FIGHTS: Instigator vs Staging

[Richie69]

I see efforts to have the WHL Rule Book on this website, but the Rule Book is so fluid and dynamic, it seems to have floated away again.

I don't want to speak for "most WHL fans," but is it safe to say that incompetent, and inconsistent referreeing is a pretty frustrating and common complaint?

I want to understand "instigating" and "staging" better. I thought that I understood the 2,5, & 10 instigator call as well as WHEN it should be exercised, but ??

A player on team "A" dishes out a hard, but clean check on a team "B" player. No penalty is called, but an opponent team-mate of team "B" IMMEDIATELY skates across the ice and drops his gloves to fight the team "A" player that just knocked down his team-mate... Is this not textbook "instigating??" Why is this rarely called this way??

... and what the #^($ is "staging?" The other night, pretty much the above occurred, and "staging" was called on the team "A" player!! Yes, the team "A" player!! (Whose team happened to be up 4-1 at the time with a significant 2-1 shots advantage)

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

Yeah, pretty much everybody thinks the officials in hockey in general are of low quality. No consistency, far too much power and no accountability(as indicated by the same rejects who continue to influence the country's grassroots level).

As for your point, I think that the fact that the two are difficult to distinguish is sort of apart of the point. You can accept this in common with the "distinct" kicking motion where goals is concerned. When something is purely at the discretion of the official and/or the league, it basically means they can call it what they want.

I also noticed that the instigator is called maybe half the time it should be within the rules. I feel part of the reason is incompetance, but the other part might be because its straight up a stupid rule(you show me someone who likes the instigator rule, and Ill show you someone who doesnt like hockey).

...and I think the fuss with "staged fights" is their way of getting their foot in the door when it comes to removing fighting from the sport completely...albeit it will be a slow gradual process, though I think it is the intention. And once they remove it at this level, its a matter of time before they do it on the big stage.