Over the past few months, the NHL has made some strange decisions regarding suspensions, has once again given strange instructions to its referees for the playoffs and now has made strange decisions with video replay.
Video replay was a great addition in the NHL just like it was a great one in the NFL but you need to understand your own rules in order to do it properly. First off, let’s take a look at the disallowed goal for “kicking the puck” by Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks:
Unfortunately I can’t find a video of the Nick Foligno goal so I’ll focus on the Sedin goal. Now, let’s take a look at the DVD that the NHL sent to the teams regarding the kicking the puck rule (fast forward to 53 seconds):
Just to have a little fun now, let’s take a look at Mike Murphy’s explanation:
I quote Mike Murphy from the video above:
“It had to be propelled some way and we felt it was the skate in not a distinct kicking motion but a kicking motion that made it move back the other way
I now quote rule 49.2 of the NHL rulebook:
“A puck that deflects into the net off an attacking player’s skate who does not use a distinct kicking motion is a legitimate goal.“
Right…
Thanks for clearing things up for us Mr Murphy and thanks to Mr Bettman for (as always) agreeing with every single decision his people make.
What makes the NFL so great is that when the referees make a mistake, they admit it, the NFL admits it and they try to make a change to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again.
What does the NHL do? Support the initial decision to make sure that if there is another close call, like the Foligno goal, it is also disallowed and that another mistake is made.