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Howie Stein <[log in to unmask]> asked:
 
        ... I have a question about the Cornell-Brown game on
        Saturday night.
 
        Three separate times during the third period, Brown players
        other than the goaltender fell on the puck to stop play.
        To my eye, these did not look inadvertent.  Either the player
        would go down with no provokation (e.g. without being pushed),
        or the player would be down and would reach out to pull the
        puck under his body.  It is my understanding that this
        constitutes delay of game, just as if the goaltender covers
        the puck outside the line connecting the faceoff circles
        (as happened to Cornell's Jason Elliot earlier this season).
        However, the referees ignored these occurrences.  Am I missing
        something or did the officials just blow it?
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Facts:  I was at the game (3 rows behind the Cornell bench) and
          remember the incidents.
        Rule 6-9b does indeed allow for a delay of game minor if such
          covering is done "for the purpose of delaying the game".
        Brown was one goal ahead, it was in the closing minute or so
          of the game, they had a player serving a minor and Cornell
          had pulled the goalie, making it 6 skaters against 4 +
          goalie.
        The three incidents totalled about 15 seconds.
        I am nowhere near as good a referee as the refs and linesman
          who were working the game.
        I was about 120 - 150 feet from where the fallen player was,
          and so not in the same position to see what was happening as
          the officials.
 
Opinion:  I might have let the first one go with a shouted warning to
        release the puck, or a private chat during the setup of the
        following faceoff, but from where I was sitting I would
        certainly
        have at least called the third one.  Of course, if I had been
        working the game, the crowd would have been so frustrated by my
        calls during the previous 59 minutes that ..........!!!!!!!
 
Graeme.