Don't Fall for It: Diving Has No Place in Hockey

        In professional hockey we have a bunch of two hundred-plus pound athletes, all with the same goal in mind: flying around at high speeds on a sheet of ice, with knives on their feet, weapons in their hands, launching frozen rubber as hard as they can in every direction. Ugly incidents are going to happen and these can sometimes put a dark mark on the National Hockey League.

          However, other than the obvious tragic incidents that happen in hockey, diving is one of the worst things a player can do on the ice.

          It is disrespectful to the game, the players, and the fans when a person fakes an injury or lays on the ice longer than necessary. No one is more of a threat to the game than those who dive for any reason. Whether it’s to draw a penalty or stop the play, it ruins the integrity of the game like nothing else.

          Referees in the past have always been very selective when making a diving call. It has had a lot to do with the fact that calling someone a diver has more of an impact than the two minute penalty that follows. It can damage a player’s reputation. Because of the extra ramifications a diving penalty carries, referees sometimes don’t want to put themselves in a situation that could label a player as a cheater.

          Over the years this problem has often been brushed aside as being part of the game. The argument suggests that anything that gives your team an edge without getting caught is just fine. If a player can fool the referees to give his team an advantage, it's considered gamesmanship. A skill even.

          But where did it all begin? Of course it hasn't always been this way. Falling to the ice in order to draw a penalty while your team is heading up the ice was very uncommon in other eras of the game.

          So what happened? Well, two major changes have happened since that time. The first was the drastic increase in European content over the past couple decades, and the second was the rule changes after the lockout.

          Firstly, with so many new international players joining the league, a new obstacle was added to the mix in the diving department; the European influence. To say that Europeans dive more than those of North American birth has nothing to do with discrimination. It’s just not considered such a sin in Europe as it is in North America.

          The attitude toward flopping is much more relaxed all the way through, from the referees to the players to the fans.  

          In soccer, it’s a joke. It’s disgusting to the world of competitive sports to see such obvious fakers get away with this nonsense that can leave a huge scar on the entire game from top to bottom. Is it only coincidence that the biggest game on the planet has failed to penetrate the North American market as it has throughout the rest of the world?

Or can it be directly linked to the intolerance of diving North Americans clearly feel?

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