huge. The campaigns inevitably withered by Christmas and were long forgotten by playoff time. Of course, everyone swears it will be different this time, but that's what they swore last time. The NHL is the league that cried wolf.

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