In article <[log in to unmask]> Douglas Albert Wright
 <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>In response to Rich Vehlor's question why was RPI's goal disallowed in the
>Yale game, well, the ref did not see the goal go in, but he heard a "ping"
>therefore he assumed that the puck had hit the crossbar.  He had asked the
>goal judge if it was indeed a goal and the goaljudge said yes.  He then
>proceeded to overrule the judge and disallow the goal.
>I am in the pepband and have almost as good a view of the net as the goaljudge
>himself.  What really happened was that the puck went in and hit the
>support bar underneath the inside of the net.  I saw the net go up from
>the impact of the puck, as did the goaljudge, since he commented on it to us.
>My question is why bother having goal judges?
 
Yes, the puck did indeed enter the net on this play, and yes, it probably
hurt RPI worse than you realize, since that would have been their
"momentum" goal.  I talked to Kelly Askew later that night (it was his shot
and goal which was was discounted).  He was convinced that the puck
had gone in.  Some friends of mine who were sitting "on the goal line"
saw it go in.  And yes, the goal judge supposedly saw it go in.
 
At a NIHOA meeting which I had a few days ago, I talked with Mike
Emanatian, who was the linesman for that game.  Of course, he could not
make any call on it, since he was out at the red line at the time of
the shot.  However, I wanted to know how the referees (McDonough and
Cerbo [who should really learn how to skate sometime soon]) arrived
at their decision.  Basically, he said that neither of them saw it
go in, and the goal judge did not appear sure of himself, so they
called it off.  This is an example of an officiating error, which is
a bit different than inconsistent calls or judgement calls, which are
all opinionated things.  We often see icing or offside errors, especially
with the new 2-1 system.  These mistakes are not as "crucial" as a
bad goal call.  Unfortunately, mistakes are made, and the players,
coaches, and fans must live with them.  It's part of the game.  An
instant replay would have allowed the officials to make the right
decision.  Having sensors on the net, like the new line detectors in
tennis, would help.  Having officials who can constantly keep their
eye on the puck, even on a shot as quick as the one Kelly pulled off
would help.  But, we do not have all these things, so we get angry at
the mistake and life goes on.
 
As a sidenote, I think the position of "goal judge" is really not needed.
His job is to determine: Did the puck cross the goal line or not?  With
modern technology, this could be easily be handled by some sort of
detection device.  If it's working in tennis, it can definitely work
in hockey.  It's the referee's job to determine HOW the puck entered the
net, which obviously could never be handled by a device, unless Artificial
Intelligence takes some great strides in the future.  Hey, then we could
just let computers officiate games......  and I'd be out of a job.  -- kennyz
 
--
Kenny Zalewski -- Computer Science Department; Intramural Department
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 83 Albright Court, Troy, NY, 12180
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