Forum Questions

This actually happened: After a time out Team A comes out with 7 players in their offensive zone . My partner blows it in and Team B starts screaming about the 7 players. I concur and blow my whistle to stop the action. I realize what happened and go over to the coach of Team B and tell him that my partner did not count the players as he should have. I continued to throw my partner "under the bus" and eventually tell the coach that no penalty will called and that we will "do it over" seeing that it was our fault in not counting after the TO. The reasoning is obvious here in this situation. Now if it was a quick re-start I would not be so generous. Common sense was my rationale here. Do you agree ?

on my last 3 stick checks, I have found 4 illegal sticks. In each case, they are new sticks, and the card will not fit into the slot, since these sticks are not three inches wide at the bottom. Should I continue to enforce this rule, even though the new sticks do not seem to conform to the rule?

During a faceoff both the A and B faceoff players flinch at exactly the same time to where the faceoff official cannot determine who flinched first. How is this handled? 1 - By Alt Poss (as per Rule 4.30)? 2 - Stand both players up and start over? 3 - Do your best to determine who moved first and award the ball to the other team? 4 - Do nothing and let the faceoff continue?

This didn't happen, but just a hypothetical situation I thought about. A coach thought we ended a slow whistle early (ball hit ground on a pass), but we got it right. Made me start thinking of hypotheticals.

Let's say we have a flag down, slow whistle situation. Then let's say, we have an inadvertent whistle (example, (1) mistake, when team leaves box, or (2) mistake, shot is directly caught by A player).

The main question is: Does the inadvertent whistle end the slow whistle situation? It is not listed in Rule 7-8-2 (p.86) as something that would.

Example 1: Slow whistle situation. Ball is in possession by A. A steps out of the attack box and official mistakenly blows his whistle. Does the slow whistle end and foul gets adjudicated? OR Do we restart the ball with A and remain in the slow whistle situation allowing them the opportunity to score?

Example 2 (slightly more complicated): Slow whistle situation. A1 has possession. A1 attempts a shot, and misses. A2 is behind the net and in position to catch the errant shot. Official blows inadvertent whistle while the ball shot is in the air (loose ball). (a) A has AP. (b) B has AP.

Rule 7-13-3 (p.91) says to award ball by Alternate Possession. In (b), B would be entitled to possession because of the inadvertent whistle. Therefore, I would assume that slow whistle would have to end (7-8-2c) and foul gets adjudicated. In (a), the question becomes the same as Example 1, can we award ball to A and have the slow whistle still in effect? (Since whistle was inadvertent because the shot did not come to it's conclusion as A player could have caught it).

My thoughts are that you would not want to disadvantage A by ending their slow whistle situation early by an official's mistake. But, I know inadvertent whistles are screwy and usually disadvantage someone in some way.

Hopefully this never happens, but it's a good idea to know for the what ifs.

Rule References:
7-8-2 Slow Whistle Technique (p.86)
7-13-3 Correcting Errors-Inadvertent Whistles (p.91)

This actually happened: early in the 4th with score tied Team A during face off picks up the ball in their OFFENSIVE ZONE and then runs into defensive zone and throws ball to goalie. NP as I continue the 10 second count right in front of Team A's bench. Seconds later I give the "Failure to advance" signal and tell the goalie to drop the ball right in the middle of the box. He does so and Team B quickly picks it up, I tell him to get out of the zone laterally and I blow for the restart. Team A coaches go berserk and want an explanation as to why. Maybe 4-5 seconds went by from my initial whistle to the restart. I was not going to disadvantage Team B for a coaches inquiry at this point according to rule 7, section 13 , articles 1 and 2 which I am well aware of. We had a very lively discussion as the play evolved but to stop the action and explain the rule-which Team A did not know- would have hurt Team B on the quick re-start. On plays like this the challenge must be made before the next live ball -which was only 4-5 seconds and made to the table. Please go over this and what to do in the future-for example lets say I was wrong in my call. What next ?

At my game today, white scores to go up 9-0 late in the 2nd quarter. Blue coach informs us the white's D-pole has on camo themed leggings that are different than his teammates. and wants us to give blue the ball instead of the face-off

I've been under the impression that such violations needed to be assessed at the start of the game. I also believe that a coach shouldn't be able to keep such a violation in his back pocket, waiting for an advantageous time to call for it. We did not assess any penalty and faced-off.

I checked the rule book after and on p20 1.9.1 SITUATION E addresses the situation and says we should have awarded the ball to blue

Going forward, should I follow whats outlined in situation E?

-Goalie out of crease-other team has the ball. Shot is taken, D-Man sees ball going to open net and runs through the crease , catches ball inches from being a goal and continues out the other side with the ball. Legal ?
-Goalie in crease this time. D-Man goes in crease and stands next to the pipe-not in front of the net but to the side. Other team has the ball. Legal ?
-Goalie again out of crease and the other team has the ball. D-Man while guarding attackman in front has A, one foot in the crease; B, both feet on the crease line or in the crease or C, D-Man gets checked legally into the crease in front of the goal. What say you ?
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Team A passes out of the Goal Area they're attacking, and the ball goes over the Midline -- in a section of the field where no players are at; the new Lead calls for a Play-On. By the time the ball is touched by Team B, it's about five yards before GLE; the Lead whistles when touched. B1 is looking for a quick restart.

Should the Slow Whistle have be taken off?

Should the play have been killed after the ball went 5+ yards beyond the Midline, and given to B at that point?

Should the restart be where the ball was touched -- close to GLE? Or, should the restart be closer to the Midline -- even if the Play-On ended neat GLE?

4th quarter, 1:59 to go, Team A is up by 2 goals, and is keeping it in the box as required.
Player B then slashes player A, Flag Down

Question: Does Team A still have to keep it in (due to the last 2 minute rule), or does the new flag down rule allowing the team to take it out of the box allow Team A to carry it out of the box?

Player A, in possession of the ball and with two hands on his stick, thrusts out his elbow and shoves Player B (on defense) and gains an advantage. Because he has two hands on his stick, I can't call a ward. It doesn't appear strong enough to warrant a call of a bull dodge. Is the correct call a push on Player A?