from Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen,

While there is no official change to the goaltender interference rule, there is, however, a distinct change in inteference calls among skaters.

Players, particularly defencemen, have been left shaking their heads, trying to adapt to a new standard where they can’t get in the way of attacking forwards when they chip the puck behind them. On top of that, referees are also cracking down on players who are perceived to be “diving” in order to draw a penalty.

Gregson says that officials made a conscious decision in the summer to change the standard on both fronts.

“Officials need to be better at reacting to the play where there is a foul and then the player who is fouled embellishes. They were told at (summer) camp that we have to be stronger in the enforcement of this call.”

Senators players figure it will take some time for both them and the referees to figure out exactly how much interference will be tolerated. Alfredsson acknowledges the new rules make it tougher for defencemen to defend, but as time passes, he says players will discover the fine line between what’s fair and what’s a foul.

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