On Thursday, January 31, 2002, David Parter wrote:
>
> Rule 6/13
>      o. When a stoppage of play in an end zone takes place and is
>         followed by an altercation (wheather a penalty i called or not),
>         an attacking player on the ice or other player coming from the
>         becnh shall not enter the end zone farther than the outer edge
>         of the face-off circles nearest the blue line.
>
>         PENALTY -- Face-off at the nearest neutral zone face-off spot.
>
> Obviously this is a judgement call by the refs -- was it an "altercation"?
> Where where the players before the whistle, etc.

The wording in the USAH and CHA rulebooks is "a gathering of players." NHL uses "altercation or 'scrum.'" Either way, the intent of the rule is obvious: to discourage the usual pushing and shoving that goes on in front of the net after a whistle from escalating into a fight. Knowing this, it's not a difficult judgment to make.

IIHF doesn't have any requirement that there be a scrum.

Pat Carr
Cornell '96