Paul Stewart: The Bad Housekeeping Seal: The Dreaded Too-Many-Men Penalty

Paul Stewart: The Bad Housekeeping Seal: The Dreaded Too-Many-Men Penalty
- Paul Stewart

Good blog

Paul, I am not sure you saw the game last week with the Maple Leafs. My question is in regards to kicking the puck in the net.

The play had Clarkson of the Leafs flat on his back on the ice beside the opposing goal area. He kicked the puck with his skate which went to the front of the net, hitting an opposing players skate and went in the net for a goal.

However, the ref said no goal and upon review the goal was not allowed because it was kicked in. I can't understand why this was no goal. The player didn't kick the puck in the net, he kicked it (while on his back) towards the front of the net and it hit a opposing players skate, then it deflected in the net. Why is this not a goal?

Paul, I am not sure you saw the game last week with the Maple Leafs. My question is in regards to kicking the puck in the net.

The play had Clarkson of the Leafs flat on his back on the ice beside the opposing goal area. He kicked the puck with his skate which went to the front of the net, hitting an opposing players skate and went in the net for a goal.

However, the ref said no goal and upon review the goal was not allowed because it was kicked in. I can't understand why this was no goal. The player didn't kick the puck in the net, he kicked it (while on his back) towards the front of the net and it hit a opposing players skate, then it deflected in the net. Why is this not a goal?
- sparky

Not to speak for the man, but I can answer this. From Section 38.4 of the NHL Rule Book:

"(iv) Puck directed or batted into the net by a hand or foot or deliberately
batted with any part of the attacking player’s body. With the use of a
foot/skate, was a distinct kicking motion evident? If so, the apparent
goal must be disallowed. A DISTINCT KICKING MOTION is one
which the player propels the puck with his skate into the net. If the
Video Goal Judge / League Office Video Room determines that it was
put into the net by an attacking player using a distinct kicking motion,
it must be ruled NO GOAL. This would also be true even if the puck,
after being kicked, deflects off any other player of either team and
then into the net. This is still NO GOAL. However, a puck that enters
the goal after deflecting off an attacking player’s skate or that deflects
off his skate while he is in the process of stopping, shall be ruled a
good goal. See also 49.2."

In layman's terms, the key word in the answer is actually in your question- "deflection." While the puck may have been deflected after the kick by Clarkson, the kicking of the puck is still what propelled it into the net. No goal.

There is an old saying - great teams overcome bad calls.

Unapologetically, I confess that I am a big believer in officiating by feel and hockey sense when applying the Rule Book. There are a lot of questionable and often ambiguous aspects to the NHL Rule Book-- I will go into the specifics as relates to this rule momentarily -- and it is practically impossible and undesirable to call everything that is technically an infraction by the strictest and most literal interpretations.

This is what is wrong with NHL officiating. It makes the game less accessible to new fans. Fans shouldn't be required to have "hockey sense" to understand why something is a penalty or not. The old school mentality of having a "feel for the flow of the game" doesn't work, it just upsets fans in an age of zoomed in, high definition, instant replays. Games should be determined by the players. The more judgement calls you allow officials to make, especially based on their "feel" for the game, the more opportunity you introduce for them to unintentionally decide the game.

I agree that the NHL rulebook needs to be re-written. But it needs to be in an effort to minimize a single persons judgement from influencing the outcome of a game, to make the game more black and white.

Paul, I am not sure you saw the game last week with the Maple Leafs. My question is in regards to kicking the puck in the net.

The play had Clarkson of the Leafs flat on his back on the ice beside the opposing goal area. He kicked the puck with his skate which went to the front of the net, hitting an opposing players skate and went in the net for a goal.

However, the ref said no goal and upon review the goal was not allowed because it was kicked in. I can't understand why this was no goal. The player didn't kick the puck in the net, he kicked it (while on his back) towards the front of the net and it hit a opposing players skate, then it deflected in the net. Why is this not a goal?
- sparky

Didn't see the play. Can comment if I see the video.

This is what is wrong with NHL officiating. It makes the game less accessible to new fans. Fans shouldn't be required to have "hockey sense" to understand why something is a penalty or not. The old school mentality of having a "feel for the flow of the game" doesn't work, it just upsets fans in an age of zoomed in, high definition, instant replays. Games should be determined by the players. The more judgement calls you allow officials to make, especially based on their "feel" for the game, the more opportunity you introduce for them to unintentionally decide the game.

I agree that the NHL rulebook needs to be re-written. But it needs to be in an effort to minimize a single persons judgement from influencing the outcome of a game, to make the game more black and white.
- Antilles

Spoken like someone who has never officiated a game. There will ALWAYS be judgments involved because there will always be borderline plays where interpretation has to be used.

Spoken like someone who has never officiated a game. There will ALWAYS be judgments involved because there will always be borderline plays where interpretation has to be used.
- Paul Stewart

Actually, I have officiated, but only on a college level. But officiating experience has nothing to do with my point. If you re-read my post, I said the rulebook needs to be rewritten to MINIMIZE judgement calls. Obviously judgment calls will always have to be made. But you want officials making as few judgment calls as possible.

Games should be determined by the players. Not by an officials "feel" for the game, or their hockey sense.