Mike Kostka Photo by Bridget Samuels/ Flickr
Yeah, about that Game 3 OT win for the Admirals. The one that brought them within 1 win of the Calder Cup. The one with the insanely flukey goal by Mike Koskta? According to the AHL rules, it shouldn’t have counted.
In case you missed it, here it is:
That’s pretty insane, right? How often do we see pucks in sent in exactly like that that don’t result in goals. Unfortunately for the Marlies, the puck careened off a stanchion when goalie Ben Scrivens was out of the net to play the puck so there was no stopping it from heading into the goal on a weird bounce. There wouldn’t have been any debate if Norfolk players hadn’t been in the zone on a delayed offsides call.
It turns out that according to the AHL rules, the tally shouldn’t have counted. Luckily for the Admirals, the league by-laws don’t allow for the result of a game to be changed based an incorrect rule interpretation.
According to the American Hockey League rulebook, it’s rule 83.4 that basically states that any goals occurring during a delayed offsides will be disallowed.
Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins admitted he had never seen a play like that in his post game press conference. He surmised that the referees had never seen anything like that before either which is what led to the blown call.
“I would rather somebody take a pair of steel toed boots and kick me in a delicate region than to lose a hockey game like that. That is a tough way to lose,” Eakins said. (Quote Source: Globe and Mail)
Ouch. Craziness aside, the victory gives Norfolk a 3-0 series lead. Game 4 kicks off tomorrow at 3 pm in Toronto. The game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, so tune in if you have it in your cable lineup.
