Follow Paul on Twitter: @PaulStewart22
Despite my family background in officiating and all the time I spent in the penalty box during my playing days, I will be the first to tell you that I had learning to do when it came to the NHL Rule Book as I began the transition from playing to officiating. I failed my written Rule Book test the first time I took it.
Approximately a week after returning home from the Bruce Hood Referee School, Scotty Morrison phoned me. He told me that John McCauley intended to call me the next day to arrange my travel to the annual NHL Officials Association training camp.
I was thrilled. And fortunately, the NHL paid for my travel there. McCauley sent me an airline ticket. Off I went to Toronto, where I underwent a physical, psychological/personality test, and written NHL rules test.
I passed the physical. I failed the written Rule Book examination the first time I took it, but that came as no surprise. I never had previously studied the NHL Rule Book. Although my grandfather and father had been longtime hockey officials, Rule Book knowledge doesn't come through genetics OR through playing the game. There are very few players, then or now, who could pass an NHL Rule Book test on the spot. The same goes for the majority of coaches.
This fact was underscored last night in Game 7 of the playoff series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers.
Penguins defenseman Marcus Petterson battled Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere behind the net. Lafreniere got tangled up with the goal netting and fell to the ice. In the process, the Rangers player popped Petterson's helmet off his head. Thinking the NHL Rule Book required him to leave the ice immediately, Pettersson skated off toward the bench. Before he could be replaced in the place, Pittsburgh gave up a game-tying goal to New York's Mika Zibanejad.
Afterwards, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan and captain Sidney Crosby complained that the rule cost them a goal and ultimately the series. Wrong guys. It was lack of knowledge of the rule that proved costly.
NHL Rule 9.6 covers the current-day expectations if a player loses his helmet.
If the player loses his helmet as he is making a play on the puck or the puck is in the immediate vicinity of the player to allow for such, he is entitled to complete the play before dealing with his lost helmet. The puck was NOT in the vicinity in this case, but keep that rule in mind the next time a similar situation arises.
However, contrary to what Sullivan and Crosby claimed, the rule did NOT require Pettersson to the leave the ice. Some Rule Books do require this as the only option, but the NHL Rule Book allows for a player to immediately retrieve and replace his helmet then get back into the play. The other option, yes, is to leave the ice if the helmet cannot be retrieved/replaced in a timely fashion.
Pettersson did have a chance to get his helmet. Instead, he looked at the referee to -- unsuccessfully -- try to buy a roughing call on Lafreniere and then skated to the bench for a teammate to take his place on the ice. The Rangers' goal was scored before the Penguins could recover.
Now, there's a judgment call that's involved here, too. If the official judged that Lafreniere had deliberately torn off Pettersson's helmet, he could have called a roughing penalty on the Ranger and awarded a power play to Pittsburgh. Was it deliberate? I don't know, and I'm not the one employed to judge the intent here.
Under previous NHL regulations, a player could continue to play after losing his helmet for the remainder of his shift if need be. The newer iteration of the Rule was instituted with safety in mind and to encourage players to more securely fasten their helmets so they don't come off as easily. The practicality of the Rule can be debated amongst the powers that be; and I assume it WILL come up again because now there's a controversy over it and the NHL is very reactive rather than proactive when it comes to considering why/ why not to alter an existing Rule.
That's something we can discuss at another time. Specific to last night, the situation highlighted the fact that few players or coaches in the NHL are truly educated about the ins and outs of the Rule Book. We had a player misunderstand a Rule, a coach three times utter the words "by the rule" without ever having READ the rule, and one of the game's most influential superstars complain that it's a "terrible rule" without seeming to grasp that Pettersson's helmet was only a couple feet away and easily could have been retrieved, put back in place and the player legally allowed to remain on the ice and get back in the play.
The moral of this story: Don't lose your head. Learn the rules, and you might just be at a competitive advantage in the heat of the moment in your biggest game of the season.
*********
A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
Join the Discussion:
»