Thomas Fortier writes:
>        What I am saying is this:  Often times, goalies take liberties to
>stray quite a distance from the crease, where the puck is live for any
>other player.  When said player then brushes the goalie in attempting to
>play the puck, the goalie then goes down and acts as if it were the
>biggest hit of his life.  Just what then defines when a charging or
>interference call should be made, aside from when the goalie is in the
>crease?  I am very interested in hearing how people respond to this topic.
 
The play in the Sunday Minn-DU game where Sinuhe Wallinheimo was actually
hurt, appeared to be exactly the kind of act you are describing; one that
was so good that Wally bounced the back of his head on the ice a bit too
hard.  The Gopher player (I thought it was Mike Anderson, others have said
it was Eric Rasmussen) did make contact, though I didn't think it was very
significant, and Wallinheimo was out of the net and playing the puck at the
time.  A case could have been made for a minor penalty, I suppose, but
Wally's ballet antics probably cost him the ref's sympathy.
  What the Gophers do that bothers me is less running the goalie than,
after the whistle is blown on a frozen puck, taking those last few digs to
try to pry it loose.  They also sometimes skate up late to get in his face.
I admire hustle as much as the next guy, but these are the kind of actions
that prompt skirmishes that I find annoying.  Individually, none of the
actions merit a penalty; it's the pattern as a whole that needs to be
brought to a stop.
  That stated, Denver (most natably the oft-mentioned #19) engaged in goon
tactics of their own, particularly after the Gophers scored on several
occasions.
  Lloyd Ney commented on the differences between roughing and fighting.  At
least last year, the official word was that *any* punch constituted
fighting.  At the beginning of the year, they enforced this very strictly.
It led to a situation where Andy Brink was tossed for fighting after
throwing a single punch, with his glove on.  The fact that he was in a
headlock from an opponent who had five inches and forty pounds on him
wasn't taken into consideration.  Obviously, things have eased up since
then, but I don't know where the official, written line is.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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