• Home
• Schedule
• Roster
• Statistics
• Stars News Feeds & Links
• NHL News Feeds & Links
• Story Archive
• Message Boards
• Chat Rooms

 Crease issues are really protecting the goalie issues

Thursday, May 15, 2008

There have been two controversial calls involving Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom in the first four games of the Western Conference Finals, and those two calls have led to some confusion about just what is and what isn't allowed. A top NHL official tried to clarify a few things on Thursday.

Mike Murphy, NHL Senior VP of Hockey Operations, was a guest on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio Thursday and discussed the issues surrounding the play of Holmstrom around the crease, which has been a hot topic in the Stars-Red Wings series.

It came up for the second time in the series Wednesday night when Detroit lost a goal because Holmstrom was said to be in violation of the rules. So what is the rule here?

"The rule we have now is to protect goalies and let them do their jobs in the crease," Murphy said.

In other words, players can be in the crease as long as they don't prevent the goalie from moving about freely in the crease and doing his job. 

"A lot of times if you are in there the referee will take the goal down because the rule gives the goalie the right to move freely in the crease," said Murphy. "If a player is there, can the goalie move freely? That is the question you have to ask yourself."

Murphy said the easiest way for players like Holmstrom, who like to set up shop in front of the net, to avoid issues is to avoid entering the crease.

"In instructing all teams and all players who are in the screening position, we say stay in the white ice," said Murphy. "Nothing bad can happen if you stay in the white ice all the time. If you hit blue ice, the goal could be taken down like it did last night."

So, how you define the crease? Well you just can't look at the player's feet because the crease area extends up above the ice. This is why you could have a "butt" infraction, which Holmstrom's was said to be on Wednesday night.

"I consider it a cylinder," said Murphy. "The crease is there and it comes to the crossbar in a cylinder fashion."

Now, there is the issue of when the player is in the crease and might be inhibiting the goaltender. Simply looking at the replay to see where the player was in relation to the crease and goalie when the goal was scored doesn't always tell the whole story. There could have been a moment just before the goal was scored where the player was in there, prevented the goalie from being able to move and that could lead to the goal being taken away.

"When the puck went it Holmstrom was in the white, no question about it," Murphy acknowledged. "Seconds or fractions of seconds before that he clearly had a skate in the blue. Could Turco move out and do his job when his skate was in the crease? Some people would say yes, it didn't affect him, and others would say no he couldn't and the fact that he was there inhibited Marty Turco from moving out."

That's where the referee's judgment, in this case Kelly Sutherland's, comes into play. There is no replay or review. He simply makes a call whether Holmstrom's play around the crease allowed Turco to do his job and then made the call.

"When we put this rule in the referees were going to make a judgment on the ice. Their judgment was going to be quick. They would get one quick look at it," Murphy said. "And I think if you go back and watch the replay again you'll see the referee is taking clear notice of Holmstrom and watching the whole play very closely to get the right call made."

Had there been no goal, play would have just continued with no whistle. Holmstrom didn't, in Sutherland's eyes, commit a penalty. There can be instances where a penalty can be called on a play like that. Again, that's a judgment call by the referee.

And Murphy said when you like to live on the edge of the crease like Holmstrom, you live on the edge as far as judgment calls by the referees.

"If you live that close to the crease - and nobody is better at it than Tomas Holmstrom - there are going to be benefits along the way, but there are going to repercussions along the way," Murphy said. "This is one. The goal probably could have stood, but got taken down. I have absolutely no problem with it. I'll support the referee because this game is played fast. It's not played with four or five different replay angles. He's got my support.

"It is a tough call. It's a call the Red Wings are going to have to suck it up on. It's a call they are going to have to live with. They've been the benefactor of many calls where Holmstrom has clearly been in the crease and the call has stood. I don't want to make light of it because that was critical call that could have changed the whole game. But they had a goal in Game 1 that could have changed the whole game. Sometimes things come out in the wash. ... As a neutral party that's how I see it. That's how I feel."