Eric Hoffman asked for a rules interpretation of the following scenario,
which occurred during the Princeton/SLU game:
 
 
>1.  Princeton and SLU are called for coincidental minors.
>    Teams skate 4x4 (not counting the goalies).
 
>2.  After a whistle in the SLU end, and with :56 seconds left in
>    the coincidental minors,  a SLU player clearly cross
>    checks Princeton's assistant captain Jonathan Kelley from behind.
>    After a few words, Kelley retaliates by viciously spearing the
>    SLU player in the crotch.  The SLU player receives a 2 minute
>    minor for hitting from behind while Kelly receives a 5 minute
>    major for spearing and a game DQ.  The DQ was well deserved, IMHO
>    as there is no room for this kind of behavior.  Anyway, now the
>    teams are skating 3X3.
>
>3.  With about 5 seconds remaining in original coincidental minors,
>    a SLU player gets caught flat footed and is forced to hook down
>    a Princeton player along the far boards in the SLU zone.
 
>The question is how should this be handled?  If I remember correctly,
>from a discussion on this list last fall, teams are not allowed to skate
>with less than 3 skaters (snip) My recollection
>of that discussion was that if a team was called for 3 penalties
>(i.e. down to 2 skaters) a forfeit was to be declared.  Well, a forefeit
>wasn't declared. The start of the last two minute minor was delayed
>until the remaining 5 seconds of the coincidentals had been played.
>Therefore the teams skated 3x3.  Perhaps the mitigating circumstance here
>is the coincidental minors.  Rules gurus?
 
From '93 NCAA Ice Hockey Rule Book, Rule 4.8(a):
 
"If a player is penalized while two players of the individual's
team are serving penalties, the penalty time of the third player shall
not commence until the penalty time of one of the other two players has
elapsed. The third player penalized must proceed at once to the penalty
bench, but may be replaced by a substitute until the penalty time of
the penalized player beegins."
 
Thus, the final SLU minor didn't take effect until the first of the
previous two SLU minors expired.
 
Geoff Howell
Drop the Puck Magazine
 
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