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Homer's oddity
As you know by know, Tomas Holmstrom's net-front work caused another Detroit goal to be disallowed, Sunday. This one -- a Nicklas Lidstrom slap shot -- would have tied the score with Anaheim with 40.7 seconds left in the third period. The call was made by referee Dan O'Halloran.
Holmstrom was clearly outside of the crease ... but here's my theory on the matter. Other than the fact that Holmstrom's clearly being targeted because he's the league's best net-front man, his technique is fooling the officials.
Holmstrom starts in the crease, but when the shooter starts his backswing, Holmstrom kicks his feet forward out of the crease. He does that even when his feet start out of the crease, almost as an insurance policy.
It's brilliant and effective. Holmstrom's backside is still holding its spot in front of the goalie. But the technique is apparently beyond the officials.
Anyways, here are a few quotes on the key play of Sunday's 3-2 loss ...
"It seems like I'm a marked man," said Holmstrom. "I can't have any errors around the net. I've got to be at least a foot from the line (crease)."
"I just saw the replay once and it looked to be a good goal," said Lidstrom. "He (the referee) said that he had his feet inside the paint and he was bothering the goalie. I didn't see it that way when I shot it and looked at the replay."
"It's a tough call," said Jean-Sebastien Giguere. "A lot of times they don't call that. That took a lot of guts to call that, but it was the right call. The replay showed he had his skate in the crease and it prevented me from doing what I've got to do. It's not a popular call, except for the goalie, but it was the right call."
"For some reason, we seem to end up on the short end of the stick on those sometimes … Maybe it's because of Homer's reputation for being in front of the net," said Chris Osgood. "Homer was standing his ground. He was in his position before Nick had even taken the shot. It was just one of those where you shake your head. It was 100 percent a goal. It's not even debatable really. If you look at the replay, Homer's not even in the crease. … Yah, they're up against each other, but that happens all the time."
Holmstrom was clearly outside of the crease ... but here's my theory on the matter. Other than the fact that Holmstrom's clearly being targeted because he's the league's best net-front man, his technique is fooling the officials.
Holmstrom starts in the crease, but when the shooter starts his backswing, Holmstrom kicks his feet forward out of the crease. He does that even when his feet start out of the crease, almost as an insurance policy.
It's brilliant and effective. Holmstrom's backside is still holding its spot in front of the goalie. But the technique is apparently beyond the officials.
Anyways, here are a few quotes on the key play of Sunday's 3-2 loss ...
"It seems like I'm a marked man," said Holmstrom. "I can't have any errors around the net. I've got to be at least a foot from the line (crease)."
"I just saw the replay once and it looked to be a good goal," said Lidstrom. "He (the referee) said that he had his feet inside the paint and he was bothering the goalie. I didn't see it that way when I shot it and looked at the replay."
"It's a tough call," said Jean-Sebastien Giguere. "A lot of times they don't call that. That took a lot of guts to call that, but it was the right call. The replay showed he had his skate in the crease and it prevented me from doing what I've got to do. It's not a popular call, except for the goalie, but it was the right call."
"For some reason, we seem to end up on the short end of the stick on those sometimes … Maybe it's because of Homer's reputation for being in front of the net," said Chris Osgood. "Homer was standing his ground. He was in his position before Nick had even taken the shot. It was just one of those where you shake your head. It was 100 percent a goal. It's not even debatable really. If you look at the replay, Homer's not even in the crease. … Yah, they're up against each other, but that happens all the time."
posted by Chuck Pleiness at
7:45 PM
2 Comments:
Couldn't agree more. And isn't it bizarre when the Ducks get a call like this...but when Kunitz strips the frozen puck from Ozzie, leading to a goal, there's no call? Yeah, bizarre...
And if you go to NHL.com and look at the highlights package for the game, it's not even included. I guess they want to save themselves and O'Halloran some embarassment. That was such a bad call. BTW - I'm not a Red Wings fanatic. I hate to see a team get ripped off like that.
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