Jacob Therrien received one of more than 25 mouthguard violation misconducts in the OHL in the past couple of weeks.
Terry Wilson / OHL Images
It’s common in the NHL to see players constantly chew on their mouthguards throughout a game. In fact, it’s popular enough that created players in EA Sports’ NHL series have the option to gnaw on their mouthpieces. But the OHL has seen enough.
The OHL reportedly recently sent a memo to teams saying officials will crack down on players who don’t wear their mouthguards correctly – or at all – with 10-minute misconducts. They weren’t kidding. In the past couple weeks, referees have handed out more than 25 mouthguard misconducts.
OHL players are required to wear a full colored mouthguard that protects the back molar teeth, as per Rule 9.10 of the OHL rulebook. It’s not a new rule and mouthguard misconducts have been called before, but it appears there won’t be any mercy for guard gnawers moving forward.
For more context on the rule and how it’s being enforced, Tony Ferrari and Brock Otten discussed “mouthguard gate” on the Nov. 24 episode of The Hockey News On The ‘O’ Podcast.
Source link: https://thehockeynews.com/video/whys-the-ohl-hammering-down-on-mouthguard-violations
