Image via Twitter
The WHL's Saskatoon Blades are banning cell phones from the rink in an interesting attempt to not suck so much.Through a new team policy, players must hand in their mobile phones to the coach's office upon arriving at the arena for games and practices. According to head coach Dean Brockman, the policy was instituted by the team because it felt the overall distraction and "tendency of players to check and respond to messages" was affecting their performance on the ice."When there's distraction and you're not mentally focused towards one thing, we just thought it was a course of action that we'd try for a short-term period and see if it helped our play or helped our focus on the ice and in the dressing room," Brockman said, according to the CBC.The team also said that this was a "test policy" to see if it should be continued on a long-term basis or not. Players had previously been required to put mobile phones into a bag about an hour and a half before their games, according to Brockman, who said the players have responded "well" to the policy so far. He also said the implementation of the rule had nothing to do with a specific incident and was not triggered by anything in particular.The team is 10-16-1 through 27 games this season—currently outside of the playoff picture, and has lost seven of its last 10 contests. The Blades are second-last in the East Divison, and have allowed the second-most goals in the WHL, surrendering more than four per game on average. And now, to make matters even worse, players can't even Tinder from the cozy confines of their own dressing room anymore. It's not a great time to be a Saskatoon Blade, apparently.