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I have said before and will say it again: There is a large percentage of coaches and players who do not really know the rules of the game. This is as true in the NHL as it is at all levels of the game.
On Saturday night, there was a play late in the first period of the Colorado vs. Philadelphia game in which Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon pushed Philadelphia defenseman Luke Schenn from behind in a race for the puck. Schenn lost his balance and crashed into the end boards, hurting his shoulder.
The officials conferred after the play and made the following ruling: MacKinnon was assessed a major penalty for boarding but did not receive a game misconduct.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy went ballistic on the Colorado bench. His explanation after the game was that he believed linesman Shane Heyer at the right side of the blueline -- not the closest referee -- made the penalty call and was not entitled to do so.
There are two pretty big problems with Patrick's argument.
First of all, video evidence shows that referee Marc Joannette immediately put his arm up for a penalty on MacKinnon. See for yourself:
Secondly, linesmen are absolutely allowed to assist the referee in situations where a major penalty is involved. See Rule 32.4 of the NHL Rule Book. It is not allowed, it is the responsibility of the linesman to "give to the Referees his interpretation of any incident that may have taken place."
In a major penalty situation, the linesman must report what he saw to the referee after the stoppage of play. Even if the referee missed the infraction -- which was not the case here despite what Roy claimed afterwards -- the linesman's report can be the basis of a penalty call. Additionally, if the referee has called a penalty, the linesman's report can be weighed in whether the ultimate call is a two-minute, four-minute or five-minute penalty.
Roy said after the game that he had no problem with the major penalty itself. However, there have been some who have said it should not have been a penalty at all. Hogwash.
MacKinnon was looking at Schenn's numbers the whole time -- this was not a case of a player turning his back at the last moment. Even a slight push from behind in that spot on the ice is a very dangerous play and was worthy of a major penalty.
There was no intent to injure on the play. Fortunately, Schenn "only" hurt his shoulder instead of going into the boards head first. I am not a fan of punishing based primarily on outcome but I think the major without a game misconduct or supplementary discipline was a justifiable ruling.
To his credit, MacKinnon understood what he'd done was reckless even if there was no intent to injure and the young man took full ownership and responsibility. Beyond expressing concern for the injured opponent, MacKinnon said the major penalty was the right call and his actions are something that cannot happen again. That is more than a lot of players nowadays do.
In MacKinnon's case, this appears to be an isolated incident of bad judgment. Let's hope so, because he is a very, very skilled player and he doesn't need to get involved in those sorts of plays.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
In addition to his blogs for HockeyBuzz every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Stewart writes a column every Wednesday for the Huffington Post.