Quick rules question: checking the hell out of McNulty

[HeafDog]

Just wanted to verify...

In last weekend's game against Clarkson, McNulty came out of the crease to play the puck along the end boards.  One of our guys checked him, and McNulty lost his stick, had to play with a regular-ol' weenie-sized stick, and promptly let the biscuit in the basket.  (And then everyone started getting chippy, and George Roll needed a hug.)  My question is, when the sieve comes out of the crease and plays the puck, he becomes a skater just like everyone else, and is totally fair game to check the hell out of, right?  And then, even so, there's some unwritten rule that you still don't do that, but if you do, everyone on that sieve's team gets really mad and goes out for revenge?

Discuss.

[andyw2100]

In my experience, despite what the actual rule might be, if a goalie is out of the net, and takes a real, hionest-to-goodness check from an opposing player--a check that would be clean were it not for the fact that it was on a goalie--a penalty will be called. I don't believe the check on McNulty was in that league. There may have been some contact, but it was not an all-out check.
                        Andy W.

[daredevilcu]

Any contact on McNulty on that play was totally his fault, and I have no idea what he was thinking.  It seemed like it took him two seconds too long to make up his mind so when he went out to play the puck it was too late.  Then he lost his stick and let in the insurance goal.

[billhoward]

The referee should protect the goalie up to a point. It prevents retaliation at the other end, so it's for the good of the game - one two-minute minor now prevents fisticuffs, three roughing penalties and a misconduct later in the period. OTOH, perhaps there's a stupidity clause - if the goalie does something really dumb and if he wanders far from the net, not just behind the net, maybe he sheds some of his powers of immunity.

[Trotsky]

[quote HeafDog]
My question is, when the sieve comes out of the crease and plays the puck, he becomes a skater just like everyone else, and is totally fair game to check the hell out of, right?  And then, even so, there's some unwritten rule that you still don't do that, but if you do, everyone on that sieve's team gets really mad and goes out for revenge?[/quote]
Short answer: correct.

Long answer: I've never seen a goalie take a truly serious check.  The issue is muddied because if the goalie is so far from his net, it's likely because he's against the boards and hard contact would likely be boarding.  But once he leaves the crease, the rules are written that he is fair game (edit: or not, see below).  Whether the ref calls it that way...

Two spinoff questions:

If the goalie comes out beyond the circle, is he allowed to turtle and cover the puck, or would that be delay?  (I.e., once he leaves the crease, does the goalie lose all of his "goaliness"?)

I have heard the goalie may not play the puck beyond the red line.  Is this true?

[canuck89]

Touching the goalie at any time is interfernce.  The difference on that play was that a check was not placed; rather, our player hit the boards next to the goalie and McNulty's stick which was alongside the boards was pinned.  This resulted in McNulty dropping it.  If body contact were made, that would have prompted an intereference call.

Personally, I am one who hates that rule.  I think that if a goalie plays the puck out of the crease, he should be treated as every other player.  This is not the case though.  The only difference when the goalie is out of the crease is that he is not allowed to cover it up (Delay of game).  He must have some part of himself in the crease in order to do that (Although the puck itself doesn't have to be in the crease).

[canuck89]

I'm not sure about the goalie losing all of his status outside the crease.  I have seen many games where he played the puck behind the net, and get tripped up with the other team's player, and that has always been interference.

The goalie has immunity as long as he does not cross the goal line, except in a restricted area.  That is up to the ref's discretion, and ANY contact will be deemed interference.  The issue here is that checking the stick instead of the goalie is legal.

[Jacob '06]

I don't think sawada really "checked" McNulty on that play. Looked to me like he just slashed his stick out of his hands and pushed him out of the way a little bit. It wasn't like he lined him up and rammed him in to the boards.

[Robb]

IIRC, another related rule is that you can't prevent a goalie from getting back to his crease.  If he goes behind the net, you can't just establish position and make him fight his way through you to get back to the crease - you have to get out of his way.

[Will]

[quote Trotsky]If the goalie comes out beyond the circle, is he allowed to turtle and cover the puck, or would that be delay?  (I.e., once he leaves the crease, does the goalie lose all of his "goaliness"?)[/quote]

Any opposing goalie that comes to Lynah automatically loses his "goaliness", which is promptly replaced by "sieveness". :-D

[Jacob '06]

[quote Trotsky]

Two spinoff questions:

If the goalie comes out beyond the circle, is he allowed to turtle and cover the puck, or would that be delay?  (I.e., once he leaves the crease, does the goalie lose all of his "goaliness"?)

I have heard the goalie may not play the puck beyond the red line.  Is this true?[/quote]

In short, yes and yes. I've never really seen a goalie get called for covering the puck outside of the crease, but I am almost positive the rule is that he must have some part of his body touching the crease while covering up. This actually happened once last night, and the ref looked a bit hesitant to blow the whistle when the goalie covered up. It is an automatic penalty if the goalie comes up in to the play beyond center ice.

[WillR]

One other thing on the McNulty play.  It seemed that not only did little c come out to play the puck he also initiated the pyhysical play with Sawada. I couldn't see if this was a result of loosing his stick and an attempt to make up for it.  Either way it was not a clever thing to do.  The point of this is that on the rare occasion that i have seen the goalie get physical with the player the refs have allowed more contact than they usually would otherwise.  

Either way the end result was classic.  

As an aside, might it be appropriate to cheer after the defensemen has given the goalie his stick  "(the seives' name) has a little stick"

-WillR

[canuck89]

oo, haha.  That would've been good.

[jtwcornell91]

I once saw Tim Thomas, in the USA-Canada college all star game, skate out after the puck and check a Canadian forward, who got called for goalie interference.  You could read his lips (Canadians don't have to wear full face masks in college) saying "He hit me!"  During the ensuing power play, he got dumped while playing the puck in the corner, and there was no call, :-D

[JohnBlonn]

The "goalie out of the crease is fair game" rule is a myth.  A goalie in the crease is protected from ALL contact, and contact with the goalie outside of the crease is only legal when it is incidental (i.e. accidental).  The goalie can never be purposefully hit, pinned, etc.