Sunday, May 24, 2009
A Quick Review of Some Rules

No game this weekend, so I decided to look up a few rules. After all, we played a kick-ass game last weekend against the all-time unbeaten Puck Heads (former "Bruins") and we almost came away with a victory. (I guess the 3:3 tie was not too bad, but a disappointment in the end since we were ahead up to just a few minutes before the end). And I think we all felt that once again - and this seems to be a common theme this season - lots of ref calls didn't go our way. I am not sure what happened and whether we did anything to piss of the referees, but just looking at the plain stats and how many penalties we have taken vs. how many the teams get we are playing, then it is pretty obvious, that something is going on. After all, none of the games we played so far I would consider "dirty" or unfair in any way where one would think a lot of penalties should go to one team and not the other. And that was certainly true for this last game too. Why that slash against my arm (which I can still feel today) was not called (arguably a 5 minute penalty as I would argue that I sustained an injury). The same is true for many other situations a well, where we can't be within 3 feet of a player and get penalties while we can get slashed, tripped, and cross-checked without any calls. Another issue that has been bugging me is that whenever we seem to be in front of the other goal, the play is whistled dead as soon as the puck gets near the goalie, while on our end, it always seems to take forever to get a whistle.

Also, there were a few specific situations last Saturday that I really wondered about and decided to do some research on. (Note: What makes matters worse is that both refs from last week's games are very capable refs. So it bugs me that they are not doing as good as job as they are capable of. After all, we are paying them to do  good job!). Note that you can actually download the USA hockey rules in PDF format yourself. I also have the rules in my iPhone in case we ever need to look something up.

Here are my findings for those things:

Talking to the Referee

First of all, I took an extremely stupid penalty talking back to the ref. This was my first misconduct penalty ever, and it was a really stupid penalty to take. I am really sorry I did that. (Although I maintain that the actual call was extremely poor, as the ref was right in front of us and either must have seen it clearly, or really isn't fit to ref). In any event, I started to wonder what one can actually say to the referee either as a regular player or as a caption/ assistant captain. The results surprised me a little bit, as the rules are quite tough on the matter, and it seems that referees call them relatively lenient. Here is what the general rule is around talking back to the ref and criticizing calls:

Rule 601 - Abuse of Officials and Other Misconduct

(a) Any player who challenges or disputes the rulings of any Official or endeavors to incite an opponent (including taunting) or create a disturbance during the game shall be assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. If the player persists in such challenge or dispute, he shall be assessed a misconduct penalty, and any further dispute by the same player will result in a game misconduct penalty being assessed.

So that is pretty tough and I guess we need to be really careful with talking back to the refs, no matter how frustrating the qualify of officiating may be. (And on a personal note: Compared to the officiating in some of the other leagues around town, I am really happy with the officiating at Memorial City).

I did wonder however, when the captains could talk to the referees. I couldn't find much conclusive about it, so I sent an inquiry to USA Hockey, and this is what I got back:

The captain(s) can consult with the official to ask for an interpretation at any time. However, they cannot question judgment or calls. It is also appropriate for the officials to address the captain for unusual situations such as multiple penalty situations, on-ice strength or penalty terminations that are not clear.

So that is good to know, I guess.

Falling on the Puck

Rule 612 - Falling on Puck

(c) No defending player, except the goalkeeper, shall be permitted to fall on the puck or hold the puck or gather the puck into the body or hands when the puck is within the goal crease.

For an infringement of this rule, play shall immediately be stopped and a penalty shot/optional minor shall be awarded to the nonoffending team. However, if the goalkeeper has been removed from the ice when the infraction occurs, a goal shall be awarded to the nonoffending team and no penalty shot shall be awarded, if the action of the offending player prevents an obvious and imminent goal.

(Note) This rule shall be interpreted so that a penalty shot/optional minor will be awarded only when the puck is in the crease at the instant the infraction occurs. However, in cases where the puck is outside the crease, Rule 612(a) may still apply and a minor penalty may be imposed, even though no penalty shot is awarded.

If the player intentionally falls on the puck, gathers it into his body or closes his hand on the puck, then that is definitely a penalty regardless as to where it occurs - if in the crease the penalty shot applies. If he is in the crease and pushes or hand passes the puck to the goalkeeper, who then actually covers the puck and causes the stoppage, that is a legal play and no penalty is assessed. The tricky one is when he is knocked down on the puck by the opponent. In the instance where the puck is in the crease, the player does still have an obligation to work the puck loose and not cause a stoppage of play and failure to do so would still result in a penalty shot. However, in that instance you may give him an extra second or so to do so prior to stopping play in order to give him every opportunity to avoid the stoppage. In the other instances, the whistle would be blown to stop play as it is in any other circumstance when the goalkeeper is freezing the puck.

Shooting the Puck Away

There was another interesting situation in the late game after us, which I played as well. During a running clock situation, the goalie held the puck and the play was whistled dead. This happened in the later parts of the game, so it was running clock. All the players lined up for the faceoff, but the ref hadn't retrieved the puck yet. At that point, the goalie came out of his goal and tried to shoot the puck away. He didn't succeed at first, so he ran out a little further and shot the puck all the way to the other end. The obvious intention being to run the clock down. The refs didn't assess any penalty of any kind. I thought a delay of game penalty should have been called. Here is what USA Hockey had to say about that:

Definitely a delay of game penalty would be appropriate. I would also say that if the goalkeeper obviously did it to knock the puck away from the official, a misconduct penalty in addition to the minor would be added on. In a non-running clock situation, the misconduct only would be the correct call.

So it should have been a 4 minute penalty. A double-awful call by the refs, who just really didn't have a good night. They told us "we told him not to do it again". WTF?!? Can you imagine a tripping situation where instead of getting a penalty the ref tells the player not to do it again?!? I fail to see why this situation was any different. I guess they just wanted to go home...

Monday, May 04, 2009
Practive Anyone?

We have an opportunity to pick up some ice time from for 7 weeks beginning in a few weeks on Tuesday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. The cost is $300 per hour for the ice or $2,100 for the entire 7 weeks. If everyone were to sign up, it would be about $115 each or about $16.50 per practice.

Please let me know if you would be willing to participate!