Lemieux welcomes long-overdue NHL crackdown on obstruction Sep 12, 5:32 PM (ET) By ALAN ROBINSON CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Mario Lemieux welcomes the news the NHL finally seems serious about eliminating obstruction, making the game more wide open and allowing its stars to score more goals. He just wishes the NHL had listened to him when he first began arguing for the changes 10 years ago. "It's the way the game should be," the Pittsburgh Penguins owner-player said Thursday. "It got to the point where it was almost unplayable out there the last few years." The NHL held a first-of-its-kind meeting of coaches, general managers, referees and linesmen this week in Toronto to emphasize the league's determination to enforce a crackdown on clutching, grabbing, stick infractions and hooking. The league spread a similar message in 1995 and 1998, only to have referees eventually go back to allowing a defense-friendly game that all but eliminated end-to-end rushes, give-and-go plays and creative playmaking. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's determination to return to a more fan-friendly game similar to that played when Wayne Gretzky was in his prime might have been spurred by the excellent TV ratings for Winter Olympics hockey in February. Matchups such as Russia-USA and Canada-USA helped, too, but the free-flowing international style made not only for faster games, but more scoring chances and individual play. Also, with ESPN adding the NBA this season and cutting back on hockey telecasts, the NHL needs to put on an entertaining show to help attract new fans to the sport. "If we can do this from now on, it's going to be exciting," Lemieux said. "You're going to see guys scoring 70-80 goals now, and that's what people want to see. We had only one guy (Calgary's Jarome Iginla) score 50 goals last year and that's not right. There are a lot of good players in the league that were not allowed to play the way they wanted to." The NHL has seen its goals-per-game average drop from 7.25 in 1992-93, when Lemieux scored 69 goals despite missing more than 20 games for cancer treatment and injuries, to 5.24 a season ago. One byproduct of the scoring slowdown was that the Stanley Cup winner usually wasn't the team with the most talent or best system, but that with the top defense. It also led to the popularity of the neutral zone trap, an offense-eliminating system that naturally creates low-scoring games. If the NHL follows through with its stricter rules enforcement - and Bettman says he will demote on-ice officials who refuse to make the calls - it will be far more difficult for offense-strapped teams such as the Minnesota Wild to compete. "It's probably going to hurt teams that don't have as much talent and speed but, if you look at every league, you have good teams and bad teams - that's the way it goes," Lemieux said. "Give the talent a chance to show what they can do and it's going to make the game better." It might even keep the 37-year-old Lemieux in the league a year or two longer. "It would mean a lot," Lemieux said. "Look at the last couple of years, when there's practically been no give-and-go in the game; this is going to bring that back. Smart players who can skate and guys who move the puck are going to be so much better, and I hope that's going to help my game."
