He was probably waiting for the player to drop the puck down to his stick
which is what happens 99 times out of a 100.  Once he threw it, and since it
was such an obvious "throw" there was only one call and it had to be made.


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff and Tracy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Hard to complain

How about maybe the ref watched the play to see what the player would do.
He gave him the opportunity to bat it out, and he held it a second too long,
with his hand closing on it.  The player  was probably trying to get an
outside the zone faceoff to stop the pressure.  A simple, smart play that
turned out differently than he planned, and it went against himself.  We're
forgetting that in the heat of play, under tons of pressure, the mind and
hands have a "tape delay".  The only thing we have to gripe about is our own
lack of offense and power play.  We all admit we didn't think we'd get here.
This was a true blue heart breaker, even more than Metcalf's unsuccessful
attempt a couple of years ago.  Tim was right on by saying that this is a
better team than last year, without the talent of last year.  Thanks for a
great season.  Congrats to Prestin for his signing.  May he not visit the
bin as much in the AHL so he can show what his real talents are.
>
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Date: 2004/04/12 Mon AM 10:38:54 EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Hard to complain
>
> In a message dated 4/12/2004 10:01:59 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > Re: Deron's mention of penalties that had to be called.
> >
> > the ref actually gave Maine a gift, and a huge one with the delay of
game
> > call.
> >
>
> I agree with Deron--it was a penalty that should have been called.  The
> player didn't bat the puck forward, which would have been legal, he closed
his hand
> on the puck and threw it forward, which is a penalty.  In addition
committing
> a technical violation of the rules, the player's action gave his team an
> advantage because he threw the puck out of the zone.  That transformed a
"let the
> players play hockey" non-call into a penalty that had to be called.
>
>