Faceoff

[ZvilleLax30]

Does a player at a faceoff have to look at the ball?

I was playing a kid that didn't even look down at the ball. He was kinda sqatting and looking up at the ref. He was reacting to the ref's intake of breath for the whistle. Is that legal to look up at the ref and not listen for the whistle.

I have to admit the kid was really, really good at it.

[Snake~eyes]

Does a player at a faceoff have to look at the ball?

I was playing a kid that didn't even look down at the ball. He was kinda sqatting and looking up at the ref. He was reacting to the ref's intake of breath for the whistle. Is that legal to look up at the ref and not listen for the whistle.

I have to admit the kid was really, really good at it.
Nothing illegal about that.

[LaxRef]

Does a player at a faceoff have to look at the ball?

I was playing a kid that didn't even look down at the ball. He was kinda sqatting and looking up at the ref. He was reacting to the ref's intake of breath for the whistle. Is that legal to look up at the ref and not listen for the whistle.

You do not have to look at the ball. However, if you aren't, I'm going to be looking very closely to make sure you aren't bodychecking the other player at the whistle instead of playing the ball, since in all likelihood the other player is on the ground (and it's illegal to bodycheck a player with any part of his body on the ground besides his feet).

(BTW, it's possible this player was deaf.)

[laxfan25]

You may also want to puff out your cheeks, and then pause a millisecond, to make sure he's not jumping the whistle - but in concept, nothing wrong with the action.

[C.Montgomery]

One other reason some guys do this is that the natural tendency when someone looks at you is for you to look at him and not his stick, so make sure you're looking down at the crosses/ball and not looking at this guy's face.