Hand Pass Rule 79.1

[DucksNPucks]

Here is the rule regarding hand passes:

79.1 Hand Pass - 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 directed the puck to a teammate.

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” under Rule 67 – Handling Puck.

Okay soooooo last night Corry Perry caught a puck with his hand and put it down between his legs. He tried to play it but the Dallas Defender did a good job of knocking him off the puck. Bobby Ryan picks the puck up and shoots it in the net for the apparent tying goal. The ref then blows the goal off saying it was a hand pass. IMO if you place the put at your feet and try to play it, then that isn't a hand pass. It seemed like a very weak call. Rule 67 states that it has to be "deliberately" directed to a teammate. Again Perry was trying to play it himself.

[Dasle]

Having known the rule, but not the actual language it was written in, I had always assumed it was the way the refs called it in that game. Black and white. Unless you or the opponent plays the puck, it's a hand pass.

However, the rulebook does allow for that grey area, a refs discretion which would apply in your in-game scenario. Going by the rules, it probably shouldn't have been called. But, like I said, the refs tend to make it a black and white case and call it as such. Personally, I think that the phrasing in the rulebook should change and just make it black and white. I hate when refs decide games on calls that other refs don't make due to that grey area.

[Brilliant!]

I think the reason it WAS called a hand pass was because Perry was NOT the first Ducks player to touch the puck after it had left his hand. Like you said, he was played off the puck and it trickled in front to Ryan who put it in. It was a tough call that could have gone either way but sometimes bad breaks happen. I'd be willing to give the ref the benefit of the doubt on that one.