In ice hockey, there are traditionally three lines separating the two attacking zones and the neutral zone. Invariably, the red line goes down the center and the two blue lines provide the boundaries for the attacking zone. Or at least it used to be invariably.
At Michigan State’s Munn Arena, the blue lines got a fresh coat of paint. They’re going green.
Checking out a recently-renovated Munn Ice Arena. @MSU_Hockey's home has new seats and benches, among other things. pic.twitter.com/WNUbu0y2Mf
— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) August 19, 2015
Now, this change wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the team’s chief rival happens to prominently feature blue in its color scheme and branding, would it?
Athletic director Mark Hollis maintains that this has more to do with honoring Michigan State’s color scheme than it does taking a jab at the University of Michigan as he told George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press:
“It is about the heritage and the color of the school without taking any of the integrity of the game away,” Hollis said. “It just gives a unique story to a program that is very proud of its heritage, its logo, its color, and gives us something that is kind of unique.”
Alright, but it still eliminates blue from the ice surface and that probably was at least an added bonus, right?
So the immediate and obvious question after this was revealed: Will the green lines jive with NCAA rules which specifically state that the lines on the ice are to be red and blue in color?
You probably already guessed the NCAA’s answer to this, which was basically a big, fat “NOPE.”
The Michigan State athletics department issued the following release, per the Free Press:
“The NCAA hockey rules committee has denied the request for a one-year rules waiver to alter the color of the blue lines to green. We understand and respect the committee's decision and the blue lines will be in place for the start of the season."
So Hollis apparently prescribes to the “rather ask for forgiveness than permission” strategy.
Hockey tends to be a sport that gets stuffy about traditionalism, but there’s not a huge difference between blue and green. It actually looked pretty cool, too. But rules are rules, I suppose. Now the lines will have to once again, um, go blue.
