Delay of Game - Hand Pass

Can anyone clarify the rule and the call on the last penalty in the championship game? I've looked at the rulebook and it seems to say that you can bat the puck 1) in the defensive zone or 2) if you are the first to play it yourself. But, I couldn't find where it was a penalty if it were batted to a teammate. I thought that a hand-pass was just a face-off. It says there is a penalty for "throwing" the puck, but that's clearly a different choice of wording than "batting." If a Denver player didn't play the puck, would play have continued? If so, it seems extremely severe that it should be a penalty rather than a face-off. Is this one of those few rules that change in the last two minutes? Any clues?

[Q]jkahn Wrote:

Can anyone clarify the rule and the call on the last penalty in the championship game? I've looked at the rulebook and it seems to say that you can bat the puck 1) in the defensive zone or 2) if you are the first to play it yourself. But, I couldn't find where it was a penalty if it were batted to a teammate. I thought that a hand-pass was just a face-off. It says there is a penalty for "throwing" the puck, but that's clearly a different choice of wording than "batting." If a Denver player didn't play the puck, would play have continued? If so, it seems extremely severe that it should be a penalty rather than a face-off. Is this one of those few rules that change in the last two minutes? Any clues?[/q]
You cannot close your hand on the puck ... ever, this is always a penalty. From the replays I saw (in a bar with no sound) the correct call was made b/c the Denver player appeared to close his hand as he "threw" the puck out of the zone.

I thought the announcers said something about "closing his hand" on the puck.

The rink announcer just said delay of game (well, actually, "a-delay of game", but he pretty clearly threw the puck, not batted it.

That call prompted a "TIM KO-TY-RA" chant.

There almost appeared to be two motions - grabbing / grasping / enclosing the puck with the glove and then throwing, not merely batting, the puck. It was not a smart move - from my point of view sitting on a sofa with a beer in my hand, not actually being the player out on the ice - and so obvious it would have been hard not to call.

The actual penalty is delay of game, which can be called for a variety of reasons, including closing your hand around the puck. You see players reach up and grab the puck out of mid-air pretty blatantly all the time, but they always drop it in front of them, then play it with their stick. I think if he did that, nothing would have been called. Well, made things interesting anyway.

It's under Section 19(a), Handling the Puck:

If the puck is caught and dropped immediately, play shall continue. If
the puck is carried or held, play shall be stopped. If the puck is thrown, a
minor penalty shall be assessed.

I know you can't close your hand on the puck, but the whistle didn't seem to blow until the other Denver player played the puck. I was just wondering whether Kotyra ruled that it was a "closed hand" or "thrown puck" or something else, and whether he would've called it if Denver didn't play the puck. There was a similar hand pass earlier in the game that seemed like more of a grab to me but wasn't called - that one was played by the other team however. Of course, I was way at the top of the balcony, so I didn't have the closest view.

[Q]jkahn Wrote:

I know you can't close your hand on the puck, but the whistle didn't seem to blow until the other Denver player played the puck. [/q]

Since it's the penalty situation (thrown puck), it was presumably a delayed whistle until Denver gained possession of the puck.

And the line between a batted puck (hand pass) and a thrown puck leans heavily to the blatant side.

[Q]jkahn Wrote:

I know you can't close your hand on the puck, but the whistle didn't seem to blow until the other Denver player played the puck. I was just wondering whether Kotyra ruled that it was a "closed hand" or "thrown puck" or something else, and whether he would've called it if Denver didn't play the puck. There was a similar hand pass earlier in the game that seemed like more of a grab to me but wasn't called - that one was played by the other team however. Of course, I was way at the top of the balcony, so I didn't have the closest view.[/q]

It took a while for the whistle to blow because

- maybe it took the ref a moment to parse something so dumb and blatant in the final minute of play

- you don't call a marginal penalty in the last two minutes of the championship game, especially not when it leads to a 5-on-3 advantage

- maybe he waited to see if Maine could control and continue the play

i hope that you're kidding. that was the most obvious delay of game i have seen in a long time ... and *should* be called no matter what game it is (especially when you are in your own zone up 1-0 in the closing minute).

[Q]ben03 Wrote:

i hope that you're kidding. that was the most obvious delay of game i have seen in a long time ... and *should* be called no matter what game it is (especially when you are in your own zone up 1-0 in the closing minute).[/q]

Yes, it was obvious. Or blatant. And it affected the game -- it illegally took the puck out of the attacking zone as Maine was on a power play. And it was the center of attention. It wasn't an away-from-the-play sort-of trip late in the game that the referee could ignore. That's why it had to be called.

What confused me about the whole thing was that it looked like he was about to play it with his stick and then decided not to. Not sure what he was thinking; could have been a very very costly error....obviously...

...THOUGH not quite as costly as, say, pretending you're hurt and then running into your own teammate as an opposing player scores the biggest goal of a playoff series

It's now obvious to me that the rule and interpretation are quite different in college vs. the NHL., and perhaps that was the source of my initial confusion at the call. In the NHL it would not have been a penalty unless it was ruled that the Denver player closed his hand on the puck. See [www.afn.org] and paragraph e) thereof.

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:
...THOUGH not quite as costly as, say, pretending you're hurt and then running into your own teammate as an opposing player scores the biggest goal of a playoff series [/q]

Good thing that doesn't happen, though.

...Oh wait.

Or maybe until the other player played the puck, the ref was willing to consider it to have been "dropped immediately" to be played by the player who caught it... but clumsily.

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:
...THOUGH not quite as costly as, say, pretending you're hurt and then running into your own teammate as an opposing player scores the biggest goal of a playoff series [/q]
Anyone know where I can find video of that on the web. I only saw it twice last night, and I need another good laugh.

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

Avash '05 Wrote:
...THOUGH not quite as costly as, say, pretending you're hurt and then running into your own teammate as an opposing player scores the biggest goal of a playoff series [/Q]

Anyone know where I can find video of that on the web. I only saw it twice last night, and I need another good laugh.[/q]

It was/still is amusing indeed. Here ya go....


espn.com (though you have to have ESPN motion):

[sports.espn.go.com]

tsn.ca (where you have to register, although its free, I believe):

[www.tsn.ca]