Adam Bryant writes: > The situation was: Two penalties against Vermont were already on the > board, with one against BC when Vermont had another penalty called > against them. At the time, there was 1:00 remaining on one of the > two, and 1:11+ (more than 1:11) remaining on the other. Instead of > changing the 1:00 penalty to 3:00, like they should have, they added a > third penalty to the scoreboard of 2:00. They then proceeded to play, > with the 2:00 penalty not counting, as the other two counted down. > Inevitably, when the 1:00 penalty ticked off the board, the player who > was listed in that slot skated onto the ice. 9 seconds later the > referees saw 4 Vermont skaters on the ice and whistled them for > "too many men". > The scoreboard operator did what he was supposed to do -- enter in a thrid penalty. The penalty to the first player was not extended another 2 minutes, a third player was penalized. The players in the penalty box should be informed of what is happening by the penalty timekeeper. The first player penalized may leave the penalty box after his penalty is over when either play is stopped or the second penalty expires. By changing his penalty time to 3:00, it implies that the second penalized player would incorrectly be allowed out of the box first. > Now, once the referees realized what happened, they did the best > they possible could and reset the clock back to when the penalty > expired, as if the clock had stopped at that moment. This is wrong. Only the penalty clock should be reset. > No additional > penalties were called on either team, and the play continued at that > point. But, it was a situation that should never have occured and > resulted in another 10 minutes or so added on to an already long game. > If the player left without the consent of the penalty timekeeper, he should be assessed an additional minor. It seems that the problem was with the penalty timekeeper in allowing the player to return to the ice prematurely. The penalties were put on the scoreboard correctly. Pete Kester