Rule 62, Situation 6 & 7: A player from
Team "A" contacts the puck with a high stick in the neutral zone
and the puck goes into the corner of the defending zone of Team
"B". Players from Team "A" refrains from playing the puck as
they are aware that if they touch the puck the face-off will be brought
outside Team "B's" end zone and into the neutral zone.
Team "B" also refrains from playing the puck in their defending
zone waiting for Team "A" to touch the puck and force the play
to be stopped and a face-off to move outside in the neutral zone. The
referee blows his/her whistle as neither team is playing the puck.
Where is the face-off?
Rule 62, Situation 6: Where a player or
goaltender contacts the puck with a high stick, the Referee will delay the
call. If it becomes obvious that both teams are refraining from
playing the puck, the Referee should stop play immediately. The
ensuing face-off would occur at the place where the stoppage of play occurred,
unless otherwise stated in the rules. RATIONALE: Rule 57 (f) is invoked because both teams have
committed an infraction of the rules - one team contacted the puck with a
high stick; the other, by not pursuing possession and control, has failed
to keep the puck in motion.
Rule 62, Situation 7: Where an attacking
player in the attacking zone contacts the puck with a high stick and the
defending team refrains from playing the puck, stop play and conduct the
face-off at one of the end zone face-off spots of the team refusing to
play the puck (in accordance with Rule 74 (a)) where the puck was
located when play was stopped.
COMMENTARY
In this instance you can see that it is Team 'B' which is being
penalized for refusing to play the puck. The players from Team 'A'
committed the high sticking infraction and knew that if they touched the
puck first the play would be blown down and the face off taken to the
place where the puck was struck in the neutral zone. It is therefore,
clear that it is up to Team 'B' to put the puck back in play. To refuse to
put the puck in play is simply an unnecessary delay of the game. In most
cases, Team 'B' would play the puck if the referee shouts out appropriate
instructions. However, if Team 'B' refused to touch the puck, the referee
must stop the play and conduct the face-off in Team 'B's end zone. This
action will undoubtedly cause a bit of commotion from the players, coaches
and fans of Team 'B'.
