Forum » a first-round pick last year

Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, Thanks for taking time to read my question. So here goes... I understand that throughout the playoffs, the relative rankings in the regular season determines which team gets home ice advantage as they move through each round. I completely understand the logic regarding this rule and it makes total sense...more points earned = home ice advantage. And with this advantage, the home team benefits by having the energizing and supportive participation of their home crowd, whereas the visiting team is disadvantaged by having 19,000 fans who desperately want them to lose. But what I dont understand is why a visiting team must automatically submit their lineups first? Obviously this knowledge provides another strategic advantage to the coaching staff of the home team. Specifically, what has the home team done to EARN receiving this information/advantage first, other than simply being the home team? My question also applies to the stick-to-the-ice requirement on faceoffs by the visiting team first. Why is this so? Wouldnt it be more fair for the teams to call head or tails on the flip of a coin for these two issues, like they do in football for the kickoff? Couldnt they flip a coin five hours before game time - one coin flip for the lineup submission, and a second flip for the faceoff stick placement? It seems that these two additional unearned benefits bestowed to the home team in the playoffs need re-examination, unless Im missing something here. Thank you very much,BillLaval, Quebec Hi Bill: The founders initiated a policy that since one team had to submit their starting lineup and playing roster first. Given that the season schedule was balanced the visiting team coach was ultimately designated in the rules as the one required to blink first! Recognizing that over the course of the regular season a team plays an equal number of games at home and on the road Rule 33.3 outlines the process as follows: It is the policy of the National Hockey League that the coach of the visiting club provide to the Official Scorer, a list of eligible players, his starting line-up and designated Captain and Alternates, within five (5) minutes of completion of the warm-up twenty (20) minutes prior to faceoff. These twenty (20) minutes gives the Official Scorer time to obtain the completed home team line-up, return it to the visiting Coach and provide a copy of both line-ups to the Referees. The Official Scorer must file a report to the Commissioner or his designate if either Coach fails to cooperate within these recommended guidelines. (Report to be forwarded to NHL Toronto office). The starting lineup is simply a one-time event during the course of a game. Matching lines against key players can become an issue throughout the entire game for the visiting team Coach since the home team has the benefit of last change. Changes on the fly can become an integral part of the strategy employed by both teams and when not executed cleanly can result in scoring opportunities. We have seen situations where the line matching process can even take place immediately following the opening puck drop whereby the visiting team might dump the puck deep and then head to the bench for a designated line change. In a playoff series that goes the full seven games, the team that won the right to host the deciding game (and it was won over the long haul and not arbitrarily bestowed) also receives the full bundle of rights associated with home ice advantage; recording starting line-up last, centre stick down last in faceoffs and most importantly, the last line change. Over the course of my career I encountered more than a few glitches with team starting lineups and rosters that were submitted prior to the game. I assessed a bench minor for the incorrect starting line-up on more than two occasions when an appeal was made prior to the next face-off by the non-offending team. I also removed players from the game once I was informed by the official scorer that those players were not listed on the roster that had been submitted by the Coach. The most bizarre situation occurred when I had to enforce rule 5.2 to take away a goal that had just been scored by a team with an ineligible player on the ice. It didnt matter that the ineligible player was not involved in the scoring but simply that he had been on the ice at the time the goal had been scored and it was brought to my attention at that stoppage of play. When I showed the Coach the copy of the roster in my back pocket he admitted that he had entrusted the team trainer with filling in the roster sheet prior to the game! Near the end of my career I had a game in Madison Square Garden and Ken Hitchcock was coaching the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. Once we added a second referee to the crew I always entrusted the starting line-up sheets to my junior partner. In other words I never put them in my pocket because every other referee was junior to me. This night I was working with Bill McCreary so he held the roster sheets. Following the national anthem, Coach Hitchcock called McCreary to the Flyer bench. I saw him take the roster sheets out of his pocket, examine them briefly and then wave me over and to the bench. Upon my arrival, McCreary attempted to hand me the sheets and said Hitch wanted to make sure he had the correct players circled for the starting lineup. I refused to take the roster sheets and told McCreary to check them himself. The more McCreary persisted in trying to hand the sheets to