Well, it doesn't look like we're through discussing this goal even after 5
days.   So here's my comments about it...
 
I don't have or know the NCAA rules regarding hand passes, but my reading
of the NHL rule for hand passes in the same situation as the overtime goal
in the semifinal game between Colorado College and Vermont is that it would
be a goal and counted.
 
The referee has to decide that the Colorado College player "deliberately
directed" the puck to his teammate in order to stop play.  It would not
have been a goal if the puck had been batted directly into the net or if
the puck had been batted and deflected into the net off of the goalie or
any other player.  The rule is very clear about that.
 
I watched the game live on ESPN2 and saw the replay several times without
being able to determine exactly what happened, but based on what I'm
reading here from several people's careful looks at the replay in slow
motion, it appears the puck was batted out of the air directly down onto
the ice behind the goalie.  It did not go into the net.  If I understand
what I'm reading, Remackel came in and with his stick poked or hit the puck
into the net.  If that is indeed what happened and the referee decided that
the puck was not DELIBERATELY directed to Remackel, then it would count as
a goal.
 
Personally, I don't think the Colorado College player deliberately directed
it to anyone but just knocked it down with his hand.  If he didn't hit it
into the net and Remackel did with his stick, I have to think it was a
valid goal and the referee made the right call in a very difficult
situation.
 
Now I'm basing this interpretation on the NHL rule.  Does anyone have the
exact NCAA rule applying to the situation?  I do know that play does not
automatically stop whenever the puck is touched by the hand.
 
>NHL Rule 57 regarding hand passes
 
>A player shall be permitted to stop or " bat" a puck in the air with his
open hand, or push it
>along the ice with his hand, and the play shall not be stopped unless, in
the opinion of the
>Referee, he has deliberately directed the puck to a teammate in any zone
other than the
>defensive zone, in which case the play shall be stopped and the puck
faced-off at the spot
>where the offense occurred. Play will not be stopped for any hand pass by
players in their
>own defensive zone.
 
>NOTE: The object of this rule is to ensure continuous action and the
Referee should NOT
>stop play unless he is satisfied that the directing of the puck to a
teammate was, in fact,
>DELIBERATE.
 
>A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who bats the puck with his
hand directly into
>the net. A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who bats the puck
and it is deflected
>into the net off any player or goalkeeper.
 
Eric Carlson
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