some much good dialog once the insults subsided smile I just wanted to add that the face off rules have changed over the years and they are not the same for the last 40 years.

From what I remember in the early 70's was 1) the heads touched and 2) the ball was off the ground between the two pockets 3) sticks did not bend like they do now 4)no LSM's on the wings and probably the biggest thing was that the wings engaged as soon as the reached the "X" - and it did make for some big hitting, usually the biggest collision?contact of the games

The biggest strongest guy on the team took the faceoff and it was a clamp and pull back or a rake right to a wing. rarely did you have the wrestling match that we see now with the guys spinning in circles. The reason that you had so much more transition off the faceoff was not because of the ball being on the ground or wings getting it but because the F/O and SSM's stayed on the field and played regardless of who one the face off and you never heard a team win a faceoff and the bench yell "yellow".

It is no one single factor that has gotten us from "The old days" to where we are today but a series of subtle changes and I think this is another change that will have huge impacts on a relatively few players and no major impact on the game.