The National Hockey League board of governors,...

The National Hockey League board of governors, aiming to crack down on fighting and violence in front of the net, passed a tentative rule in their annual meeting at Detroit.

The board voted for a stiffer penalty against a team whose player “involuntarily skates into the crease while his team is in possession of the puck.”

Under the new rule, the whistle will blow the play dead and a faceoff will take place in the neutral zone, thus taking the immediate advantage away from the offensive team.

The rule will be tried out in training camp and will be voted on again by the board before the start of the season.