14B.4 Sticks – sticks too long for floorball
Comments about this discussion:
Started
In section 14B.4 about sticks we say that sticks need to be allowed for either ice hockey or floorball without defining this further. Floorball has a limitation on the length of the stick which doesn't really make sense for us and often people can either extend their stick or buy a longer shaft anyways.
I suggest we add wording such as "there's no limitation on the length of sticks used" or similar. In cases where people make their own modifications we could add wording indicating that that must be done in a safe manner.
I haven't seen anything to suggest there would be any more danger in playing with the longer floorball sticks (which are still shorter than ice hockey sticks) but there may be edge cases. In any case the purpose of this change is simply to update the rules to reflect how we currently interpret them rather than changing something fundamental about the game :)
Comment
Ice hockey sticks have as well a limitation on the length (but they are pretty longer). A couple of years ago the rulebook committee allowed in addition to the heave and long ice hockey stick to use the light weight, short and easier stick handling floorball stick.
Its up to the player which kind of stick he likes to use.
Why doesn't make it sense for you? I remember UNICON 2016 the Team "Danish Dynamate" with Magnus became B-Champion out of over 30 teams, all played first time with floorball sticks on UNICON. For me is this an indication that with an easier to handle shorter floorball stick it might be already an advantage to play with.
Comment
Yeah, in Denmark we use floorball sticks. The issue here is that defining the rules are deferred to the rules of two other sports: floorball and ice hockey. The issue is specifically is that the floorball rules specify limitations on the length of the floorball sticks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floorball#Equipment). There are reasons why these limitations exist in floorball but those reasons don't apply for unicycle hockey. Most people play who play with floorball sticks play with either the longest available floorball stick length or one that's longer (and thus would not be allowed in a floorball competition).
I suggest we add language that the length (and weight restrictions) of floorball sticks don't apply in unicycle hockey, since that's how the rule is being interpreted right now.
Comment
Floorball sticks can have a cupped blade which enables moves not possible with straight sticks. Airhook and Zorro movements are possible because of a cupped blade and cupped blades are illegal on ice hockey sticks.
Example of what a cupped blade can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6qikiV4-Fw
In my opinion the cupped blade gives an advantage not received with a hockey stick. For that reason I am quite happy with the disadvantage of having a shorter stick.
Granted I am biased as I don't really like floorball sticks in hockey I accept it because it means more people get to play. But I do think we need to go off the other games rules for eligible sticks as it means we don't need 40 pages dedicated to what is a regulation stick.
Comment
For what it's worth I have never seen anyone do airhook movements in unicycle hockey, so while it may be possible it's not a part of the regular game. Whenever I (or other players) have tried making such moves we've quickly gotten into problems with high sticks, something I don't think changes when the stick is longer. Another thing is that floorball sticks typically are softer, so as the stick length increases it's better to use ice hockey sticks.
I've brought this up because this is a rule that's rarely if ever enforced as written – we've never had our floor ball sticks measured even if they technically should be.
I see a couple of options here:
1) Add a note that there's length restrictions for floorball sticks and make sure someone measures them in cases of doubt (to fully adopt the floorball rules)
2) Add a note that height and weight restrictions for floorball sticks don't apply to unicycle hockey
I prefer the latter since that's formalizing how the rule has been used until now. Otherwise the next unicon hockey committee should make sure to send out communication that the rule will be interpreted in a different way at the next unicon so people have time to get different sticks.
We can also continue as now – that is disregard the length/weigth restrictions on floorball sticks used even if technically they are part of the rules.