On Dec 9,   "John R. Nash" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
> Late in Saturday night's UW/UAA 5-5 tie, there was what appeared to be a
> very questionable call against the Badgers that led to the game-tying goal.
> The call was apparently made by the penalty timer (not the ref or asst.
> refs), who claimed that Brad Englehart left the box early at the end of
> serving a minor.  As far as I know, someone at the scorer's table can't
> demand that a penalty be called any more than a fan in the stands can, but
> apparently he told an asst. ref to call the penalty, who did.  The Badger
> radio color guy (Bill Brophy) said that he was watching Englehart and the
> clock and didn't see any early jump, which means to me that even if there
> _was_ an infraction, it was a matter of under a second.
>
> So... rulebook people, can you confirm that only the ref or asst. ref can
> call such a penalty (similar to the old 1-ref 2-linesmen system where even
> the linesmen couldn't call penalties that they saw), and not someone at the
> _scorer's table_?
 
I saw this happen just last year in a game between Potsdam and I believe
Brockport.  Potsdam was called for leaving the box too early, and it was
called to the attention of the referees by the official timer.  (That was
the second time I have seen it.)
 
When you think about it, there is no way that the 3 refs on the ice can
possibly keep track of the players leaving the box unless they stood there
staring at the clock pretty much making them useless on the ice.  So, unless
you give the off-ice officials some power to watch this, it will be anarchy
in terms of players leaving the box too early.
 
It is still up to the referee to make the call.  He merely uses the
information from the timer.  Just like it is up to the ref to make the call
on a goal, but he can use or not use the info provided by a goal judge.
Sometimes the goal judge is the only one who sees it go in, and the ref can
use that sole piece of information and call it a goal.  If the timer is the
only one who sees a player leave the box early, the ref can use that sole
piece of information and call a penalty.
 
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