At 06:18 PM 1/31/02 -0500, Sara M. Fagan wrote:
>It seems like it was late in the game and the players were digging for the
>puck in the corner.  When the ref blew the whistle he signaled that the
>face-off be taken out of the zone.  The announcers were talking to someone
>and I think I heard something about the defensemen weren't suppose to come
>in so deep in such circumstances.  Did I hear correctly?  Is there a rule
>about how deep into the zone players can come if the puck is tied up in
>the corner?

There is no such rule that I know of.  The only "territorial" rule that I
recall is that the goalie can't cross the red line.  Defensemen going in
deep may not be the best play under many circumstances (like when a forward
doesn't cover for them), but it's not illegal.

What happened here may be that an attacking player is the one who covered
the puck.  In that case, the faceoff goes outside the zone.


Joe
--
Joe Makowiec can be reached at:
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://home.nycap.rr.com/makowiec/