me the more I resisted taking them. Finally as this Keystone Cops routine went back and forth the Flyers Coach intervened and asked what the F we were doing? We admitted that neither one of us carried our reading glasses onto the ice nor could we see the fine print or the players that were circled! McCreary handed the sheets to Hitch and said who are you starting? Coach Hitchcock rolled his eyes and said, "Man, we are in trouble tonight with you two out here. Youre both F-n blind!" (My contact lenses worked great on the long shots, however) Fake Yeezys . LOUIS -- Russell Martin wanted a better fate for his starting pitcher and helped deliver a happier ending. Fake Yeezys 2019 .DeMarco Murray got his 20th carry late in the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, not long after Dez Bryant made his final catch of the day.Sure enough, a 44-17 win over Washington didnt change Dallas post-season position. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/. The future hall of famers stole the show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. Fake Yeezys Store .? It was his second straight start for the Jets; he suffered a 1-0 loss against Minnesota Monday. So this season Hutchinson has now won games in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He was perfect three- for-three in the shootout to nail down the win. Fake Yeezys For Sale .com) - The Miami Heat stopped a four-game losing streak last time out and thats the same length slide their opponents Wednesday night, the Denver Nuggets, will try to halt when the two teams meet at the Pepsi Center. ST. LOUIS -- Danny Duffy became the latest pitcher to shut down the St. Louis Cardinals. Duffy worked six innings of one-hit ball coming off a pair of poor outings and Alex Gordon homered to start a breakout three-run seventh for the Kansas City Royals in a 6-0 victory over the suddenly punchless defending NL champs on Monday night. "I told him, You didnt throw a great game, you pitched a great game," manager Ned Yost said. "He was just right on top of his game." The Royals had just two singles off Shelby Miller (6-5) in a game that had been scoreless before they opened the seventh with four straight hits. Gordons fifth homer ended a 15-inning scoreless drought and Mike Moustakas capped the rally with a two-run double. "I felt good early on," Miller said. "I felt like I just kind of gave the game away in the seventh. Its just frustrating." Matt Holliday had two singles and a walk for the Cardinals, who have been shut out in consecutive games at home and have single-digit hit totals the last four games. Theyre just 2-6 with one game to go on a nine-game home stand. "Its a long season. Youre going to have those times," said Yadier Molina, who is 2 for 21 during the home stand. "We know were good hitters." Between Hollidays single with two outs in the first and his single leading off the seventh, the Cardinals were 0 for 17 with a walk -- also by Holliday in the fourth. Coming off an 8-0 loss to San Francisco on Sunday, the Cardinals were shut out two straight times at home for the first time since 1992 against Pittsburgh, and by six or more runs at home in two straight games since dropping a doubleheader to the Reds in 1937. "Weve had lots of meetings, weve had the conversations we needed to have," manager Mike Matheny said. "What were doing right now isnt going to work and they know that. We all do." Duffy (3-5) struck out five and walked one, rebounding from consecutive losses in which he surrendered 10 earned runs in 10 innings. He has a one-hit start over six or more innings each of the last three seasons.dddddddddddd "Physically, I felt really good," Duffy said. "I still didnt have as much behind the ball as I normally do, but I felt fine just like last time." Rare backing from the offence made everything feel a lot better. The Royals totalled three runs while Duffy was in the game his first five starts over 27 innings. "Sometimes its just the luck of the draw," Duffy said. "The guys swing the sticks really well." Three relievers completed a three-hitter. The Royals advanced one runner to second base before Gordon led off the seventh with his fifth homer, a drive over the Cardinals bullpen in right field. "It was awesome," Moustakas said. "It got a good pitch to hit and he crushed it and it kind of loosened us up in the dugout." Lorenzo Cain beat out an infield hit unsuccessfully challenged by the Cardinals and Miller threw his second wild pitch of the inning after a visit from pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, setting up Moustakas double. Kansas City added three in the eighth. Cardinals rookie centre fielder Randal Grichuk struck out three times and whiffed fielding the ball on the RBI single by Salvador Perez, allowing a second run to score. NOTES: Holliday has reached safely in all 29 home games. .. The Cardinals anticipate pitcher Lance Lynn, who underwent medical tests after tweaking his right knee Sunday, will make his next start. ... Cardinals pitching prospect Marco Gonzales, a first-round pick last year, and teammates from Double-A Springfield attended the game on a day off. ... The Royals claimed RHP Blake Wood on waivers from Cleveland and assigned him to Triple-A Omaha, making room on the 40-man roster by transferring RHP Luke Hochevar (elbow surgery) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. Kansas City also purchased the contract of RHP Wilking Rodriguez, optioned RHP Louis Coleman to Omaha and designed LHP Justin Marks for assignment. ... The Royals are 5-1 in interleague play. ' ' '