Jim Love wrote:
 
>   OK, what happens if the puck caroms in off the post (or off the side
> boards) - without otherwise striking a player from either team - immed-
> iately after having struck an official - goal or no goal ??  Is the key
> that a player must touch the puck in-between rebounding off an official
> and a goal being scored ??
 
Good questions...I don't have my rule book with me, but if I remember
correctly, the key word in the USA Hockey rule book is "directly."
So I would interpret the rule to mean just that:  if the puck hits an
official and hits nothing else but air and/or ice and enters the
goal, then it's no goal; if it bounces off of anything else, then
it's a goal.
 
Of course, I'm a bad ref, or so some have screamed.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.