Shouldn’t count, he closed his hand on it and carried it before dropping it.

I’ve seen it called on way less-obvious plays.

Posted by Primis on 12/13/09 at 11:57 PM ET

meh, thats some major whining above to say it shouldnt have counted. theres no way you can say he “closed his hand on the puck” when anyone knows who has played hockey can attest to the fact that pucks set pretty well into that stiff formed glove for a little bit. he basically got the puck vertically in his glove and brought it down in one full motion - hitting it out of the air. very possible without closing the hand on the puck.

great goal. great hand-eye by Hossa. dudes way too underrated and gets slagged for lame ass reasons.

Posted by Death Metal Nightmare from MKE on 12/14/09 at 12:43 AM ET

meh, thats some major whining above to say it shouldnt have counted. theres no way you can say he “closed his hand on the puck” when anyone knows who has played hockey can attest to the fact that pucks set pretty well into that stiff formed glove for a little bit.

As I said though, I see that play whistled down a whole lot.  It doesn’t even matter so much if you actually close your hand even, they’ll whistle you down for it if you travel with the puck, period.

It’s this kind of lack of consistency in officiating that p*sses fans off so much.

Posted by Primis on 12/14/09 at 07:51 AM ET

When I saw the headline, I wondered how they would rule on that. It wasn’t a game-changer, but still an iffy goal. It could have been called either way, and that’s why this league frustrates me as a hockey fan.

Posted by redxblack from Akron Ohio on 12/14/09 at 11:36 AM ET

wtf are you talking about, Primis?  players grab the puck out of the air all the time.  if you’re moving, it’s impossible not to “travel” with the puck.  the point is that it’s a clean and allowable play as long as the player doesn’t over-handle the puck with their glove.  players are allowed to catch the puck and drop it.  I think anyone can see that this is a clean play, and an amazing goal.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26478

67.1 Handling Puck - 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 defending zone, in which case the play shall be stopped and a face-off conducted (see Rule 79 – Hand Pass). Play will not be stopped for any hand pass by players in their own defending zone.

67.2 Minor Penalty – Player - A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent, a minor penalty shall be assessed for “closing his hand on the puck”.

the part I bolded is EXACTLY what Hossa did.

Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 12/14/09 at 02:30 PM ET