The worst thing about the goal reversal last night
by wearendhockey (2019-03-02 12:20:01)
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is the gutlessness of NCAA ice hockey officials. All the time they make judgement calls about infractions. Not only would it have been EASY to call the goal good, sound judgement REQUIRED it. Yet Pochmara, who I used to think was an acceptably competent official, and Kronforst absolutely lacked the balls to do the right thing. They got bullied by the Penn State coach. They should hang their heads in shame.

The rule about too many players simply says players may be changed at any time from the players’ bench, provided the player or players leaving the ice are within five feet of the bench before the substitute may contact the ice. The one angle that showed there were 6 Irish skaters on the ice was from across the bench and since TV is two-dimensional, how in the hell could they tell -- for sure -- that the player was not within five feet of the bench? Fact is, they could not.

Again, the replay rule is simple as well. In order to reverse an on-ice ruling, the replay must include conclusive video evidence. (emphasis mine) Jackson complained about the too many players rule itself post-game, correctly, in my opinion, but the rule that was completely disregarded was the video replay rule. After looking at the video, the referees should have told Gadowsky that video replay could not conclusively determine the distance from the boards the ND player was, and so the call on the ice, by rule, MUST stand. If he complained further, I'd have pointed out to him that in practical terms, Notre Dame scored that goal with just FOUR skaters on the ice, and he should shut up and play.



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