Crease-Related Rule Check

[True North]

Tonight in my Sunday night hockey league my team was trailing 5-4 with five minutes left in the third. Our guy had the puck in the corner, threw it in front of the net, where our guy either deflected it in off his body someone or whacked it in; I was on the bench at the time so I'm not sure.

The ref called it a goal. Then the other team starts crying, so he takes it back. I asked him why he called it back, and he said our player was in the crease before the puck got there.

Is that even a rule? I thought you could be in the crease so long as you're not interfering with the goalie in any way.

We wound up losing by 1...

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[Gino 14]

If your player was in the crease, no goal. Rule 621 (d), interference.

 

[Grave77digger]

Our refs whislte the play dead and the face off is outside the zone for a crease violation. They should have been calling it earlier in the game. If the refs had enforced the crease violation rule you would have known better and not had to have lost a goal.

 

[Gino 14]

Our refs whislte the play dead and the face off is outside the zone for a crease violation. They should have been calling it earlier in the game. If the refs had enforced the crease violation rule you would have known better and not had to have lost a goal.

Or, maybe that was the only time it happened. Blaming the ref is just a nice easy out.

 

[Grave77digger]

If the ref can wave off the goal for a crease violation he just as easily could have blew the play dead before the goal.

 

[Gino 14]

If the ref can wave off the goal for a crease violation he just as easily could have blew the play dead before the goal.

If the ref didn't see the violation before the goal, he couldn't very well call it. It's easy to assume the ref sees everything and that way it's easy to blame them for the shortcomings during a game. I'm sure the ref was just waiting to call off that goal in a close game just to get screamed at.

 

[True North]

I wasn't blaming the ref I was just asking if it was a rule or not...I didn't think it was.

 

[RSBPC]

If the ref saw it, they should have either blown the play dead before the shot or waved the goal off immediately as soon as the puck went in the net. If the ref didn't see it, they shouldn't change the call based on what the team giving up the goal said.

Souds like a shady call to me.

 

[Cartman27]

Our refs whislte the play dead and the face off is outside the zone for a crease violation. They should have been calling it earlier in the game. If the refs had enforced the crease violation rule you would have known better and not had to have lost a goal.

In the league i ref in we do that aswell because the creases are smaller then normal and it would be nothing less then interference if a player was inside it.

 

[MikeD]

IF you play under USA hockey then you can not proceede the puck into the crease nor have a team mate in it. As Gino said. There are also two officials on the ice for most games. They can converse. I have seen several instances where one indicated a goal as the other was raising the whistle to blow the play dead and have a face off outside the defensive zone.

If just one ref and he changed his call based on something that he did not see...not cool.

It is up to each player and the Coach to learn/teach and play the game with in the rules. Yeah, you tend to see how tight or loose a ref may call things but a crease violation isnt something arbitrary. That one is a given.

CAHA does not have such a rule but some locations DO PLAY IT. Check with your association as some do play with HOUSE rules.

 

[Gino 14]

CAHA does not have such a rule but some locations DO PLAY IT. Check with your association as some do play with HOUSE rules.

I have to apologize, I never bothered to qualify the interference ruling as USAH. I assumed something I should not have. The rule reference I quoted earlier is for USA Hockey only. Sorry if that caused confusion.

 

[BCCHL inactive]

Our refs whislte the play dead and the face off is outside the zone for a crease violation. They should have been calling it earlier in the game. If the refs had enforced the crease violation rule you would have known better and not had to have lost a goal.

That is an IIHF rule. Under Hockey Canada rules, players are allowed to stand in the crease, so long as they're not physically interfering with the goaltender. However, no goal can be scored if the player precedes the puck into the crease. It's a player's risk to take by standing in the crease. Not only can you easily take a penalty if you interfere with the goaltender, but if the puck goes in while you're there before the puck, it's not going to count. On the other side of the coin, I always give goaltenders crap for hacking at players standing in the crease. I just say, "What's your problem? They can't score with him standing there before the puck gets to him."

Too many people think the NHL's rule (only a disallowed goal if the goaltender was interfered with) applies to every rulebook.

A rule of thumb for people playing recreational and minor hockey.... What you see in the NHL likely does not apply to your games. The NHL has some very different rules from what you see in the IIHF, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada rulebooks.